Stop Your Dog From Running Through Your Doorway
28 Aug 2009
Is your dog one of those that is so excited to get outside that he runs out the door in front of you? If you do, this is surely a problem you’ll want to know how to control. The good news is that is is not all that hard a problem to correct.
- Begin the training with an interior doorway. Since the front door is too tempting, it is a lot easier to being the training with an inner door. Approach a closed door somewhere in your house-bedroom, den, whatever-and I bet that before you can even open it you’ll notice your wayward dog trying to get in front of you so he can run through that door before you. . If he’s had obedience training he’ll already know these two very basic commands, and do what you say. Once he is in position, make sure you give him a reward and lots of affection and praise-make him feel good about the training. Make sure he is relaxed in the sit position long enough that is not acting like a coiled spring, ready to launch up and run out the doorway. OK, when he relaxes, go ahead and open the door. As he sees the door open, he most likely will quickly leave the sit and stay position, and be well on his way to going through that door. This will probably happen at first, but don’t let it upset you. Keep working on getting him to sit and wait until you are sure he has it down.
- Now that you have him remaining in sit and stay position, you can open the door a little wider-just enough for you to slip through. Opening the door only partway is a little less temptation for him to try to follow. The door may tempt him too strongly and perhaps he will try to go through it before your invitation. You will have to keep repeating this stage till he demonstrates he has learned to stop running through the doorway by remaining in the sit and stay position- even after you have passed through the door to the other side.
- Now itt is time to try a harder test-the front door. Your dog knows that fun and adventure await on the other side of that particular door, so don’t be surprised if he is harder to control than at the other doors. Therefore, be ready and put his leash on him before going to the front door and opening it. For a larger breed, it is a smart idea to put one end of the leash around the front doorknob, so that if he does charge out, he won’t get very far. If he does lurch out the door before you can stop him, this will bring him to a quick stop, and give him something to think about. Go back to the above step in case he tries to run out.
- Make sure you repeat this training daily several times, for perhaps 15 minutes per session. To really reinforce this behavior, every time you come to a door (or curb or a boundary) make sure your dog sits and waits for your command to move forward. Training your dog to stop at all curbs is also an important part of boundary training for your dog.
See I told you the training for stopping a dog from running through doorways is a pretty straight forward and simple one. If you haven’t previously obedience trained your dog, this article should have showed you that obedience training is a priority to enjoying a fun and trouble free relationship with your doggy For many more articles to help you learn how to solve behavior problems or to learn the basics of obedience training please click here- www.BehaveDoggy.com.
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