[yorkietalkjilly]

Oh, my, Jackie, both of them are too excited, out of control from the moment they see the door and pulling out in front of you instead at heel along side of you. Dogs allowed to walk in front of their leader assume a pack leader/dominant role, are empowered by being allowed to pull ahead and the more dominant dog in a pack will feel they have the right to discipline other, more submissive dogs walking with them, mostly because they feel there is no structure to the walk. And dogs are like children, they need structure and true leadership and rules in almost every aspect of their lives or they anxiously try to assume that role - feeling someone should be in charge.

I'm not sure you'll be willing to put in the time and patience to re-train them but if you are, you can totally correct QT's behavior but you will have to become a real pack leader, specialize in patience for the first two to three weeks, become a Charles-In-Charge as it were and set the rules, correct her when she does something you disagree with and stop the walk in your tracks until she's calm again or else bend down and physically touch her on the flank to send a strong message directly to her body that you disagree with her actions of trying to cross over to nip/bark at your other dog on your other side(once they are trained properly, they can walk side-by-side at heel). And bending down to touch her flank won't be hard to do as she'll be walking on a short lead at your side rather than pulling ahead on that too-long lead you are using now. There is no way you can control an excited dog on a long lead on a walk outside with all those sounds, smells and all the energy flowing in the outdoors.

Dogs don't need to pull ahead to enjoy their walk at all. My Tibbe walks at heel most of the time(oh, occasionally I allow him to pull ahead just to sniff something but return him to heel again when he's done - and other times if he's walking calmly, I allow him to walk ahead for half of the walk but that's because he doesn't abuse the privilege and go nuts). haha - he might if I'd let him - little minx - but I don't think so - once a Yorkie learns what is "right" and that ingrained in his brain, he'll want to do it that way from them on.

First lesson: Before you ever allow your dog near the door, play ball/fetch or some rousing game that burns some energy. Then have them do calm lie/sit on command and relax for a while in the house before you quietly, without a word, harness and leash them up, grab the leads and approach the door.

Allow them some normal excitement by the door, jumping and barking if you'd like and let them burn off some more excitement that way for a while early in the training but then give them the command to lie down or sit and then give the "relax" command. Get a book and you sit, too, right there with them on a chair. This is where the patience comes in. You must sit there with them until these dogs can manage to achieve a calm, relaxed state before you ever approach or open that door. It's imperative they not associate the walk with wild excitement, pulling and poor behavior but learn to associate the walk with achieving a calm, relaxed state before the walk and during the walk.

It can take up to 30 minutes to get them both totally relaxed at first but as soon as they learn that being calm and relaxed is the only way they get near that door, they will begin to police themselves and go into relaxation quicker and quicker as the relaxation training at the door progresses. And they must be sitting or lying in their harnesses and leashes by the door in a calm, relaxed state, ears out to the side, eyes soft, breathing only slightly faster than normal and all excitement purged from their system before you ever stand up and approach the door. If they jump up when you do, say "uh oh" and go back to your regular seat, take up your book again and give them another "relax" command, wait until they are again relaxed, then approach the door. Repeat this exercise over and over for the next two weeks until they finally get the fact that mommie never goes near the door to open it unless we are both quiet and relaxed and stay that way as she both approaches and touches the door. Once they get there, quietly place a luscious treat on the floor before each of them. That's a payoff for learning how to be calm dogs by the door.

That's your first lesson. Keep repeating this training until the dogs can calm themselves in harness and lead with the door right there and allow you to approach and touch it without jumping up and going nuts. You can try it in short, frequent sessions if you'd like at first but with this type training, I've found just sitting there ignoring the dog, quietly reading a book or listening to an audio book while my jack-in-the-box dog learns not to jump up and down from hyper-excitement is the best way to go, however long it takes. And it takes the patience of Job at first. And when he jumps up and gets all excited if I arise to walk to the door, he gets an "uh oh" to mark the failure and we start the waiting for calm process all over again.

With time, your dogs will get the message that excitement means boringly sitting there doing nothing fun happening, never getting to go outside and no progress made toward their walkies when they are out of control. In time they learn to stay in place until you approach and even open the door! Because they know, if they move forward, mom stops all door activity, closes it again and come back in, gets her book and we wait some more. They begin to see you are in control of this process and look at you as the leader of the walk activity.

You'd be surprised how taking control of the doorway space(it is your home and you do get to say what goes on there at the door) and not permitting excitement to continue and build will begin to teach them how to control their impulsive behavior and calm right down so the door can be approached and even opened and everybody get to go outside.

Your next lesson will be to teach them that an open door doesn't mean they get to go out it until you give the release for them to go out - from behind you - as you always always always always always get to go out first(just like a dog pack leader does - he always leads the way for his pack) and wait until they are calm and not acting crazy before you invite them to come out the door. Should they try, you just say "uh oh", pull up on the leash, block them with your body and lead them right back inside, give the down/relax command and wait for the relaxed state of mind you want. But that's your next lesson and meaningless as this all might seem, this is all vital preparation to taking control of the walk by first owning the doorway, establishing the behavior there you want, opening the door, being invited outside and ultimately QT's behavior on the lead.

If you get through the first and second lessons and get dogs that learn to go into relaxation at the door and stay that way as you approach it and open it, let me know and we can move on to Lesson Three.