Help my new dog tries to bolt out the front door!

[PomPom]

Hi, I recently got a rescue dog and he is a pretty good dog except that he always tries to bolt out our front door. Last night he got out when I was setting the trash outside. He didn't get very far before I could pick him up but does anyone know how to fix this problem I am worried he will get out and get hurt.

[joeysmama]

I'm sure there are others with better suggestions than mine but I can tell you what they taught us in obedience classes.

We had an exercise where we would walk to a door with our dog on leash. If the dog waited for us to go through the door he got praised and got a treat. If the dog went through the door himself we shut the door leaving the dog on one side alone (but still on the leash) while we were on the other side indoors (holding the other end of the leash).

It really didnt take too many repetitions before the dogs began to wait to see what their owners were going to do before they bolted through the door. I think this might work if you're willing to repeat the exercise and be patient until your pup gets the idea.

[joanna]

I taught our 7 months cocker spaniel Royce the same thing. He used to bolt out the door whenever it was cracked open.

(1) Start at his crate. When you open the door to let him out, does he bolt out? Close the door before he bolts out and tell him to wait. Open the door again and if he tries to lunge out, cloth the door again, and tell him to wait. I repeated this several times, and Royce got it really fast. When he waits patiently even after the door is open, he gets the "OK" command then bolts out.

(2) After that we used the method on every door way possible just like Joeysmama wrote. Exactly that.
When he wants to go out for potty, when he wants to come in from potty, when he goes out for walks...

(3) Then we did everything without leash.

He still gets impatient and sometimes bolts out but is really improving. If he ever bolts out, instead ot chasing him I tell him/coax him to come to me, and treat& praise him, take him inside and leash him tell him to wait, open the door, take him out for short walks... so he knows that coming back home to me doesn't mean he gets punished, or stays inside, but means he gets a treat, praise and a nice walk.

Hope this helps... it won't take too long for your dog to get used to the concept. Then again, I saw Caesar Milan on the National Geographic chanel, all he taught a dog owner to do was point at the dog with energy and make "shhh" sound. and the dog didn't bolt out the door!!!

[PomPom]

What i did with my other dog was have him sit and stay as I opened the door and walked out but sonic doesn't know stay yet. I don't think his previous owner worked with him very much since he doesn't seem to know any commands. I'll try the leash thing he doesn't like to be left on his own so that might just work. Any other suggestions I can try?

[MIA]

I've been known to tie the dog to something close to the door and work with a command like "wait" and practice like you would any other obedience cue. My dobe was a door bolter when adopted and we did this with her, now she will NOT cross the threshold without and OK from me...