potty training not going well

I have a new puppy. he is about 51/2 months old. I have had him since the middle of
October and he is just not catching on to potty training. I have had a lot of dogs and
I have never had so much trouble getting them trained. Petey (the puppy) is a little
shihtzu/ bichon mix. When we brought him home he took our golden retreiver (Rocky)
on as his mother. Petey goes everywhere Rocky goes and if you know goldens. you know
Rocky is fine with this. Well Rocky has a bell attached to the door handle that he rings
when he needs to go outside. I made the string longer and put another bell on the
string so Petey could reach it, that didn't work. We tell Rocky to take his dog outside
and he does, if Petey has to go he will but he does let us know by barking or ringing
his bell. I'm getting frustrated. Any suggestions will be appreciated

being a small puppy of a small breed they need more outings as they bladder can't hold as much or as long as your Golden can.. so he goes when Rocky goes.. but the rest of the time he goes when and where he needs to.. you just need to take him out/make him go to the bell more often in between those times ..
he might be getting the part of go out with Rocky to pee.. but no the part that he can and has to go on his own too..

Take the dog out immediately after he wakes up or eats.

Make sure you praise him AFTER he does his business- make it a game!

I hope this helps.

Ahahahaaa, oh my, as I was reading I thought, "she hasn't said the breed, bet it's a bichon," and then BANG you say part bichon!!!

Bichons are notoriously difficult to potty train. They are very busy dogs, and potty training does not even make it onto their "TO DO" list! So I suspect this is what you are dealing with. It is typical for a bichon to be about 1 year old before being potty trained, and many take till age 18 months to be reliable in the house.

This means you CAN potty train the puppy, just not on your time schedule. Be patient and consistent. When doggie goes outside, have a pawty! Clap, laugh, dance around, praise and TREATS, lots of them. When doggie goes inside, just clean up and move on. It is OK to make sounds of disgust when you are cleaning up (ick! yucky!) but do NOT make eye contact or even look at the dog when you are doing this.

My Tasha is a puppy mill rescue, born and raised in a cage. She came to me at almost age 5 and it took 18 months but we got there and she is now reliable in house. Mill rescues of any breed are very hard to train as they are used to sitting in their own waste, so the natural instinct not to soil in the nest is missing. We got there, with this huge issue, and you WILL get there as well.

As adults, bichons pee every 4 hours. As puppies, they need to go even more often. The bichon breed has a very small bladder, even smaller than other small breeds. There is a study in France just now looking into WHY bichons are the way they are, lol.

Dog must be trained just like a little Childs are trained. Fix the timing to take out your dog for walking in morning and evening.