door bell/leaving the house help
 

I'm looking for step-by-step instructions to help me train Tia with 2 issues that are sort of related and totally bugging me and my husband these days....so if thyere are any trainers out thgere, or if anyone has had to solve a similar problem, your input would be greatly appreciated!

Situation #1: The door bell rings

TIa makes a beeline for the front door. She is really excited to great guests, but more often than not she scoots right by and flies out the door. I know that we're not supposed to do this, but right now our solution is to pick her up and try to hold her while she squirms dangerously in our arms while we frantically ask our guest to quickly shut the door behind them. By this point Tia is being held by one hand and my cheek.

Situation #2: Leaving the house

Not always, but sometimes when one of us leaves the house she will sit right by the door until it opens and then fly right out leaving us to coax her back in with many promises for pupperoni. And if there is someone outside, she will go stratight to them for attention. They are usually pretty good about helping us "nab" her, but I'm afraid she'll cross the street in bad timing (we live on a very quiet street) or come across the wrong stranger. Our solution right now is to leave by our garage door...but neither of us believes that our dog should dictate which door we get to use in our house. And she has now figured out that the garage door is a point of exit, so she'll stand by there, forcing us to leave by the front door.

I'm "this" close to hiring an in home dog trainer for a few sessions because I feel that we really need to nip this in the bud.

Tia works well with a clicker and treats.

Can any one help? Please?

if she works well with a clicker and treat then you gotta work on sit and stay.. and PRACTICE... have your husband go out and ring the bell and you work on sit and stay... when she makes it to a stay with the door open and then closed again... release her by saying "ok" and HUGE party for doing so well!! i know it sounds "simple" but if she will just stay .. no matter what.. you've got everything you need.. hold her on a leash and when she makes a bolt, correct her back to a sit and stay... you can even work on that without the doorbell.. just general stay while you move away.. layla took a LONG time to get stay... she stil is't even that great at it... but i know it is one of those commands.. like come.. that could save her life so we work really hard on it. Good luck!!

I've had the same problem with one of mine, and read...maybe it was last week or so, to put the crate by the front door. When the doorbell rings, they go running to the front door, crate is ready for them, lol.

And it works like a charm for me.

I don't "think" mine would go any further than greeting someone and wanting attention, but with no fence around my front yard, I really don't want to find out the hard way. I've seen a few here this past year, that either lost a dog, or they got run over from running out the door.

So my crate is now right by that front door! And it does get used too!

I have this problem too. I keep a broom by my back door. don't get me wrong, I would never touch them with it, but if I reach for it, they back up and I am able to get out the door.
The door thing, I have an expen block off the front door, because I have always had to pick Otis up. This is working well, and I've noticed that even if it's not completely closed, he will not pass the gate to get to the door.

Situation #1: I saw something like this on the Dog Whisperer-Season 1 (rent or borrow the DVD's and watch them if you can-it's helpful!) Cesar remedied the problem in this way:

1. Have a volunteer ring the doorbell
2. When you expect guests, or when the doorbell rings, put a leash on your dog immediately.
3. Put the dog into a "sit" or "lie down" position and have them "stay"
4. Open the door, greet your guest
5. If your yorkie gets up to run out the door or go crazy on your guest, immediately put them back into "sit" or "lie down" the way they were. Hold the leash, and don't let them get at all close to the door.
6. Remind your guest not to acknowledge your dog-allow your dog to sniff the guest and then when he's finished, put back into the "sit" command-only then can your guest meet your dog.

Remember NOT to hold her, coddle her, or give any affection when she exhibits this kind of behavior. That will only reinforce it, being that "if I act like this, I get affection and attention". Good luck!

Mine have been trained to sit and stay, but once my Azrael took off after the UPS truck. She went totally deaf at that point, so now I just put the expen around the door so there is not way they can get out.