Potty Bells...A Craft Project for Lazy/Cheap People!!??

        Well, you may have noticed from my blog picture that we have a "puppy".  Yes, that big dog is technically still a puppy -- although his first birthday is fast approaching.  When we rescued "Lucky" last July, I had heard from a friend about "bell training".  For those who don't know, basically, you hang a bell (or bells) from the door where you let your dog out, and the dog then learns to ring the bells when he/she wants to go out and "take care of business".  Well, that sounded like a great idea to me.  We previously had owned two English Setters ("Cocoa" and "Cola").  They were our kids....before kids....  At that time, I did not know of "bell training".  They just used the good old-fashioned whining, barking, pawing at the door method.

     For Lucky, I decided to purchase some random bells from the Dollar Tree and hung them on a ribbon on the back door.  Luckily...."Lucky" seemed to know right away what those bells were for.  He was awesome to train and we were very.........that's right.....lucky!!!  He honestly has not had an "accident" in the house since the first two weeks we brought him home.  I don't think it's the potty bells....he's just smart :) !!  A short time later I realized that they sell "pretty" potty bells (sometimes called Poochie Bells) at Pet Supplies Plus and other pet stores, as well as on the internet.  Well, they cost approximately $20 and.....I am too cheap to pay that much!! 

     A couple of months ago when I was at Michaels for something else, I realized I should buy the materials that I was reasonably sure I would need to make those Potty Bells myself!!!  Honestly, I also wanted to wait until the "teething" puppy stage was winding down a bit so as to lessen the chance of our dog eating said potty bells.  So, today, when I had a million more important things to do, I whipped together my version of (sorta) pretty potty bells...  So easy, I did it while sitting on the couch talking to my mom.  A Practical, Easy and Affordable* no-sew project!  Anyone else using the bell training method?

 8-10 Bells (30 mm), 1 1/2 " Ribbon, 32 mm Split Rings, Self-Stick Velcro and Scissors

Lucky ringing bells to go "Potty"



The finished product and Lucky on his way back from his potty break!

*Didn't save receipts (never thought I'd be blogging about it) but spent approx. $10 with supplies left for more!!