Teresa's Blog

Well we have a new dog, again.  I posted previously that We got a new dog and I shared with you that our dog whenever he wanted something especially to go outside he barked at us, in a really annoying, and continuous way.  We knew we had to put a stop to that, so we have been working on bell training.  That means that when Shiloh wants to go outside he is to ring the bells that are conveniently hung by the door on a nice a little ribbon. That training has been a work in progress.  Our sweet, big faced, sometimes mean looking dog was of course afraid of the bells the first time we rang them.  So at first it wasn’t looking good when he ran from the bells.  Each time, before we would go on a walk we used treats on or near the bells to get him close to the bells, we would ring them, then say, “Ring the Bells, OK, Let’s go for a walk”.  This went on and on, I think for weeks.  Eventually over time he started to figure it out.  We would start by barking at us, and we would ignore him or remind him to use his manors and ring the bells.  The progression started that we had to walk over to the bells, point at them and say “Ring the Bells”, which he would eventually do, although this was still after being barked at so not really a success.  He did finally figure it out and now he rings the bells about every 2 hours unprompted and also without barking.  The every 2 hours part is a little ridiculous.  So if he was out in the last 2 hours we laugh at him, say “No, we are not going outside” and we will get him something to pass the time because all we can figure is he wants to go outside, not to do business, but because he’s bored. So he, and we, still get our 3-4 walks in a day.  But it is accomplished without being barked at which is much appreciated.  Here is Shiloh in action:

Shiloh meets the Bells from elliott on Vimeo.