Communication Bells for Your Pet
It's with great excitement that I tell you Jeff and I adopted a puppy!! I'm a huge dog lover and have terribly missed having one in my life. My last dog was an angel but when 75lbs of pure muscle & speed decide to chase a bird you either run with her or get dragged; when my health took a downturn I experienced the later.
This time I had very specific parameters for our new addition: small, between 1-3 years, short hair, mellow, potty trained, affectionate, friendly not a barker. I know, that's a lot right?
Well, I love puppies but didn't want to deal with chewing and training. Also didn't want the extra responsibility and expense of the groomer or mess of long hair. I'm very sensitive to sound so a yippee dog is not for me. We live in a townhome so there's no backyard for a dog to just go out to when it needs to take care of business or requires a lot of exercise.
Our dream dog does exist! We rescued him from Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Loxahatchee, FL., who rescued him from Puerto Rico, we've named him Stanley.He's a tad younger than originally planned but is doing great! We think he's a Daushound mix although the original vet in PR listed him as Bassett mix, let me know what you think.
I quickly learned that Stanley doesn't bark if he needs to go out and actually told Jeff I'd thought about putting bells on the door. His only dog passed when he was 9 so he's not up to speed in K-9 communications (as if I'm the dog whisperer-ha) so he kinda scoffed at the idea.
The next day while shopping online for dog food, what Pop's up but exactly what I was thinking and told Jeff. These were a lot more money than I wanted to spend and knew I could make them faster than 2 day shipping and so I did.
Note, I used Items already on hand so cost is estimated assuming ribbon, bells and paint were newly purchased.
It's not necessary to use wire or a curtain hook, that's what I have on hand. Other potential options: pipe cleaners, twist ties, string, hair ties.
I started with a curtain ring, removed the clip and tied a ribbon on it. I got this ribbon on clearance last year for about. 50
Since Stanley's collar is purple & I didn't have purple ribbon I painted the ribbon I had to match.
I had a package if bells on hand, I believe I got them at Dollar Tree last year
Using silver picture frame wire I secured each bell individually by just twisting the wire a bit.
I cut five two inch pieces of ribbon, created a loop and hot gluded each loop several inches apart along the base ribbon.
I then looped the wired bells through my fabric loops and twisted the wire so it was securely closed.
Using a magnetic hook the bells are hanging on the front door. This is Jeff trying to teach Stanley how they work 🤣
It's been a few weeks and he is catching on!
Stanley posing in front of the Christmas decor. 🎄 🐶
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I did this for our Chihuahua . She was 9 weeks old when I got her and not housetrained. We actually had a tire toy/bell from our deceased fox terrier that we used. I hung it on a white rope because my door is white and only the black toy stands out. Every time we took her out (after she woke up, after eating, and if she's been playing for while) we would pick her up, jingle the bell, and say "potty!" And then take her outside. Once she did her business, we'd praise her, bring her in, and give her small training treats. It worked like a charm. She's 2 years and 5 months old now and has been ringing the bell to go out for over 2 years. It works great and by using a toy instead of the little jingle bells, I don't have to worry about her swallowing a bell, as she loves to chew things.
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I never thought about him swallowing one of the bells.. eek. Fortunately he has a lot of toys he loves and no interest in chewing the bells.
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