How to Prevent Your Dog From Dashing Out the Door

How to Prevent Your Dog From Dashing Out the Door

Training, WagBreeze Life

Doors are one of the most exciting places for a dog and difficult places for an owner. As a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC), door greetings is one area that seems to be the most challenging to tackle for both the dog and the owner. Sometimes the dog is jumping all over our guest, or in extreme cases, the dog is charging the door when the doorbell rings, barking and lunging aggressively or even trying to escape.

No matter what dog behavior you are struggling with at the door, training starts with you first and your daily interactions. I tell all my clients not to focus on the behavior that frustrates them but rather on what behavior they want to see in the future. Any owner who is experiencing aggressive behavior at the door with their dog will need to seek the help of a CDBC to guide them through properly controlled greetings.

If your dog is a young exuberant puppy that is jumping on guests or dashing out the door, the first step is to put your dog up in a room or crate before your guest arrives. Practice calling your dog to you when the doorbell rings and treating them before putting them on a leash for the times when visitors come unexpectedly. Once on a leash, put your dog in a secure location, such as behind a gate or in another room, and then let your guest in. If you have another person in the house, ask them to open the door while you stand 20 feet from the door with your dog. Ask your guest to stay at the door while you work with your dog to do a controlled greeting.

A controlled greeting means you are treating your dog for focus and calm attention on you. When he is not pulling on the leash to get to your guest then take two to three steps forward and stop. If your dog is calm and not pulling, we treat them and continue in the same manner. If they are pulling, we wait for them to stop or go backward two to three steps until our dog is calm. We continue with this forward and backward-stepping approach depending on our dog’s calmness and pressure on the leash.

The goal is to walk your dog up to your guest without any pressure on the leash and have a calm dog. Our guest should have treats to help reinforce the dog for staying on the ground and not jumping. If our dog jumps, again, we call the dog back to us and move backward away from our guest. Our dog should not come off leash until we have enough practice on leash and no jumping or dashing behavior.

Reducing Leash Reactivity: The Engage-Disengage Game

Reducing Leash Reactivity: The Engage-Disengage Game

Training, WagBreeze Life

Sound familiar? The four “F”s of fear: Many dogs struggle to stay relaxed when they see another dog, a person, or a specific environmental stimulus, and end up reacting with an intense stress response. Stress responses can be categorized into fight such as barking, lunging), flight (such as avoiding, hiding), freeze (such as cowering, shutting down), or fool around (such as jumping, mouthing) behaviors.

The Engage-Disengage Game is helpful for dogs that respond with a “fight” or “fool around” response. These dogs often become over-aroused quickly and end up hurling themselves toward the trigger out of fear, anxiety, or frustration. Unlike socially savvy dogs that self-interrupt frequently in order to keep interactions fun and safe, these “fight” or “fool around” dogs have immense difficulty disengaging from the trigger in order to self-interrupt.

The Engage-Disengage Game decreases a dog’s stress around the trigger and teaches the dog the peaceful coping skill of self-interruption. This ability to disengage and self-interrupt is similar to the practice of mindfulness if you are at all familiar with Buddhism, yoga, or elements of the field of psychotherapy.

Manage Exposures, Decrease Reactions

Before diving into a training plan to treat the issue of stress response, first, learn about and try some positive management methods to decrease how often your dog is reacting to the trigger. Every time your dog practices an undesired behavior outside of training time, he is going backward in training and will continue to feel stressed or anxious around the trigger. Try to decrease the number of undesired reactions he is having each day. (Review the article Managing Leash Reactivity to confirm your understanding of these concepts.)

If your dog has bitten or caused injury to a person or another animal, first consult with a certified positive reinforcement trainer or board-certified veterinary behaviorist to make sure you are implementing the necessary safety precautions.

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The Engage-Disengage Game: Reinforcing New Feelings and Desired Behaviors

Reducing aggression, reactivity, or fear means desensitizing and counter-conditioning your dog to like the trigger gradually, and teaching an alternate response behavior. The Engage-Disengage Game uses positive reinforcement methods and provides a structured way to reduce a stress response and train a safe and appropriate behavior instead.

There are two levels to the game. The first level rewards the dog for engaging with the trigger when he is not showing the stress response, which builds positive feelings toward the trigger. The second level rewards the dog for offering the alternative behavior of turning away from the trigger, which is a behavior incompatible with barking at, pulling toward, or biting the trigger! The illustration below explains how to play the Engage-Disengage Game. This illustration can also be downloaded at www.ChoosePositiveDogTraining.com.

