# Doggy Door-she won't use it alone!



## howbout (Apr 27, 2007)

Our dog is Brandy and we have had her a bit over 2 months. She was a shelter dog and is about 9 months now. Lived her entire life at the shelter until we adopted her. She is wonderful and the best dog we could ask for! However, she is rather skittish, esp. around men which leads us to believe that one of her male handlers in the shelter may have not treated her very well  In any case, she has come a LONG way since we brought her home - she is COMPLETELY house trained and we have an electric fence installed. I trained her on it and even when she didn't have the collar on she respected the boundaries and would not leave the yard even when there was another dog around! We put the fence in b/c a regular fence was NOT an option for us and we wanted her to have the ability to be outside and be safe. We also installed a doggy door for her in the hope she would have the ability to go out on her own and not be dependent on us all the time. HOWEVER - she REFUSES to use it alone. She will not go out unless we go out with her. This is becoming a problem b/c lately she has decided she needs to go in the dead of night. She will jump off the bed (where she sleeps) and stand by the door and sometimes whine to let us know, but she will NOT go out alone. The few times she has gone out ahead of us and we don't follow, she comes right back in! Even though she REALLY has to go! Last night was the cookie topper - she woke me at about 2 a.m. to go out and then AGAIN about 3 a.m.! I am losing sleep b/c of her and my cat (a totally different story!) and need help! Does ANYONE know how to train her to use the door alone? I hate to "trap" her outside by closing off the door once she is out - I think that would only make her LESS inclined to go out of it at ANY time...but we are at our wit's end with this...any suggestions? PLEASE?????


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## chucky (Mar 5, 2007)

well you got this dog from a rescue, as you said it posibly lived there all its life, my toughts, she likes your home better than rescue, and she don,t want to leave your site, it has only been 2 mounths, give her some more time, she isn,t used to living with ppl, outside the cage, patience, she will get accustomed to the doggy door, may be if your friends have a dog that uses the door, it can teach your dog to use it, or you can reward her for using the door,


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

Bring her to the door and have someone on the other side with a treat (hold the door open) and have them call her and when she goes thru have them give her the treat. Keep repeating this until she gets the idea that going thru the door is a good thing.


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## howbout (Apr 27, 2007)

The thing is, she goes in and out NO problem. That WAS an issue in the beginning but she got past that. The problem is her STAYING outside on her own (if we go in she follows) or getting her to go OUT on her own...


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

Well is there a way to lock the doggy door? If so once she goes out, lock it and she will learn to not to come in till she does her buisness.


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## howbout (Apr 27, 2007)

Well, like I said in my first post:


howbout said:


> I hate to "trap" her outside by closing off the door once she is out - I think that would only make her LESS inclined to go out of it at ANY time...


It does lock and we can also block her from coming in. And we have when desperate! But that doesn't solve the issue of her actually going OUT alone in the first place (we have to either push her out or go out and sneak back in when she isn't looking). And I really do think if we keep doing that she will be more and more reluctant to go out at ALL.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

I know you said that, but sometimes things like this calls for alittle tough love.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

I see what a problem this is causing. The first thing I would do to minimize the night time issue is to pick up the water bowl two hours before bedtime. And make sure she piddles before bed time. And she should be on a regular feeding schedule as well, 1-2 times per day depending on her needs. That will also help her regulate her elimination needs. 

I don't think you can really look for the dog to be reliable when you have only had her 2 months. You don't know what has happened to her over the past two years. Someone may have kept her tied up all alone outside for her entire life. So maybe she has reasons not to want to be outside, especially without you. 

I think all you can do is be patient. You adopted a shelter dog and they are often unpredictable. Give her some time to warm up to you and have a little bit more reasonable expectations of her. Also be sure that she is getting plenty of daily exercise. If she is a large breed she needs 30-60 minutes at least twice each day of walking/jogging/hiking/hard play. Her mind and body need to be stimulated. And being in your yard doesn't count except for an occasional game of fetch or frisbee. She needs to see other places, smell, be socialized to other environments. You will have a much happier dog if you give her a full life experience. 

