When it comes to impulse control, nothing is more important than teaching your puppy to calmly approach open doors. Here’s how!
The Puppy Academy student, Mars!
Puppies can be impulsive! “Oh look, a squirrel!”
As a new owner, you might be struggling with managing their need to constantly run around and explore everything! And there is nothing more exciting to a puppy than the adventure of an open door. Therein lies the issue...
One of the most important things that you can include in your puppy’s obedience training is teaching your puppy door thresholds. The unfortunate fact is that many puppies have and will bolt through an open door. And the results are running into other dogs, into oncoming traffic, or more commonly, getting lost.
We’re going to walk you through simple, effective door threshold training for your puppy that will help them learn to control their impulse to run, how to approach doorways in a calm manner, and to focus on you for leadership when it comes to going in and out of doorways!
Tools for Teaching Your Puppy Door Thresholds
Puppy training can involve plenty of tools and threshold training your puppy is no exception. Luckily, you probably already have everything that you need for this exercise! You’ll need: your puppy’s harness, leash, high-value treats, a door, and the most important tool, yourself!
Body language will be a key factor in communicating with your puppy what behavior you want them to respond with. Both the door and you will create spatial pressure, physical boundaries that teach your puppy when the pressure is off (leash pressure is removed, you’ve moved out of the way, or the door is slightly opened), they can move forward, and when it’s on, they have to wait for your guidance.
Door Threshold Exercise
Now that you know what you need, let’s work on a simple routine that you can practice with your puppy right away! This exercise can work on puppies that still haven’t learned their foundational obedience commands such as “Sit” or “Stay”.
Begin with your puppy in their harness and on leash. With your puppy’s leash in hand, slightly open the door a few inches to gain their attention.
If your puppy starts to walk toward the open door, add light leash pressure by pulling back on their leash.
Close the door and step in front of your puppy to block them from exiting.
Your puppy might pause, look at you, or even better, sit down. If they take that moment to focus on you, remove the leash pressure, and mark that correct behavior with “good!”
At this point, you can say “let’s go!” and head out of the door with your puppy.
In the beginning, especially with new young puppies, you can’t expect too much from them when it comes to sitting and checking in with you for guidance. They simply haven’t built up that level of impulse control and focus, yet! You’ll need to use leash pressure and your own body to create a physical barrier between your puppy and the open door, to communicate that you want them to wait instead of bolting out.
If you’ve already trained your puppy to “Sit” on command, you can work on these advanced next steps!
Use a piece of food to lure your puppy into a “Sit” in front of the door. When your puppy sits, mark the correct behavior with “good!” and reward them.
Place yourself between your puppy and the doorway.
Open the door a few inches and if your puppy stays in their “Sit” mark the correct behavior with “good!” and reward them with food!
*At this point, you might still need to apply leash pressure, pulling back slightly if your puppy starts to get up toward the door. However, if your puppy isn’t trying to bolt, keep the leash loose and only apply pressure if they get up from sitting down.
4. When your puppy makes eye contact with you, mark that behavior with “good!” and then say “let’s go!” and walk out to complete the exercise.
Practice these steps with your puppy for a few minutes a day. You can incorporate it into their daily routine such as before you take them outside to the yard or for a quick walk. It’ll take a few days of repetition until your puppy learns to pause at the door and check-in with you.
After you have practiced opening the door just a few inches at a time, step up the challenge by opening the door wider and wider, until it’s completely open. You can even go a step further and instead of blocking your puppy, step to the side so they have full access to the open doorway. The goal is to get your puppy to “Sit”, look to you for guidance, and wait until you release them by saying “let’s go!”
A few more tips
Some puppies with higher drives such as working breeds can be more sensitive and responsive to body language. If you have a puppy that is excitable, we recommend that when you work on door thresholds, you maintain steady, almost robotic movements. In doing so, your body language promotes clear communication to your puppy of what you want them to do.
For example, with your puppy sitting down, open the door and take a step to the side. Then, take a step toward the door without releasing your puppy with “let’s go!” If your puppy immediately starts to follow, take a step toward your puppy and block them from walking out, essentially using your body to put them back into a sitting position.
Small, but clear steps like the ones we mentioned above help your puppy learn to always wait for your cues instead of bolting out of the door, even if you’ve already stepped out in front of them. This way, in any situation your puppy encounters an open door in the future, they know to wait and control the impulse to walk out until you release them to do so.
Let us know how your door threshold training worked out with your puppy in the comments below! Have questions about this exercise? Join us every Wednesday for our live puppy trainer Q&As at 1 pm PT on @thepuppyacademy Instagram!
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