I want to train my pup to ring a bell when she wants to go out.  She loves to look out the window, and I am tired of trying to determine when she is just looking and when she wants to go out.  She is not a big barker, and it is not easy to see the door from various rooms.  I have heard of training to ring a bell.  We have hung a small bell on the handle.  Each time we put her out, we ring the bell first, then direct her outside.  Occasionally, she has pushed the bell (out of curiosity).  Then, we insist she goes out.

I would like to hear the process of training for this task.

It sounds as though you (and she!) are doing well! When you ring the bell and go out with her (not just let her out) you do give lots of praise and make it exciting, don't you? I'm sure you didn't mean it, but your post sounds as if you put her out, and even force her outside, by herself. If she's nudging the bell already it shows she's very clever, so when she does that gives lots of praise in a happy excited voice (after all, it's what you want her to do, so it's got to be fun!) and go out with her a part of the reward.
:)

Well, actually I have forced her out if she rang the bell because I was thinking I needed to for her to make the association.  Realize she has only bumped the bell a couple of times and I believe out of curiosity of it just hanging ther.  If she bumps the bell, I open the door, and she just stands there looking and sniffing but does not go out...wouldn't that reinforce the wrong idea?

I can start going out with her if it will help the training, but it is less than 25 degrees F here.  By the time I get my coat and gear, I figured the time elapse would create no association?  I was thinking that I need to get her out quickly so the connection between the bell and out is made.

Recommendations?

If you force her out when she doesn't want to go, she will think you are punishing her for ringing the bell! You are right to think the connection between ringing the bell and going out needs to be together - you are either going to have to go outside into the cold with her without your coat etc, or wait to train this in the summer months.

Hi darling, thats a good idea for keeping madam busy! Now what else can Sadie learn to do? :)

I think the connection should be -ring bell-door opens, so everytime the dog rings the bell, lots of praise given and "open sesame" the dog can then choose whether to go out for wee wees or not. The dog will eventually work it out that when it wants to go outside the bell works like magic

This is what we are doing when she just stares out the back door.  75% of the time when we open the door, she will just stick her English Pointer nose out the door and sniff sniff sniff sniff...  We laugh that she has a bladder of steel and does not want to go out often at all.  It is cold after all.  That is why I wanted to do the bell thing to help with us guessing if she is enjoying the scenery or needs to potty.

But, maybe what you are saying could work.  Have you trained your dogs on this?

No Darling, I didn't bell train my dogs, hadn't heard of this when I got my 2 nearly 6 yrs ago, only wish I had. My dogs come and playbow and whine for everything they need, whether it be food, toilet, play, treats, walkies etc. We then always have to offer them the open door on the off chance that they want to go in the garden, which is a bit of a pain, because 90% of the time they don't want to go out and just look at us in disgust as if to say "you should know what we want!!!" However they don't mess about if they really do want outside, the second the door is opened they rush on out, so we know immediately if we've got it right,- or wrong if we get the look of disgust!
I just think it will be trial and error for a while in your case, just keep on offering the open door each time the bell rings, but I wouldn't make her go out if she doesn't want to, believe me if she needed the toilet badly she wouldn't miss the opportunity of the open door. It's probably a novelty at the moment for her but she will soon start to associate ringing the bell with the door being opened, so just carry on doing what you are doing it will be worth it in the end.
The reason I think the association works this way is because my dogs do a sort of association in reverse. When they want to come back inside from the garden Harry gives a single bark, he knows that everytime he does this the door will be opened for him, Alfie on the other hand will jump up at the back door and clobber it, because everytime he does this the door opens. They were never taught this, they just did it naturally, and because the door was opened consistantly for them each time, they learned the association-bark-door opens, and clobber door-door opens, so it follows that if you consistantly open the door for her each time the bell rings she will start to associate the two. IMO that's how dogs minds work. Good luck.

My dog does the clobber the door thing.  It makes me crazy with muddy paw smudges all over.  And with this English Pointer's height, the mud goes to my should height!  I would love to get a bark instead.  This gives me some things to think over.

Well if you want her to stop clobbering the door then you have to stop opening the door in response to break that association. She will probably keep barking for a while but when she sees that the door doesn't open anymore will do something else instead.

Sorry what I meant to say in the above post is "she will probably keep on jumping up the door for a while" (not barking) -still half asleep! :P

Suggestions?  Ideas?  This training thing is new to me.  I need ideas and how to do it.  We did basic obedience when she was small.  So until I find different class, I want to try to do some new things at home. 

Hi,
Our puppy bullmastiff was very quick to learn this, we do not have a bell but the keys are left in the french doors and she would go up to them and knock them with her nose, when she did this we would just open the door, after a short time 1/2 days she knew knocking the keys would bring us to the door and open it for her, we did think of putting a bell on the key ring but the noise of the keys is just as good.
The older dogs all do this now, and hey presto no more accidents in the house from the puppy.
Karen.

I see your point.  And, as I can not picture myself in these temperatures in the morning with wearing my night gown...maybe we should postpone?