I would not lock the doggy door once she has gone out. That will only create more distress for the dog. I would however crate her at night so that she is not roaming the house unattended and possibly making messes.


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## howbout (Apr 27, 2007)

briteday said:


> I don't think you can really look for the dog to be reliable when you have only had her 2 months. You don't know what has happened to her over the past two years.


 Actually she is only about 9 months old.



> I think all you can do is be patient. You adopted a shelter dog and they are often unpredictable. Give her some time to warm up to you and have a little bit more reasonable expectations of her.


 Oh believe me we ARE patient with her. In fact, for only being with us 2 months I really think she has accomplished an AMAZING amount. As for warming up to me I honestly have to LOL...she is completely attached to me and we call her my second shadow!  



> I would not lock the doggy door once she has gone out. That will only create more distress for the dog. I would however crate her at night so that she is not roaming the house unattended and possibly making messes.


This is how I feel about locking the door. I know the issue with her is for some reason she is not comfortable being alone - I was hoping someone might know a way to sort of create that comfort zone for her...as for the crate - she doesn't roam the house AT ALL. She sleeps at the foot of our bed at night and if I get up for any reason (to check on the kids, deal with the cat) she actually will get up and follow me. That is why we have no problem NOT using the crate - b/c we ALWAYS know exactly where she is! If she jumps off the bed I wake and I know SOMETHING is up - she only does it if she has to go, otherwise she's a lump all night long.  

Anyway, basically I was hoping someone had seen this kind of thing before and knew how to increase that comfort level so that she CAN go out alone without it being in ANY way "forced" on her...whatever her life was before we adopted her, it certainly wasn't amazing and we intend to make sure she is always happy AND secure with us...


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

Sorry, misread about the dog's age. Sometimes I read so many posts they start ot mush together! My apologies. This also puts your dog right in an adolescent period that can be a struggle with all dogs. In re-reading your initial post I see that she was in a shelter her whole life. Shelter dogs usually have to eliminate and eat all in the same kennel area. Since she was totally confined for her entire life she may find teh "largeness" of the yard intimidating.

Other than going outside with her and planting yourself in a lawn chair with a good book until she is comfortable... She pretty much just needs reassurance that the yard is an OK place to be alone for short periods of time. 

However, the use of a doggy door is not for every dog. She may need to be encouraged to go out on a regular schedule, and in this case you may have to stay outside with her for long periods of time until she accomplishes her business. Then bring her back inside with you.

Maybe after "taking" her out and staying with her for a period of weeks / months she will be at ease with the yard and surroundings and then you can try the doggy door again. You can also try feeding her outside, staying with her, to help her see how nice the yard is.

In the meanwhile, if she is up to date on her shots I would find a park district or dog club obedience class to go to with her. It sounds like this dog could use a confidence builder. Any time you teach a dog new things and they know what your expectation is on a command and they can respond appropriately, this gives a dog tons of confidence. The classes are usually 6-8 sessions once/week. Even though I have had dogs all of my life I still take every new one to at least one, and usually two, obedience sessions. It is good for any dog and a great re-training for the owner.


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## howbout (Apr 27, 2007)

Well, other than the classes we have pretty much done everything you mention so maybe she IS just one of those dogs that a doggy door won't work with. Thankfully she WILL go out if she really needs to even if it is raining with one of us staying outside but under the porch overhang - that to me was a HUGE feat for her! And as far as her being a shelter dog - I am amazed she was house trained SO quickly b/c she DID go in her pen, we actually saw it when we got her. So for her to learn all she has in just two short months, is, to me, AMAZING.

I guess we'll just keep on going out with her, staying as far away FROM her as possible (she will roam around if she can see us) until MYABE she gets to the point where she doesn't NEED to see us. When I am out with her if I walk around the pool to the far side of the yard where she goes most she will go out there too....btu if she sees me walking back she will follow...hopefully in time she WILL get this though on this one I'm not really sure...(though at first she wouldn't even USE the door even with us, and now she does so...).

Thanks for the input!


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