Doggie Doorbell

Just a quick way for your dogs to let you know when they have to go out.

Step 1 Supplies

You'll need a pair of sharp scissors, eight or so jingle bells and about three feet of string.

Comments

[boringhistorygirl]

this is a great idea. however, i have cats. cats are much more evil. they would be ringing the bell at 3.00am, with no intention of going out. but once i was up they'd say 'well you're here, you may as well feed me anyway"! i love them, but sometimes they drive me nuts.

[crazycloud]

My mother had a cat that used the bells that were already there as a door alarm. If the bells were out of reach at night he would dump books on her from a bookcase on the wall. LOL

[W8del4]

my dogs loved to do the ol "ring the bell at 3 am" trick too. we put a hook on the door so we can hang the bells out of their reach at night!

[Jural]

You're right, definitely not an option for cats. They would just use it as a toy. Frustrating...

[dombeef]

When I saw the first picture I thought it was my dog, your's looks just like my jack russel but a bit younger, and skinnier :)

[archerj]

I used this to teach my dog Bonnie to ask to go out. I took hold of her foot and hit the bells--it didn't take her long to do it on her own. Then when I brought another dog to live with us, he learned it by watching her. The only difference was Bairie hit the bells with his nose--pretty smart, huh? I now have a 3rd one named Greta, and they have a doggie door, thank goodness; the bells would have kept me too busy!

[chuckr44]

This did not work for our Shitzu, but I'm sure it will work for dogs with a whole brain.

[seabananers]

LOL

[kippopotomus]

When i was a kid we had a shih tzu that used to ring a bell like this to go out. He was really good though. Eventually the string broke and he would just come get us when he really had to go. Now I have a rat terrier/ JRT mix. I love him but he isn't as bright as gizmo was. (i know doesn't seem right)

[missdee60639]

I have 2 JRT's. a boy, Wishbone(tan markings) and a girl, The Lady Feisty Diva (black markings). They are smarter than their owner. I'm going to try the bells. Great idea!!!

[Mr. Smart Kid]

i love JRTs i have 4 harley, ryder , spot, peanut

[coleman226]

cool nice idea :)

[sweetkits]

my table looks like that

[chevonne]

I really wish I had found this instructable before my dog made such mess of the wall right next to the door. Her nails have dug into the drywall, right through the paper covering. That is really a great idea, I will definitely try it before we even attempt to fix the wall.

[Chevyscrounger]

A few days before I found this instructable I bought one of those little diner type bells with the intention of teaching our 9 month old Bassett to use it. Thats been 3 weeks ago and so far he's rang the bell to go out 3 times.. so i think he's getting the hang of it.

[zako]

hey i just got to say, easy but clever, great idea. i think my dog is a bit to dumb to use it but i will give it a shot thanks

[Jural]

You'd be surprised how smart dogs actually are. Mine outsmarts me constantly. Now that I think of it, not a hard thing for her to do :) Thanks for the comment.

[GeorgeTP]

I've been doing this with my dog ever since she was a puppy. It works great, but we have scratch marks all over the door. Trying to move the bells didn't work and she jumps even higher, scratching more. She even does this to all our doors and learned that can open them. Otherwise, it's flawless.

[Jural]

Luckily my dog uses her nose to ring the bells. If they are not there she will scratch though.

[Heb111arc]

This is a wonderful tool. Fortunently, the door my dogs use is a glass sliding door, So my little girl, newly named Luna, jumps on the door. It's funny b/c the longer I make her wait the harder she "knocks" on the door. The glass is really dirty now though, bc of winter-muddy-feet on the outside of the door (when she asks to come in.) I may switch her to some jingle bells. :)

[Jural]

You could use one of the small suction cups to stick onto the glass. That would hold the bells temporarily. Just a thought.

[Rob K]

This did not work for me. I knew about this and tried it a few months ago. Dog just wanted to go outside all the time not when she had to go. Now she just runs into the blinds when you just mention "outside"

[Jural]

Luckily I have never had that problem with her. She does enjoy being inside though. That may be one of the reasons she isn't constantly ringing the bell.

[artoftexas]

Ya know, I wanted to do this for my dog but he would be ringin' that thing all night long just to make me walk downstairs....just as I managed to slip into the arms of Morpheus! Drat that dog! It is a great idea for new dogs and all-time inside dogs. We finally just decided that he is old enough (and well-trained enuf) to calmly come and sit in front of us when he wanted to go play, and to do his little excited okay mom-it slipped up on me and I gotta GO! dance when really necessary. He is a Gooood Boy! LOLOL!

[ranex]

we did this for our dog and we trained her at fist to tap the bell because she could smell the bit of dog food in it- but after we took the food out she kept on trying to eat the bells so we had to take it off butt this is a good training took if she wants to go out she just sits in front of the door and waits- its even transitioned to other things, she'll sit by her bowl if she wants water

[TamarGirl]

What a good / simple / clever / inexpensive idea! I have a cat/dog flap in the security door, but not in the inside door. I've been trying to think of way to do something similar for a while. I bought one of those awful whistling gnomes but for some reason it didn't whistle when Bill came up to it. Must give this a go and because he's such a clever boy (I'm besotted, can you tell!) he'll soon work it out.

[Jural]

My dog took to it really quickly. I just jingled it every time I let her out. She caught on in no time.

[Noodle93]

+1 vote and +1 rating because it's a good idea. Your jack russell is cute. I had one once, they're good dogs.

[Jural]

Her name is Penne, like the pasta. She's a good dog, but getting fat. I have to exercise her more. Thanks for the +1s.

[Noodle93]

Yes, I see she is getting a tad large :P

[GorillazMiko]

What a great idea!
And your dog is very cute.
Great job, +1 vote AND +1 rating.

[Jural]

Thanks for the kind words and the +1s.

[Sunbanks]

That's a great idea! My dog will just stand in our kitchen so you never know if he wants out or just wants to be petted. So if I do this he can just "tell" us when he wants out instead of standing in the waiting for us to either let him out or pet him.

[Jural]

I actually trained her with this method from nine weeks old. I recently moved and lost the original bell. The Instructables Pets Month reminded me of it. Maybe more people can use it. She has only had one "accident" in the house and she is now five years old.

[Weissensteinburg]

Nice =]

If we didn't have a doggie door, i'd make one for my dog.

[pingeee]

"Before long you will hear the soft jingle when they ring for you on their own" That's so cute

[Brennn10]

+1, +1, I love this idea!