running out when door is opened

Question
Hello Kathleen,

  Thank you for your kind offer.
  My daughter and her family recently lost a dog when she bolted from the house as guests were arriving, and sadly was hit by a car and killed. Other than bolting out of the door at every chance, she was very well behaved.

  They have just adopted another dog from the shelter. How can they prevent the same thing happening.They are also training her to a crate. Any suggestions ?

  Thank you.

  Margaret

Answer
I am so sorry to hear about your family's compainon.

Biggest keys are getting the dog to pay attention to them and training what is and isn't okay behavior around the door.

I teach my dogs to sit on a mat and/or rug about 3-6 feet back from the front door. They all know -- through repeated and continual practice -- that they are to go to that space and sit there patiently. If any of them get up, the door is shut and we try again.

I have had good success with this and enlisting friends and family members to practice at the door with me. The hardest thing to learn during this training is that the door doesn't always need to be answered. Somewhat like the telephone, just because it is ringing doesn't mean it need to be picked up.

If you are in an area with a good training center and/or a good private trainer, the dog could probably benefit from a few lessons about door manners and may learn them more quickly with good guidance.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you need more information. Here are some links with additional training and dog information.

http://www.OutlawChinooks.com
http://RileyTrainingCenter.blogspot.com

Good Luck!