A FAMILIAR PERSON BEHIND THE DOOR
At this stage, we are adding a familiar person standing behind the door. The idea is to increase the difficulty by adding the scent of someone at the door. Before starting the training with your dog, you should have instructed the person helping you to be as quiet as possible behind the door. We do not want the movement or voice of the person behind the door to excite your dog too much. Also instruct the person helping you to stand behind the door in a way, so that your dog does not see her when you open the door.
Step 1
Now it is the person helping you, who should ring the actual doorbell. She should otherwise move as little as possible behind the door. Your dog's response should be the same; he should go and lie down on his bed. When your dog is on his bed, open the door. Do not speak to the person standing at the door, this might just excite your dog too much at this stage. Instead, close the door and go to your dog and reward him by giving a treat and praising him calmly.
Repeat this exercise until your dog does not react by glancing, whining, listening or otherwise responding excessively to the scent of the person standing by the door. If your dog responds in any of the ways listed above, take a step back. Do more repetitions of the previous stage, before trying this again.
Step 2
In this stage, instruct the person helping you to stand behind the door in a way that your dog sees her from his bed. Again, the person helping you rings the doorbell. Wait for your dog to make the right decision to go to his bed and lie down. Open the door so that your dog can see who it is. Close the door and go back to your dog praising him calmly and give him his treat.
A FAMILIAR PERSON WALKS THROUGH THE DOOR
In this stage of training, the idea is to teach your dog to remain in his bed, even though a familiar person walks through the door. This stage requires a lot of repetitions and a person that listens to your instructions. This is important because, at this moment, your dog's ultimate reward in this scenario might be getting the chance to greet that person. The person helping you should at this point be someone who does not stare at your dog does not make sudden movements or speak to you during the training session. So be thorough when instructing the person helping you and emphasize that she should not speak during this exercise. By speaking, the person helping you might just ruin your training. If your dog hears the person helping you speak, it might be too big of a distraction for him and causing him to get p from his bed.
Please remember that the person at the door should be the same throughout this exercise. Do not change persons in between. Getting the dog used to different persons at the door, is something that comes later on in our training.
Step 1
A familiar person rings the doorbell. Wait for your dog to respond by going to his bed and lie down. Calmly go to open the door and let the person helping you take a step inside. You should not speak with another and the person coming through the door should not look at your dog. The person helping you should be inside for about five seconds before going out again, closing the door behind. If your dog has managed to stay calmly in his bed, go to him and reward him. Give plenty of treats while praising him before releasing him from his bed. Even if you wanted to celebrate after successful repetition, try not to. If you would celebrate and make a big number out of it, you might cause your dog to get too excited, something that could make it harder for him to succeed in this exercise. The best feedback you can give your dog at this moment is praising him calmly since this will not cause him to get too excited.
Step 2
You can progress to this stage when your dog can stay in his bed when a familiar person walks through the door and silently stays a couple of seconds before leaving again. In this stage, the person walking through the door is going to stay for about 10 seconds, before leaving and closing the door behind. If your dog managed to stay in his bed, praise and reward him before releasing him from his bed. Repeat this until your dog can calmly stay in his bed even though the person stands in the hallway for 10 seconds.
Step 3
You can move on to this stage when your dog remains in his bed while a familiar person walks through the door and stays for 10 seconds before leaving. In this step, we are going to add movement and speech. A person familiar to the dog rings the doorbell and your dog should go to his bed to lie down. Calmly go to the door and open it to let in the person helping you. After getting inside, she calmly says something in the style of "Hi, how are you?", without looking at the dog. You can answer her something short like "Good, thank you". After that, the person helping you should take her shoes off. After a couple of seconds, she puts her shoes back on and leaves without saying anything else, closing the door behind her. If your dog has managed to lie in his bed, go and drop some treats between his
front paws before releasing him. We recommend that the person helping you wears shoes that are easy to take off and put back on again. Repeat this until your dog every time remains to lie in his bed.
Problem-solving: my dog comes into the hallway?
In case your dog gets up from his bed, whines or seems to be too excited at this stage of training, go back to the previous stage and do a couple of more repetitions with that criteria. After that, increase the difficulty with smaller steps. For example, the person helping you comes inside, says something but leaves immediately after that. After that, you can increase the time the person spends in the hallway. And finally, try having her take her shoes off and put them back on before leaving.
Step 4
You can advance to this step when your dog remains in his bed even though the person helping you comes inside, the two of you have a short exchange of words, she takes her shoes off and puts them back on before leaving and closing the door behind her. At this stage, a familiar person rings the doorbell and your dog should go to his bed and lie down, after which you go and open the door. The person comes inside, you both say hi before she takes her shoes off. She then comes further into the hallway and sits down on a chair. While sitting on the chair, the two of you should calmly talk for about ten seconds. After that, the person helping you should get up, put her shoes back on and leave, closing the door behind her.
Problem-solving: My dog gets up, comes towards the guest or whines of excitement?
In case your dog does not stay in his bed but gets up, comes to greet the guest or whines, make the task easier. You could start by having the person helping you sit on the chair for just two seconds before leaving. If that goes well, increase the time the person sits on the chair slowly, until you have ten seconds. The dog should remain calmly in his bed during the whole exercise.
Step 5
You can move on to this stage when your dog easily succeeds with the previous criteria. Now the person helping you should come further into the house after taking her shoes off. You could have a sofa or chairs a couple of meters from the door that she can sit on. The two of you talk calmly for about 20 seconds before the person helping you gets up and goes to put her shoes back on. At the door, she wishes you a good day before leaving and closing the door behind you. If your dog stays in his bed during this whole time, go to him and reward and calmly praise him before releasing him from his bed.
GENERALIZING THE BEHAVIOR
At this stage, we want to generalize the behavior your dog has learned. Now the familiar person coming through the door should be a new one compared to the previous stages. Start at step 4 of the previous stage and continue to step 5 when successful. You can find these steps from the previous stage listed below.
Step 4
You can advance to this step when your dog remains in his bed even though the person helping you comes inside, the two of you have a short exchange of words, she takes her shoes off and puts them back on before leaving and closing the door behind her. At this stage, the person rings the doorbell and your dog should go to his bed and lie down, after which you go and open the door. The person comes inside, you both say hi before she takes her shoes off. She then comes further into the hallway and sits down on a chair. While sitting on the chair, the two of you should calmly talk for about ten seconds. After that, the person helping you should get up, put her shoes back on
and leave, closing the door behind her.
Problem-solving: My dog gets up, comes towards the guest or whines of excitement?
In case your dog does not stay in his bed but gets up, comes to greet the guest or whines, make the task easier. You could start by having the person helping you sit on the chair for just two seconds before leaving. If that goes well, increase the time the person sits on the chair slowly, until you have ten seconds. The dog should remain calmly in his bed during the whole exercise.
Step 5
You can move on to this stage when your dog easily succeeds with the previous criteria. Now the person helping you should come further into the house after taking her shoes off. You could have a sofa or chairs a couple of meters from the door that she can sit on. The two of you talk calmly for about 20 seconds before the person helping you gets up and goes to put her shoes back on. At the door, she wishes you a good day before leaving and closing the door behind you. If your dog stays in his bed during this whole time, go to him and reward and calmly praise him before releasing him from his bed.