Game Prep

Before beginning the Engage-Disengage Game, gather the following supplies that you will need:

  •  High-value treats
  • Clicker
  • Humane harness or collar

Practice fast U-turns by luring your dog by placing a treat near or on his nose or by tossing “find-it” treats on the ground as you both change direction quickly (walking toward the treat). Take a break if you notice even subtle stress signals (displacement behaviors) such as excessive lip-licking, yawning, or scratching.

The Engage-Disengage Game is based on these scientific principles:

  •  Desensitization
  • Counter-Conditioning
  • Differential Reinforcement

Level 1: Engage

  1. Start at a safe distance away from the trigger, a place where your dog is not reacting. Be quiet and still so that your dog notices the trigger on his own.
  2. At the precise moment your dog ENGAGES by looking at the trigger, CLICK.
  3. When your dog turns his head toward you after hearing the click, feed him a treat. If your dog reacts or does not turn back to you after the click, move further away from the trigger to reset at an easier distance.

The goal of Level 1 is to succeed with at least 3-5 repetitions in a row at the same distance before moving on to Level 2. A successful repetition is when your dog turns back to you immediately after the click. If the trigger is moving or changing in intensity, keep playing Level 1 until your dog has calmly looked at or engaged with the trigger from every direction. THEN move on to Level 2.

    Level 2: Disengage

    1. Again, let your dog notice the trigger, but this time wait 1-5 seconds to see if your dog will offer to look away from the trigger on his own. If your dog is fixating on the trigger for longer than 5 seconds, go back to Level 1.
    2. At the precise moment your dog DISENGAGES by looking away from the trigger, CLICK.
    3. After the click, feed a treat. If your dog reacts or is not turning back to you after the click, move further away from the trigger to reset at an easier distance.

    The goal of Level 2 is to succeed with at least 3-5 repetitions in a row before moving 1-5 steps closer to the trigger. A successful repetition is when your dog disengages with the trigger comfortably on his own. As you move closer, keep playing Level 2 if the trigger is not moving or changing in intensity. If the trigger is moving or changing in intensity, go back to Level 1 at the new distance.

    Each time you play the Engage-Disengage Game, play for 1-5 minutes, and then take a break. If your dog is ready and eager, you can repeat this pattern.

    A graphical representation of the Engage-Disengage Game from Choose Positive Dog Training

    How Close?

    Remember to keep your goals realistic. For example, if your dog is triggered by other dogs, it is important to acknowledge that he may not be destined to be a “dog-park dog.” Some dogs may simply prefer the company of humans more than other dogs, or may not enjoy physically interacting with dogs that have different play styles. Some dogs may have more introverted social personalities. Going to the dog park or walking through a busy crowd of people can be like a rave or punk concert that your dog is just not interested in attending! Instead, he may prefer to snuggle down next to you on the couch — like when you settle down to read a good book or watch a movie.

    Remember to take training at your dog’s pace and to make things easier if he is showing stress signals. In many cases, working your dog up to walking by another dog or person calmly on the leash is a perfectly acceptable goal for both of you. As a responsible dog parent, it is important to have expectations that respect your dog’s capability and personality. Remember to take training at your dog’s pace and to make things easier if he is showing stress signals. Keeping your dog under threshold will actually help him learn faster and give you longer-term results.

    If it is appropriate for your dog to engage in polite greetings and physical interactions with the trigger, you can still play the Engage-Disengage Game by clicking for more interactive “engage” behaviors, such as sniffing the trigger or targeting a safe area of the trigger with nose or paw. A certified positive reinforcement trainer or board-certified veterinary behaviorist can help you determine if greetings and physical interactions are appropriate for your dog, and can also assist in creating an individualized greeting plan that prioritizes safety and success.

    Proof Positive

    Using positive reinforcement methods, like the Engage-Disengage Game, help your dog become less anxious and fearful of the world. The Engage-Disengage Game can come in handy for many situations. I have used it to teach dogs how to remain calm and happy around a new baby in the home; around other dogs or people they are scared of; around other dogs or people they love so much that they want to jump and mouth; around bikes, skateboards, doorbells — and the list continues.

    Science and research in dog training have revealed that intimidation, pain, or the threat of pain are simply not necessary and cause more problems in training an aggressive, reactive, or fearful dog. Instead, using positive reinforcement methods like the Engage-Disengage Game help your dog become less anxious and fearful of the world, and teach him that he has the ability to choose another behavior that is both fun and safe instead.