Fall temperatures are here and the dog love it. You may find your dog doing things that he hasn’t done since puppyhood. Some of these things are cute but a few may be dangerous. It only takes a few seconds for serious consequences to occur if your dog dashes out of the door as soon as it is opened.
What can you do about it?
To begin with, manage the situation as much as you can.
- Never leave a door open. Even if you are right there, your dog may see something irresistible and dash out of the door.
- Use baby gates or other barriers to prevent access to doors that lead to unsecured areas.
- Keep a leash near each door to an unsecured area. Put the leash on your dog before you open the door for any reason.
- Be consistent. Require your dog to wait each and every time you open a door to an unsecured area.
- Opening the door should become the cue for your dog to wait.
- Always release to go through the door with verbal cue such as “OK”.
- If your dog sits on cue, ask for a sit. Immediately give him a treat for sitting.
- Put your hand on the door knob. Reward your dog.
- Turn the door knob. Reward your dog.
- Open the door a crack, close it immediately. Reward your dog.
- Open the door a little further; close it immediately. Reward your dog.
- Continue to open the door a bit further each time closing it immediately if your dog did not move forward. Reward your dog each time.
- Open the door as wide as it will go. Close the door. Reward your dog.
- Step through door. Come back. Reward your dog.
- Open door. Release dog. Walk through the door with your dog.
Offer plenty of time for supervised excursions. Daily walks off of your property provide mental stimulation as well as physical exercise.
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These walks allow your dog to discover for themselves there are no secret treasures hidden in the front yard that they can’t find in the back yard.
Walks meet their needs for social interaction with other people and dogs.
Teach your dog to wait at the door until you release him.
How to Teach Your Dog to Wait at the Door
The following steps will help you teach your dog to wait patiently at the door until you release him to go dog-waiting-at-doorthrough it. This method is designed to have as few mistakes in the training process as possible. If your dog attempts to go through the door before you release him, simply close the door. Wait a couple of seconds. Begin again.
Each training session should last no longer than 5 minutes. Don’t try to teach the entire behavior in one day. Work over several days or a week. You’ll find your dog quickly learns to self control at the door.
When you are ready to start, put a leash on your dog, grab a hand full of treats, and go to the door.
Drop the leash on the floor and stand on it so you will have your hands free but your dog will safe should he decide to make a break for freedom.
Continue to practice until your dog automatically waits for a release each time you open the door. For every time that you practice releasing your dog to go through the door, practice 3 to 5 times where your dog does not go through the door. Once your dog learns to wait until released before going through an open door, you can start reducing the number of treats that you give. Going through the door will be its own reward.
Now that you have learned how to train your dog to wait at the door, start thinking about your next training project!
