Hello y’all,

Many of you know that my little co-pilot, Riley the Scottie is coming up on his first birthday soon so he is not the old dog I am referring to……..but the inspiration!

When I first got Riley as a puppy, I was pretty nervous about the ugly and yes sometimes stinky part of bringing a new puppy home. OMG……my carpets will never be the same. Well, thankfully I have a special sister who gave me a pretty well-known (well I had not heard of it but many of you may have) training tip. It is so simple that I have to admit, I had doubts. What is it…..

Simply hang a bell by your door and teach your dog to hit the bell when he needs to go outside.

And you know what, it really really works! Riley has been hitting his bell all by himself from his second day home. Of course I think Riley is an exceptional little dog and probably has a little royalty in his bloodline……..(okay okay, so I am a Scottie mommy) there I finally said it!

But the real story I wanted to share with you………

I have a friend who has a very special dog (all dogs are) and despite being four years old, she had not been able to get her beloved, Cooper house-trained. Now Cooper does go outside to do his business, when he wants to. I call Cooper a fair-weather kind of dog.  As long as it’s not raining, snowing, really hot or really cold, then he is house trained. And as you guessed, my friend does not live in Maui (isn’t the weather almost always perfect there) so she had pretty much conceded to his behavior…….and life with Cooper. She always would tell me, I come home, I get mad at him and then I forgive him.

So one day while we were out for a walk with our little guys, I suggested to her that she needed to hang a bell by her door and start training Cooper. Naturally, she thought I was a little crazy…. She kept saying how Riley is an exceptional dog……..(see, it’s not just me) and she said Cooper would never ring a bell. He’s too old and set in his ways.

So when we got back from our walk,  I asked my friend to help me pull out one of my Christmas boxes. I found a bell and tied it to some ribbon and gave it to her.  Hang this by your door I told her, and every time you take Cooper out, ring the bell. Now an important  step to make this work;  ring the bell only to go outside for his business and come back in. The bell has one purpose or may two, HA……..you get the jest.

Each time Cooper does what you expect him to do, bring him in, stop by the bell, ring the bell and tell him, he is such a good boy! Give him a little treat, it’s just temporary but you need to reward him.

So what happened………..

It worked! Now I won’t tell you that it happened in two days. But I will tell you that by day five……Cooper was trained. It wasn’t always easy and yes there were still little mishaps in the house but not anymore!

Cooper is happier (dogs really want to please you) and my friend is so happy that she now wants to get Cooper a little sister……..

Our pets want to make us happy, teach them a new trick and make them a real part of your family. It will warm your soul!

We look forward to hearing from y’all, Woof Woof.