Brief Introduction:
As a Pet owner with MS (PwMS), my Chihuahua Min door dashing would be a personal nightmare. For my own peace of mind, I decided to play a game with her to teach her door manners.
"Where a door opening tells Min to sit or lie down on a mat or dog bed at a distance away from the door."
So seeing door opening and/or hearing the sound is Min’s cue to do a sit-stay or a down-stay. As I mentioned, as a PwMS my dog door dashing is a personal nightmare. I imagine the rest of you might share that nightmare or you might feel panicked when a family member opens a door, which is why I wrote this article.
Pre-Door Games: Prevent Rehearsals of Door Dashing:
Practice makes perfect applies to undesired behaviors. Door dashing is very reinforcing to dogs - that’s why many are serial offenders. Since you probably need to walk your dog, I am going to present elements of door games with your leashed dog.
Watch what your dog does in anticipation for going outside. Does your dog barge forward from excitement when you touch the doorknob? What about if you turn the knob, or open the screen door? Even if your dog is leashed, your dog barging forward at the sight or sound of a door potentially opening is feedback about what value of potentially going outside holds for your dog. Let’s have that value come through you by you giving permission. Because up until this point, your dog may have stolen the value by door dashing–even when leashed. Simply your dog to sit, lie down, or stand. Keep the door closed until they do whichever you’ve asked.
If you’ve followed my video about the Reinforce Zone game, you’ll already be familiar with giving your dog a reward for the stand position or you can WAIT until your dog offers any of those behaviors. Remember, your dog is already on a leash waiting to go on a walk. Reinforce your dog’s choice of remaining in position by giving your dog permission to go outside with you on a walk, which is where a release word comes in. If you’ve followed my video on teaching the down, your dog already knows a release word: “search.” Using a different word which gives your dog permission to do something is absolutely fine if your dog understands that word.
About Door Games:
● Individual Door Game session length: 1 to 3 minutes max.
Practice makes perfect, which is why the sessions should be short. You can play this multiple times a day! Repeated practices of good behavior = a habit.
Is Your Dog A Volunteer Door Dasher?
Volunteer door-dashing by dogs is a common complaint I receive from pet owners. Dogs learning to not door dash is just as important as a recall. Door Games are for teaching your dog to do a “stay” behavior when they see an open door or hear the sound suggesting a door opening soon. Except you won’t have to say “stay” because we are counter-conditioning your dog to the sight and sound predicting a door opening. Door Games is simple, accessible counter-conditioning for what a moving door and the sound of a door latch opening mean to your dog.
Door Games Prerequisites
● Your dog on a leash to prevent wandering* optional in Stage 1
● A boring door inside that doesn't open to anywhere exciting for your dog.
If there are rooms in your house where the dog is not allowed, avoid those doors for now.
Suggestion for boring doors in homes:
Doors that open into a closet storing non-food items
If you have other doors in your home that meet these criteria, feel free to use those
Something soft for your dog to sit or lie down on, such as a mat (e.g. welcome mat - something that doesn’t slide, and is comfortable for your dog to sit or lie down on. I used both a welcome mat and a bathroom mat) or a dog bed
High value payment for reinforcing desired behaviors (Ideas for high-value dog payment: Soft, easy to swallow food items broken into bite-size pieces or Favorite toy that your dog loves having in his/her mouth (e.g. a stuffed toy, a ball, a tug toy)
A dog that does either a sit or a down position
Stage 1: Door Games With Boring Door
Learning Objectives:
Changing what the sight and sound predicting doors opening mean for your dog. The sight and sound of a door opening can trigger door dashing behavior. Think about what those have meant for your dog: freedom! And that is why we start this game using a boring door.
This door is from a closet with items that aren’t very exciting for most dogs which means your dog can easily make the correct choice when you put your hand on the knob. Even the sound of the knob turning might not be too exciting. These factors help your dog make the correct choice easily, because it’s so obvious!
Step 1) Hand on doorknob
Step 2) Turning doorknob for sound & Sight
Did you notice the slight ear movement? Ear movement is acceptable.
Consequences for responses:
GIVE your dog the treat or toy by hand if bending isn’t a problem.
DROP the treat or toy on the mat if spasticity limits your bending to give the treat or toy.
Step 3) Opening the boring door slightly
Consequence:
REINFORCE the choice.
Directly GIVE the treat or toy directly to your dog
OR drop the treats or toy on the mat if bending isn’t possible for you.
Step 4: Fully open boring door
Consequence:
REINFORCE dog’s choice.
GIVE or DROP a treat on the mat/bed.
Stage 2: Advancing Door Games To An Exciting Door
This door is exciting for your dog because your dog has dashed out from here – which means the door moving has rewarded your dog for a highly undesirable behavior. Let’s reverse the door dashing with a new behavior - a stay in response to the sight and sound of the door moving.
Process for success:
Step 1: Start with a closed exciting door.
Step 2: Open Door A Crack.
Reinforce your dog’s good choice of remaining on the mat or bed despite the door opening a crack.
Throw a treat or favorite toy onto the mat or dog bed
THIS, my friends is accessible positive reinforcement dog training.
Growing Door Games With A High-Stakes Door
Increase how much of the door opens.
If your dog’s head leans forward when you open the door even slightly, close the door and do something else.
Revisit high-stakes door games at a different time.
Applying Door Manners To Other Doors
Dogs door dashing can be generalized to other doors which can also be dangerous. For example, a dog with a history successfully door dashing from a car, or door dashing from an upper-level kennel at a vet clinic. One dog I trained did that, so I changed with a hand on the kennel door and the sound of the latch opening meant for Pekoe. A hand on the kennel door followed by the sound of the latch opening became: go to the bed at the back of the kennel and sit.
About The Author:
----------------------------
Nanette Lai was diagnosed with Relapsing-Remitting MS in 2008. Her education includes PhD candidacy in Epidemiology from the University of Guelph, and a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto where she majored in Medical Anthropology. As a pet care professional, Nanette has worked as a veterinary professional since 1999 and received accreditation as a professional pet trainer from PetSmart in 2005. Nanette is a member of the Pet Professionals Guild (PPG) and the Canadian Association of Professional Dog Trainers (CAPDT).
As part of TraXel, Nanette aims to contribute content aligning with the company’s mission to help other patients with chronic conditions (including MS) live their best lives every day. The content will be presented in the form of instructional videos via TraXel’s podcast, for other pet owners with MS to virtually train their own pet dogs at home. Upcoming podcasts will demonstrate accessible positive reinforcement pet dog training because Nanette believes anyone can learn the mechanics and teach their own pet dogs to have incredible manners. She refers to this form of virtual dog training as positive reinforcement on steroids, because the methods she uses are effective and gives fast results (without the side effects)!
----------------------------
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@traxel11
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mytraxel/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytraxel/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/mytraxel/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/traxel
❤️❤️❤️❤️
🙂