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Happy Birthday to our little puppy boy! Isn’t he the cutest little guy?
Okay, so that picture was taken on his 1st birthday, and he’s 5 now. But it really doesn’t get much cuter than that.
I can’t believe our fur baby is five years old already. It seems like just yesterday that Jeff and I were fighting about getting a dog. Ha! He reaaallly didn’t want a dog, but the kids reaaallly did, so I went to bat for them. It took an entire year of them pleading their case, and mom taking their side, before Jeff finally gave in.
But he had conditions. For one, he wanted a dog that didn’t shed all over the place (fine by me!). He is also totally against a dog sleeping with the kids in their beds, so we had to agree that he’d sleep in his own bed downstairs. We also agreed that we would spend a little bit of money to take him to obedience classes; neither one of us wanted an unruly dog, least of all Jeff. In the end, a lot of compromises were made on both parts and we welcomed our tiny little puppy boy into our family when he was just 8 weeks old. I mean seriously, how cute is he??
The kids named him Loki and we all fell in love with him pretty quick. Even Jeff came around. I mean, how could he not? He has been such a good dog, and he graduated his puppy obedience classes with high honors 😉
The other compromise we had to make was that I was not allowed to add a doggy door in the house. I really wanted to have one so he could let himself out of the house when he needed to go potty, but Jeff was adamant that we were not cutting any holes into the walls of our house, or our doors. I was a little frustrated; how would I know when he needed out? We did crate training in the beginning and he did really well with that, but I still wanted a way for him to communicate with me when he needed to go outside.
I thought about training him to ring a bell. Originally, I was going to buy a service bell that I could set on the floor by the door and teach him to ding. But then I found a better option: a bell that hangs on the door that the dog can ring when he wants out! It seemed like a good compromise: I would teach the dog to ring the bell when he wanted out, and no holes would have to be cut in our house.
Jeff had his doubts that I’d be able to train him to ring a bell, but Loki is a smart boy. Every time I would take him outside for potty or for play, I would take him to the door and while I gave the command word “outside”, I would take his little paw and tap the hanging bell with it. Then I would give him praise and a treat right away and take him outside for potty. One thing his trainer emphasized was giving him a treat right away when he followed a command; that is how they learn. If you wait 5 or 10 seconds to reward them, they forget what they are being rewarded for; it must be immediate. Consistency is also key. I did this every time I took him out so that he would associate the bell with going outside. Eventually, he started to ring the bell on his own. When he did that, I praised him verbally with a “good boy” followed by a small treat. Food is the way to a dog’s heart!
The dog bell is awesome. Take a look and see for yourself!
If you don’t want to cut a hole in your wall to add a doggy door, try the dog bell! I’m telling you, it’s the best thing ever! I can even hear him ringing his bell when I’m upstairs. I never have to worry about him having an accident because I was unaware that he needed to get out. I bought my doggy bell at Petco for $20, but I totally overspent. You can get the same bell on Amazon for half the price. It also comes with instructions on how to use it! [not to mention you have my tips here]. Click on the link below to check it out.
Don’t forget to add some doggy treats for your training! This is the key to training your dog to use the bell! You just want tiny bits, not big treats that take a long time to eat. My dog loves these, plus they are relatively healthy for dog treats.
Let me know what tips and tricks you find to get your fur baby to use the potty bell!
And just for your viewing pleasure, here a few more pictures of our little guy that are way too cute not to share!!
