Just Ring if You Need Anything

The brown and white pup was having trouble with the whole house-breaking thing. We had heard about training dogs with bells that you hang on the door that you typically send your dog out to do their business. The idea being that you walk the dog to the door. Ring the bells. Open the door. Take the dog out to 'go' and then reward the dog. Very Pavlov. The dog will eventually be conditioned to ring the bells and expect the door to open so he can go do his thing in the great outdoors, rather than the rug.
It totally worked. Within a few days the pup was ringing his bell to go out and no more accidents on the rug.
Here's the catch. The pup is now taking advantage of the bells. A few weeks ago, I was upstairs trying to get into the shower before the kids got up.
I hear the bells, grab a towel and go running downstairs. The pup is sitting by his food bowl. He wanted to be fed. Now.
In the mornings when Caleb is downstairs trying to eat breakfast the pup is relentless in his ringing. When I yell down to tell Caleb to let the pup out, he informs me that the pup wants to play.
He rings and when Caleb stands to let him out he runs and gets his ball. He wants to play fetch. Now.
The past few days he has been ringing like a crazy dog. Whether I am doing laundry, showering or let's be honest, reading blogs, I am constantly interrupted by the bell ringing of a very impatient pup.
I watched him last night after he 'rang' to get out for the billionth time. Caleb made one of those pine cones smeared with peanut butter and then rolled in bird seed, bird feeders. The pup can smell the peanut butter and is trying to figure out how to gets his paws on it. Hence, the need for the billion trips outside.
Now, you might be thinking I should just ignore him. Hells no. That is when he leaves me a big stinky present by the backdoor, and looks at me with a roll of his eyes and a shoulder shrug and says, "I rang, where the hell were you?"
I am afraid that I will be answering to the call of his bell for years to come, unless I can figure out how to install a doggy door.


I think the pup was worn out after all of his bell ringing. If he wasn't so good with the kids, I might be tempted to leave him curbside.