[yorkietalkjilly]

Originally Posted by anastacea

So, we moved to a new house with a doggy door. My older Silky Terrier mix who is 8 months old picked up on the doggy door right away.

But, my younger 4.5 month old Yorkshire Terrier is having difficulty. I will train him with a harness and a leash as I have been reading on Yorkietalk as a method of training him to use the door. It works great, I'll gently pull him through with the leash, then remove the leash, and let him come in and out on his own. I can get him to go in and out for a treat a good 20 times or so after removing the leash.

But, then an hour later, he sits outside waiting to be let in, and when I ask him to "come inside" he acts like he doesn't know how. I have been doing this for almost a week. Why does he forget what I taught him so quickly?

It also seems like he has more trouble coming in then going out. But, I haven't really seen him go out on his own. But, sometimes when I am training him. I go on the outside of the door and call him outside, he will come right away. But, when I call him to come inside, he has more difficulty, and can't figure it out.

Thanks for the advice.

Unless he has demonstrated lack of short term memory generally, I'll bet he is just unsure of the act of going in that doggy door without your attendant reassurance and the spur of a treat. Just keep teaching him over and over. Repetition will eventually take the insecurity of going in that door away. He's quite young and if he is a Yorkie, some are incredibly "iffy" about doing certain things they find disagreeable for whatever reason. He may learn other things much more quickly and even things that might seem to us as harder or less fun but to him for whatever reason, there is something attached to the act of coming in through that door he's insecure or unsure about. Frequent lessons will help that insecurity.