Monday, June 30, 2008

Doggy Door



How do you teach a dog to use a doggy door?

There is one in this house that was installed before we moved in. For one thing the door is much too high.

Red used it once with me luring him back in to the house which is his prefered place to be. He banged his hip on it and will not even stick his head in the flap any more. Not even for freeze dried string cheese.

Blue is sure that the flap is trying to eat her. She will peek in if the kid holds the flip open for her.

Both dogs stand outside and cry to come in. Neither see the doggy door as safe option.

3 comments:

  1. I've never had one and only know one person who does, she is a mostly not positive trainer. She shoves them through.

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  2. My only thought is to have one person on each side of the door. Call the dog back and forth through the dog door and jackpot the heck out of it (like 5-10 treats for each pass through).

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  3. One of my Karen Pryor Academy classmates used targeting to teach a client's dog to use the doggie door. I don't know why targeting works better than luring, but all accounts say that it does.

    I know that target has been successfully used to teach horses to load into trailers, while we all know that luring them with food is a hit or miss deal.

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