Dog's Potty Training and Clicker Training

First, everything in this article is based on my first article, written for the foundation. Before beginning with steps in this article, be sure to read and follow the first one.

Everyone who comes to my training classes wants to know how to get his dog to give him a signal that it needs to go outside. Dogs have a tendency to find their own signal, if any at all, to let one know they need to go out. However, sometimes it is difficult for us to figure out exactly what that signal may be. Through training, we teach them to give us a signal that we can understand. Let me add that this article does not cover all the other things you do to house train your dog, such as crate training and so forth. This is a specific technique teaching them to give us a signal.

It is called "Target Training." Through target training, we can teach our dogs a variety of things that can be used even in advanced obedience training. We will concentrate on one specific thing at this time... teaching them to ring a bell at the back door when signaling to go outside.

First, we put our hand holding the treat right into his face to remind him that he is working right now. Your left hand has your clicker in it and your right hand holds the treats. You do not need a leash on your dog to do this; no leash keeps both of your hands free. Hold out your hand with the clicker in it right to the dogs face. He usually will reach out to sniff and/or touch your hand. Click, and then withdraw your left hand and immediately reach out with the right hand holding the treat (only one hand at a time will be in front of your dog). Repeat the same thing, reaching out with your left hand right in front of his face and let him sniff or touch your hand again. As soon as he reaches towards your hand to sniff or touch, you click again and withdraw your left hand. Reach out with the right to give another treat. Continue this process until he reaches out to touch your hand regularly.

Once he reaches out to touch your hand, you can now introduce a substitute for your hand...a bell that hangs from your back door. First, hold the bell in your hand to introduce him to touching it, and repeat the first part again having him touch it, and then click and treat. Then, when he touches the bell while you are holding it in your hand, put it on the floor and repeat the same procedure. Now, hang it from the back door and again go through touching, and click and treat. You want to do each step enough times that you know he gets the idea, but not so many times that it becomes set (you must keep moving on or he might get stuck doing it the first way only). Do it enough times so that you know he is not confused when you move on. You can always go back to reinforce each step. You end this training session and come back to it later; this should not take more than 15 minutes or so to teach. With your first time, it may take longer; just ensure you understand the concept yourself!

When you come back to the training session later, you take your dog to the bell hanging on the door while you say something like, "Do you want to go outside??" Have him touch the bell and click and treat. Take him outside immediately. (Don't wait to do this when you know he has to potty because you won't have enough time to get him to click and then get him out) Take him out to the grass, and maybe he will potty. If so, you click and treat for that also. Do this as many times during the day as you can, but not too many times in a row. You want the behavior once or twice on many different occasions.

At this stage do not leave the bell hanging on the door yet. Keep your dog doing the above exercise for a few days, several times each day. But, each time you take your puppy outside to potty, repeat your question "Do you want to go outside?" and ring the bell yourself on the way out. After a couple of days, leave the bell hanging on the door and wait to see what happens. You have to watch carefully because he may go up and sniff the bell without touching it forcefully enough to make noise. Be sure to click and treat for sniffing it. It won't take long for him to start banging on it to get your attention. If we can, get him to use his nose to ring the bell instead of using a paw, then it is better after he is house trained. If he uses his paw to ring the bell, he will continue using his paw even when the bell is not there, and there will be scratch marks on your door FOREVER!!!

Be sure to always go out with your puppy during this process to be able to click and treat when he potties outside. Be sure not to bring him back inside to give him a treat. If you do, you will soon have a puppy asking to go outside, not to potty, but to be able to come back inside to get his treat!!! Puppies wise up quickly, and we must stay one step ahead of them at all times.

Training Your Dog - How to get their attention?
By Karen Martin