When dogs are puppies this is a great time to train them commands and tricks that you want to stick. You can still train your pooch when he's older, but starting early will help the command become a habit. Bell training is a great way to ensure you don't miss your pup's obvious signal that he has to go potty.

I’ve talked about our dog Fletcher before, so you probably already know a little bit about him. In case you don’t, he’s a 7-month-old chocolate lab, and he’s a keeper.

As sweet and loving as he is, training a puppy is no joke. Everyone says that it’s like having a newborn in the house, but it is WAY harder than that.

We started noticing that he would sometimes have accidents right at the front door, because the poor little guy would be patiently sitting by the front door waiting for us to take him out, but we didn’t know because we couldn’t see him.

So when he was about 4 months old, I decided to bell train him. All you need to bell train your dog is a bell, some good-quality dog treats, and quite a bit of patience.

I got a large jingle bell around Christmas at Joann Fabrics.

For the dog treats, I use Nudges Grillers and Sizzlers, which I found at Walmart. I’m pretty sure Fletcher would sell our entire family in order to get his Nudges.

To begin with, as soon as you hang that bell, you need to take the dog out whenever he rings it. Even if you know he’s just playing with it or just went out 30 seconds ago, he needs to learn that the bell means it’s time to go outside and go potty.

Second, he needs to ring the bell every single time he goes outside. For the first few times, you’ll need to help him ring it, either with his nose or with his paw. We taught Fletcher to hit it with his nose by gently moving his head to the bell. The second the bell makes a sound, praise him like crazy, and out he goes.

It’s important to remember to only give him the treat when he goes potty, not when he rings the bell, because otherwise, you’ll be listening to a constant stream of jingle bells, and it will likely drive you insane.

I could not believe how quickly Fletcher caught onto the bell. Within about 8-12 hours of introducing it for the first time, he walked up to the front door, rang the bell and sat down.

Fletcher was amazing at catching on to this “trick” as quickly as he did. If you find your pooch isn't really a bell fan there's always other alternatives such as a doggy door or a pee-pee pad outside the door in case of accidents. Think of other solutions as well — not every trick will work for your pooch! It's up to you as dedicate pet parent to come up with a solution that both you and Fido can live with. 😉 Have fun and stay up to date on Fletcher's doggy adventures on endlessly inspired!