🐾 The Door Doesn’t Have to Be a Starting Gun

Does opening your front door look something like this?

Door cracks open.

Dog sees daylight.

AND THEY’RE OFF. 😂

For a lot of dogs, an opening door has become a signal for:

GO! GO! GO!

But there’s a simple little habit you can start practicing that can make doorways much calmer — and safer.

Before opening the door, ask your dog to wait.

Start opening it slowly.

If your dog rushes forward?

Simply close it again.

No yelling.

No big correction.

No wrestling match at the doorway.

Just:

Rush = door closes.

Wait = door opens.

Your dog starts figuring out that blasting through the doorway actually makes the thing they want go away.

Waiting makes it happen.

Pick a door that leads somewhere your dog wants to go.

Ask for a little patience before opening it.

You don’t need a perfect 30-second stay.

At first, you’re just looking for:

“Can you pause instead of launching?”

Even one second of self-control is something you can build on.

And when they get it?

Open the door and let the adventure begin. 🎉

Another tiny training trick courtesy of the wrong phone number. 😂🐾

Funny how that worked out.