Final Test With The Dog Door

[Guest Johnpilot]

All;

 

I have read the other posts on the training for the dog door and after 1 week with the new boy, he will use the door most of the time. Whenever I get home or get up in the morning he is wagging his tail at the main door. I don't want to go out and leave him first thing in the morning as I don't want him to get upset and make a mess if he has to go and has been holding it all night like a good guy. If I take him out and then come inside, he will come in on his own. He has seen my female go in and out and he has come out on his own as well if we are outside.

 

I have never seen him go out the door on his own without coaxing or us already being outside, only come in on his own.

 

I guess I am just worried to the question of how will I know if he will use the door when the dogs are home alone and not go in the house if I stay away from home for say 8 or 9 hours? It is that final step that has me wondering?

 

Thanks.

 

John

[Guest kelli123]

When i was training to use the doggie door i would never take them out the house door , I would crawl through doggie door my self and make them follow. I would always praise and make a big deal out of using the door. It did take my girl quite awhile to learn but finally she did it on her own. Even though i never thought she would be able to do it with out following me she eventually did. At first i clipped the door wide open it was summer thank goodness and then i clipped a towel only over the door so she would get used to that and eventually put the door down. Sounds like he is pretty close to using it on his own.

Edited November 6, 2010 by kelli123

[fourofem]

He'll figure it out and it will be sooner than later. He's lucky that he has another dog to learn from. House had it down within a couple of hours but he had three others to watch. Kevin, even with the others to learn from, took a few days. He would stick his head through and look at me and then back out. I would hold the flaps open and let him come through. Once he was okay with that, I would let the flaps go when he was about halfway though to get him used to them and that did the trick.

[Hubcitypam]

I'll just say that I had one girl that absolutely refused to use the dog door in my presence. I worried, had a neighbor come over to let her out and rushed home from work every day.

About a week after she arrived I came home from Kroger and hereshe came bounding in from outside thru the dog door. I suspect she had been going in and out all along, just not when I was watching.

 

I think if he's gotta go he'll pop out the door on his own.

[Guest Adrianne]

With Wilbur, we left the flap off the dog door for a day and spent a lot of time coaxing him in and out. It took just the afternoon, but he got it.

 

Larry was 12 when he got here, but I think he had a dog door at his first home. However, my hubby customized ours and it's made of many heavy-duty weather strip flaps instead of the single flap that comes with the door. So, it's different from store-bought dog doors. It took much coaxing, it took my then 15 year old son going in and out the dog door calling Larry, it took days.......and still we weren't sure he would go out if he were home alone. We felt like he would come in, but would he go out. It finally occurred to me that it wasn't the dog door that was causing the hesitation; it was the kitchen floor. I had put down a 12" strip of carpeting from the living room across the kitchen floor to the dog door, but it just wasn't wide enough for him to feel comfortable. So I went and got a 5'x7' area rug that covered that complete section of the kitchen. He went out the dog door as soon as it was down.

Edited November 6, 2010 by Adrianne

[Guest sheila]

I would say that if you have known him to come both in and out of the dog door on his own he will use it when he really needs to. He probably just likes waiting at the door for you because he is getting some other interaction from you such as a petting or talking.

[LBass]

I'm in the "if he is already using dog door at all, he understands, and will use the dog door when needed." I leave the dog door open when I'm away (the cat is confined then and can't get out the open dog door) but I close and latch the dog door when I'm home and the cat is free. My dogs are all quite adaptable. They all learned quite rapidly that I'm the "doorman" when I'm home and then they've got the dog door when I'm not home.

 

--Lucy

[Guest Johnpilot]

Well, he is still making one mess a day (#1 only thank goodness). He made one last night sometime and I do not remember hearing him at all until about 5 minutes before I got up. I let him out at 10:00 and he didn't do anything, and we were up at 5:30 AM and right out he went and did well. I have lights on outside on the porch so there is no "black tunnel" to go through. He just doesn't always use the door. It is very frustrating as I do not know what more I can do?

 

I did come home to one small mess after work and I was gone from 7 to 4:30 and he didn't want to go out when I got home, so I know he went outside at some point. Oh to be a mind reader with this one...

 

John

[Guest spaztastic_fam]

My grey waits for me to open the slider when I am home but uses the door on her own when I am gone. I think she likes to do all the things I do. My border collie is the opposite. He won't use the slider...only the door. I think each dog just feels comfortable doing what they like and will use the door when they need to. Don't worry....your lucky dog will appreciate the door when you have to be alone!

[LBass]

You know, since he is still so new to your home and, I am assuming, to home life in general, it is quite possible that he doesn't quite have the fundamentals of house training lodged firmly in his mind. It's one concept for him to know that he can use the dog door to go out in the yard to potty. It's a completely different concept to know that he should not potty in the house--for him to regard your house as his "kennel", which he knows not to soil.

 

In your situation, I would embark on housetraining101 with him. In that, you are proactive--taking him out when he is likely to need to potty (when he wakes up, a bit after eating, etc.), taking him out when he gets up and wanders around the house. Praise to the skies when he goes outside. Keep an eagle eye on him indoors for any signs ob needing to go so you can whisk him out. If you catch him in the act, give a correction and whisk him outside to complete his mission and praise him for that.

 

I think house training involves several lessons:

--don't potty in the house

--do potty outdoors

--learn eventually to ask to go out or to use a dog door.

 

Maybe back to the very fundamental steps for your boy.

[Guest Johnpilot]

You know, since he is still so new to your home and, I am assuming, to home life in general, it is quite possible that he doesn't quite have the fundamentals of house training lodged firmly in his mind. It's one concept for him to know that he can use the dog door to go out in the yard to potty. It's a completely different concept to know that he should not potty in the house--for him to regard your house as his "kennel", which he knows not to soil.

 

In your situation, I would embark on housetraining101 with him. In that, you are proactive--taking him out when he is likely to need to potty (when he wakes up, a bit after eating, etc.), taking him out when he gets up and wanders around the house. Praise to the skies when he goes outside. Keep an eagle eye on him indoors for any signs ob needing to go so you can whisk him out. If you catch him in the act, give a correction and whisk him outside to complete his mission and praise him for that.

 

I think house training involves several lessons:

--don't potty in the house

--do potty outdoors

--learn eventually to ask to go out or to use a dog door.

 

Maybe back to the very fundamental steps for your boy.

 

Praise the Lord, we got through yesterday without any messes! I was gone from 6:30 to 4:30. A clean night also. I think he is just getting settled with his roommate. She was so easy to get in that I think I got spoiled. I got her on a Friday evening and Saturday she learned the dog door and Monday full work day there were no problems.

 

I still take him out before bedtime and first thing in the morning and it may just be that he wants to go out "with" me when I am home. If that is all it is, it is a small price to pay for having happy boy.

 

John

[LBass]

My first boy just seemed to "get it" right away and he did spoil me a bit. Boy #2 has been more of a challenge. MoMo, my girl, has been easy about house training too. Best of luck with your new boy.

 

--Lucy

[Guest Johnpilot]

We had two days in a row that were dry, but I went out last night for 2 hours and come home to a big puddle, so it wasn't marking. He can use the door during the day, but not during the evening?? I have lights on in the house and on the porch so it can't be scary and he has no problem running down the side of the house at night time when I let him out which is not lighted. Go figure... Sleeping through the night though.

 

When I let him out in the morning, he bolts through the dog door and spins a couple of circles and heads back inside. I have to get him to come out again and then he realizes what he should do. I love him to death, but he is goofy, Ha Ha.

 

John