Making Your Dog Use A Doggy Door
Author: buster // Category: Dog Breeds, Dog Care, Dog Food, Dog Product Reviews, Dog TalkTraining your dog to use a doggy door – if you’ve just installed one – shouldn’t be too difficult; in fact, it may take only a few days or even a week. Of course, there may be some dogs that’ll sniff around the door to check it out or others that’ll just look and zip through it. Your dog might not be make the connection that this is a new way of leaving and entering the house and will require time to adapt, and you should be patient with your pet in this process.
A Few Training Tips
In reality, it is quite easy to train your dog to use the doggy door that has been newly installed, and if you’ve never got one installed, you can just follow the instructions given when you purchase your doggy door. Keep in mind that this door is new and will make some funny sounds.
The main process involves to place the dog in front of the doggy door and use your left hand to open the flap (or your right hand, if you’re left-handed) and then use your right hand to push the dog gently through the door. This is even more effective if a person that the dog is familiar with stands on the other side of the door with something that the dog likes.
Another way of going about it is training your dog through a game. Throw a toy through the doggy door and urge your dog to bring it back to you by making him go through the door. As your dog goes into the house, the other person should let go of the flap, which may make the dog hesitant to open it on its own. That’s expected, but eventually, he will go out after some time. If you find your dog still hesitating, assist him by lifting the door flap and gently stroking him to go through.
You can also take advantage when your dog needs to eat or rest to make it go inside the house through the door. Never scold or punish your dog because he hesitates to use the doggy door, all you’re going to do is make it think the door is wrong or bad. Try the reward system instead.
If you have a friend or relative that has a dog that uses doggy doors, then bring your dog over to watch. Often, when a dog sees another dog doing something, it will tend to imitate it and you’ll finally have a trained dog.
