[Dayna]

My girl is about 6 1/2 months old. She has gotten into the habit of doing everything, but going potty when I take her out to the yard. We have a bell on the door that she rings when she wants to go out and she definitely abuses it. Sometimes it's like 3 times in a half hour, but no pottying. We never established a potty command with her. Is it too late? Would that even help? She just wants to eat rabbit poop, play with sticks, and chase bugs. It's driving me nuts.

 

[Fodder]

Ditch the bell. Take her out on leash when she’s most likely to go... begin saying chosen command as she’s going, slowly backing off until you can say it before she goes. She goes, praise! (or unleash, etc, whatever you want her reward to be). If she doesn’t go, crate her then try again later.

Not too late at all.
She’s playing you.... and you’ve let her, lol

 

[Kari01]

Never too late ? My girl is 7 months now and even though she has been potty trained for ages I still say "Go Potty" when I want her to go quickly, especially late before bed when I just want her to go and then come straight back inside. I trained her by taking her out always on her leash only so I could make sure I had control over what she was doing, taking her to the grass and saying "Go Potty" and rewarding her verbally when she did it, every time. If she would try to go and do something else or grab a stick I would correct her, tell her no and tell her to potty again. She understood no fun before going potty!

My girl also occasionally tried her luck wanting to get outside by perhaps tricking me into thinking she needed to relieve herself, she would bark once and stand at the garden door (her sign she needs to go), but then she would just run and grab a stick! I corrected this by again using the leash, saying "go potty" and if she didn't go in a reasonable time I would take her straight back inside. I think she understands potty time and play time are different now, and she gets no fun by pretending she needs to pee! Hope that helps ?

 

[middleofnowhere]

I blew it on toilet commands. The one for urination is the same for both dogs but the defecation one is different for each. I think it is the part of the William tell Overture from the Lone Ranger theme - to the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump - for the older dog. The youngster got sorta Betty Boop --- as in poop a doop, poop poop poop a doop. Haven't been taken in just yet but I try to be discrete in my mixed up song fest.

 

[McGloomy]

The point of the bell is for her to GO POTTY and it looks like she's abusing that, so yeah, ditch the bell. Have her on a leash whenever it's time for potty. And as she is peeing and pooping, praise her on the spot. Praise her after too. Make it a party everytime she goes potty on the leash.

 

[Felafufu]

I never taught the bell for that reason. I'll say let's go outside to "go potty" to indicate it'll just be a short trip into the yard. I also said "go pee" as she pee'd and repeated "poop" every time she plopped one out. Profuse praise. So, she knows these commands and will at least give them a go (har har) when asked.