Teaching a Pair of Excited Dogs to Wait for Permission to Go Out a Door

For this Omaha dog training session, we taught a pair of excited Goldendoodles (Stokely and Kohili) to wait for permission to go out an open door to help them develop self control.

When I sat down with the dog’s guardian, I learned that they had recently transitioned into a new home. The new home did not have a dog door that one of the dogs was used to and that had created some potty issues in the house.

I shared some remedial potty training tips then asked a few questions about the dog’s day-to-day lives. I learned they didn’t have a lot of structure which can confuse dogs into thinking if they have the same status as their humans. If a dog sees you as a peer, then listening to you is optional. Additionally, the dog doesn’t respect you as an authority figure.

I showed the guardian several dog behavior tips that will help her flip the leader follower dynamic. I also went over ways to reinforce a healthy leadership structure such as petting with a purpose and passive training.

One of the issues that the guardian wanted me to address was the dogs habit of being super excited and rushing or scratching to get through the door. I handed her my camera so that I could demonstrate how to teach a dog to wait for permission to go through an open door.

I apologize for the back lighting in the above video but there wasn’t really any other way to shoot that free dog training video and YouTube has removed it’s ability to lighten videos, so there you go.

Training a dog to wait out the door is easy but does require patience as you can see in the above video. I offered another dog behavior secret earlier in the session that should help with this door behavior; asking a dog to sit before opening the door to let it out.

If the guardians spend a week practicing the structured way of letting this pair out the door, they should find their dogs start sitting and waiting for permission to go out the door pretty quickly.

I also showed the guardian how she can reclaim her personal space as both of the dogs got right up in her business anytime they wanted attention. This is where petting with a purpose and the four escalating consequences are used to disagree with unwanted behaviors will really come in handy.

I also went over how to enforce invisible boundaries to help the guardian reclaim her personal space or how to keep the dogs out of the kitchen when they are cooking food.

You don’t have to specialize or be a goldendoodle trainer to stop these dog behavior problems. These dogs just were a little confused as to their position in the home. Now that the guardian knows how to reward desired behaviors and stop those they dislike, I anticipate a quick flip to the leader follower dynamic.

By the end of the session, the dogs were maintaining a respectable distance from the Guardian unless invited to come closer, were calmer, less anxious and starting to wait at the door despite the fact that it was wide open.

To help the guardian remember all the suggestions I made during this in-home dog training session, we shot a roadmap to success.