Discouraging Door Dashers

My new Pug, Winston, loves to Door-Dash. If it were an Olympic sport, he'd definitely make the US team and make a serious run for the gold. Fortunately for me (and for Winston), his Dashing is only motivated by a desire to go for a ride; he only goes across our driveway to the car; and he has a decent recall, so he has never been in any real danger.

For other dogs, Door-Dashing can be a dangerous sport. It leads to missing dogs, dog fights, unwanted litters of puppies, dog bites, and sometimes even to tragic accidents. All of these things can be prevented, simply by teaching a dog to control his impulses when the door opens.

The key, I've found, is to teach the dog a behavior that is incompatible with Door-Dashing. Last week, I discussed teaching the SIT-STAY and that is a great foundation for preventing a dog from running outside every time the door is opened.

Once the dog is reliably holding a SIT-STAY for 15-20 seconds--and by "reliably," I mean that he is successful no less than 8/10 trials with variable reinforcement--you may begin to add the distraction of an opening door.

Make sure you have extremely high value treats available. What is "high value," depends on your dog: hot dog slices, pieces of chicken, cheese, peanut butter, duck jerky. Use the treat your dog will do anything to get because you're about to hit him with major temptation.

Stand with your back to your front door and ask your dog for a SIT-STAY. Ideally, you want to position him at least five feet back and facing you. This means your dog is facing the door, which you are about to open (or so he thinks).

Step One is to reach out and put your hand on the doorknob.Watch for signs that your dog is about to break: leaning slightly forward, shifting his weight back and forth between his front legs, lifting his bottom slightly off the floor. Try to catch him BEFORE he actually breaks and encourage him not to move; it's more effective than correcting an actual break.

If your dog breaks his STAY, use your negative reinforcer ("UH-OH!") and return him to his original position. Then, begin again. If your dog holds his STAY while you touch the doorknob, use your positive reinforcer ("YES!") give your dog a jackpot each time he resists temptation. Repeat the exercise 3-5 times, then end the session.

Once he is reliably resisting the urge to break, you can vary the rate of reinforcement, but you may discover that the behavior falls apart without consistent reinforcement. If that happens, continue to work this step.

You may need to repeat this step over a period of days or weeks before your dog is successful at maintaining his STAY while you touch the doorknob without instant gratification (a treat each and every time) because there will be times you won't have treats handy and you do not want his impulse control to be dependent on a lure.

Step Two is to open and close the door while your dog maintains his STAY. This works great if you have a screen door; you can open and close the storm door without putting your dog's safety at risk. At first, you may only be able to open it a fraction of an inch before your dog is ready to break. And that's okay.

Repeat the same protocol as above until your dog is able to hold his stay with the door wide open. This may take much long to accomplish than step one did, but don't get discouraged.

If you are in a high traffic area or if your dog doesn't have a strong recall, I recommend putting him on a long leash for this exercise. Instead of holding the leash in your hand, try stepping on it or tying the end around a heavy piece of furniture; you don't want your dog to have the visual cue that he is being restrained.

For those with a screen door, you may add opening and closing it as Step Three, repeating the same protocol as Step Two.

Step Three (or Four for those with screen doors) is probably the hardest. At this point, you will ask your dog to STAY while you take a step outside the open door. In Winston's case, I really upped the level of difficulty by asking Mickey (who Winston positively WORSHIPS!) to go in and out of the door while Winston held his stay.

Then, to add increased temptation, I began to give Winston all the visual cues that Mickey and I were actually leaving: putting on my shoes, holding my keys in one hand, carrying my backpack, putting Mickey's Service Dog vest on him, etc. until Winston's STAY was solid under those circumstances.

Our next step? Asking him to hold his STAY to prevent him from dashing outside when delivery people come to the door and friends come to visit. That is still a work-in-progress, but he's steadily improving. If this is an area where your dog needs improvement, recruit a few friends to assist you. Start back at Step One if needed and keep working at it. Make sure you explain to your recruits that you may need to close the door in their faces, though, or you could cause some hurt feelings.