Puppy tries to dart out front door
 

Leo, my 9.5week old puppy, whom I got last Friday, keeps trying to go out the front door when someone comes in and out. I try to distract him by squeeking his toy and throwing it, which seems to help 8/10 times. Today he did get out, luckily my Grandpa got him back. How can I go about training him not to run out the door? It's a very scary thought he could get out and not come back, or get hit by a car.

Bella does too. Looking forward to suggestions.

You could try a baby gate at the door until he is old enough to train.

Your puppy is still a baby and too young to really learn to stay away from the door so keep him physically leashed when allowing him near the door, behind a baby gate to the room the front door is in, closed in another room or in his crate when you answer it. Once he's a bit older and has more capacity to learn, you can actually teach him not to approach the front door unless you invite him or bring him to it on the leash.

If you'd like, I can give you some pointers on how to do that as will other members but it is simply one of the hardest things to teach excitable, toy dogs and does take some weeks once the training begins before you can successfully keep them from door-darting. Therefore, you won't be able to rely on anti-door-darting training for quite some time to keep your baby safe.

In the meantime, to be safe, keep an ID tag on your little one and keep that baby away from the door as toy dogs dearly LOVE escaping out the front door!!! My Tibbe was just the worst door-darter his first few months here and still is if I don't keep his training refreshed but I have trained him to avoid the door and he's also trained not to leave his front yard. So even the time or two he has door-darted in the last couple of years when there was a crowd at the door(after I had lapsed on refreshing his front-door avoidance re-freshing training), he has stayed in his yard and came back in when called. Training - it works wonders - but for door-darting most of these little Yorkies do and the way they live their lives right under our feet and take part in everything we do, they still can be trained not to approach the door and they remember it as long as you keep refreshing the training - often.

To make the front door avoidance training work better, you need to also start regular obedience training with your little guy so that he'll learn in time to control his impulses, learn to respond to your commands for instant gratification(praise & treats), learn to see you as his pack leader who is to be obeyed at all times for that instant gratification and pride of accomplishment, learns to enjoy the work of training and how proud it makes him to work with you as a team-member. And the magic of obedience training is that over time, your dog learns to see you as his pack leader, respect you automatically, obey you by rote - without really thinking about it - just obeys out of habit when you tell him something. Of course no dog is really perfect - they forget, get badly distracted and can grow sluggish if we let them down by not refreshing the training or do it badly, dully and don't put fun and excitement, pride in the dog into it, but for the most part, training your puppy in simple obedience and simple "tricks" will pave the way for preventing door-darting through some additional, simple training and a create a well-behaved and happily submissive dog who enjoys obeying you for the pride you make him feel when he does. It makes for a lovely pet who rarely gives you problems as opposed to the often frantic, constantly barking, resource-guarding, occas. nipping/biting, destructive-of-your-things, house-peeing/pooping little horrors that many of them turn into from a lack of training or strong leadership.

My place is setup so I can go to the door, push Ruger back and get a gate between him and the door. Usually I throw a few treats into the room and he'll chase those when I go out. Coming in he now stays back a bit because he wants to greet me, but if I put the gate up before I left he stays there till I remove it.

While training is very important, I decided to put up barriers to prevent accidents. My boys were trained to stay at the door. However, a certain human forgot to give the stay command and Teddy followed his impulse to jump out and chase the UPS truck down the street.

We put up babygates to keep the doggies from the doors.

I've already taught him sit. He does really well with sit, and he's fairly good with "come" He's a VERY hyper puppy. Loves chewing, picking up random things outside (I pulled a slug out of his mouth yesterday) :eek: He constantly tries to chew on fingers, and toes. I'll tell him a firm NO, yip, and/or give him a toy to redirect him on what's correct to chew on. I can't wait until he's out of this phase. I'm definitely going to take him to obedience classes. He's the totally opposite of what Zoey was as a puppy. What's a good age to start basic obedience classes? The Petco in my town offers them.

He sounds just like most puppies - hyper, chewers, going nonstop. I usually start to obedience train them as soon as they are done with imprinting and so forth at 12 -14 weeks but you can do some training earlier with the come, sit, stay, watch me type things to get him started off right and for only a minute or two a few times a day. Early and consistent training is so important to build the kind of working team you'll want to become.

Once he's gotten more control of his impulses, you can train him to go to a spot of your choice - say his bed or a rug - and stay there when the doorbell rings or your approach the front door and that will prevent door-darting but it takes a dog that has control of his impulses, repeated training and primed to want to stay there for the reward of praise, pride and treats he will get and which he's learned over time are all more satisfying than darting out the door. Once your dog has learned to work for your pride in him and how much he enjoys feeling that, plus the praise and treats as secondary benefits, he will stay where you train him to stay during open-door sessions and comings and goings even though it is very hard for little dogs.

" I usually start to obedience train them as soon as they are done with imprinting" What is imprinting? O_o

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This is a matter of life and death....you may not get a do over! THIS is the one instance when I will take a thin little neighborhood newspaper, rolled up, and I will loudly slap that newspaper on MY LEG first, to startle the pup and stop him from going any further. If he persists in this behavior, and since I do NOT trust "training" when that predator drive kicks in and pup sees a squirrel in the yard, I WILL take the newspaper, hold it down alongside my leg, and when pup starts to bolt out the door, I bring that newspaper down IN FRONT OF PUP, LOUDLY AND FIRMLY YELL "NO"!!!!, AND HE THEN RUNS INTO THE NEWSPAPER, AND STOPS DEAD IN HIS TRACKS! He "thinks" he has been swatted..... If necessary, I will swat the pup in this instance, as this is NOT something I will allow or accept. I have to say, I avoid the swats by putting up baby gates throughout my home, totally keeping my pups away from any and all exits!

Nothing else warrants swats as far as I am concerned, except the "bolt out the door" stunt....that can result in DEATH!!!!

Here's an explanation.

puppy development stages | Wonder Puppy

I have a gate inside too as I just can't trust them not to dart out. All it takes is once, and they end up in the street. Not worth it.

We do have a baby gate across the kitchen. If just one person is leaving, then someone else will hold him, but if we're all leaving we put him in his crate. My grandpa wasn't paying attention, and I think he forgets Leo is only a puppy, and doesn't know better like my adult dogs. I'm definitely going to be more strict/stern with things. =)

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Excellent! Something that a lot of people do not even realize is that some senior citizens are concentratinng so hard on not slipping or tripping, remembering what they are going to get or even where they are going, they can easily forget about pets darting between their legs / feet! With holidays upon us, lotsof people running in and out of doors, this is the time to pull out all stops and do all you can to keep you pet safe! Remember Aunt Lucy's heart medicine in her purse or suitcase, on the floor inthe guest room! Remember all the Halloween candy, much of it toxic to dogs. Christmas thru New Years,each have their own conglomeration of dangers and require a step up in "homeland security"!!

Wow, this is terrific advice. Never thought of it, but oh so true! I'm lucky I live in the country, but if Gunner gets out the front door I cannot catch him since I can't move to fast. Also, when the grandkids come over I sometimes give them treats which are not good for him. Thanksgiving and Christmas? I think I am going to put him in the crate till after the New Year.:eek: