Pavlov's Housebreaking Method

 Pavlov's Housebreaking (Teach Your Dog to Ring a Bell to go Outside):

This training technique is both simple and effective. Based on Pavlov’s ‘Classical Conditioning’ experiments, dogs can quickly learn that ringing a bell at the door will let them go out. It only takes 1-3 weeks for most dogs to learn the ‘routine’.

Most of our dogs know by now that the door means ‘outside’… but the usual method of notification involves scratching, whining, barking or worse yet ‘piddling’ on the doormat while waiting for us. By ringing the bell immediately prior to going outside, our dogs will quickly learn to associate the two together.

Here are a few simple steps:
1. Purchase a Custom K9 Design Door Ringer (this is a VERY important step!)
2. Point out the bell to your dog. Hold treats up next to the bell, so that your dog will begin hitting the bell with their nose or paw. Reward with the treat. You may need to tap the bell for the dog the first 2-3 times… but it won’t take long to realize that bell ring = treat.
3. Repeat 2-3 sessions of 1-2 minutes each. As your dog begins to ‘get it’, start adding the command “Ring the Bell!” each time your dog is successful in making the bell ring.
4. You should be able to simply point to the bell and say “Ring the Bell!” without holding up the treat, after a few short sessions.
5. Once your dog has the basic concept of how to ring the bell, begin ringing the bell as you turn the knob to open the door. You may want to ‘ring, open, step outside with your dog, step back inside (with your dog), close door, repeat’ several times. You do not need to go all the way outside to the potty spot each time. Your dog knows that outside means outside… no matter how far away from the door you go.
6. Reinforce the door ringing each time you take your dog out to go potty. In between ‘real’ potty trips, practice #5.

HERES THE CATCH: (there’s always a catch!)
Your dog will LOVE this game. As soon as they ‘get it’, they will want to play all the time. In order for the technique to work, you MUST reinforce your dogs ringing of the bell every time they ring it, even if they just rang it 5 minutes ago. This fun will go on for about 2-4 weeks. The benefit is worth the hassle though, as you will have a potty trained dog for a lifetime. Even if they just went out 2 minutes ago, you must jump up, be excited and say “Yay! Great Job! Let’s Go Outside!”. Put their leash on, walk to their spot, wait a moment, and come back in. After you are sure that your dog is fully committed to ringing the bell to go out, you can begin telling your dog “No” if needed. My dogs have been bell trained for so long, that I know when they need to go out. They often ring the bell if they are being ignored (ie company is visiting, or I am busy working), or if they just want to play. Sometimes we go out, sometimes we don’t… but I know my dogs behavior well enough to know when they actually have to go. Soon, you will too.

Lastly, you can take the bell with you when you travel. Whenever you go someplace new, simply put the bell on the door, re-enforce the training with at least 2 quick sessions (ie, point to the bell, wait for the ring, open the door, go out, then come back in a few times) and you’re in business. When I visit family, I don’t have to worry about ‘piddles’ on the oriental rugs.



For the 'nerds' out there, here's some science stuff.
Classical conditioning (also Pavlovian or respondent conditioning, Pavlovian reinforcement) is a form of associative learning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov. The typical procedure for inducing classical conditioning involves presentations of a neutral stimulus along with a stimulus of some significance. The neutral stimulus could be any event that does not result in an overt behavioral response from the organism under investigation. Pavlov referred to this as a conditioned stimulus (CS). Conversely, presentation of the significant stimulus necessarily evokes an innate, often reflexive, response. Pavlov called these the unconditioned stimulus (US) and unconditioned response (UR), respectively. If the CS and the US are repeatedly paired, eventually the two stimuli become associated and the organism begins to produce a behavioral response to the CS. Pavlov called this the conditioned response (CR).
The original and most famous example of classical conditioning involved the salivary conditioning of Pavlov's dogs. During his research on the physiology of digestion in dogs, Pavlov noticed that, rather than simply salivating in the presence of meat powder (an innate response to food that he called the unconditioned response), the dogs began to salivate in the presence of the lab technician who normally fed them. Pavlov called these psychic secretions. From this observation he predicted that, if a particular stimulus in the dog’s surroundings were present when the dog was presented with meat powder, then this stimulus would become associated with food and cause salivation on its own. In his initial experiment, Pavlov used a metronome to call the dogs to their food and, after a few repetitions, the dogs started to salivate in response to the metronome. Thus, a neutral stimulus (metronome) became a conditioned stimulus (CS) as a result of consistent pairing with the unconditioned stimulus (US - meat powder in this example). Pavlov referred to this learned relationship as a conditional reflex (now called conditioned response).

Pavlov's history taken from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning
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