Multi-Dog Household: Door Management and Place Training (Patreon)

READ FIRST please :) 

Just like everyone living in a multi-dog household, I live with two dogs with big personalities, and genetic tendencies related to their breed. I also have guide dog house guests in and out of here on a regular basis. One of the genetic tendencies I live with with my older Australian Cattle Dog, Jake, is a natural propensity to herd and control space. This manifests especially at thresholds like the door. Jake in his older age (he's nearly 13, though you wouldn't know it by his energy level!), also has become less aware of other dog's bubbles and personal space. This means at my back door, which is a very loaded place because it is the access to the fenced backyard, Jake can be ... an ass. 

When allowed to go out the door first, Jake will herd other dogs and use eye-contact and nipping to inappropriately control space with CoolWhip. CoolWhip is a sensitive dog, and especially sensitive to pressure (very common in herding dogs due to the work they are bred to do). This results in Whip not wanting to go outside when Jake gets out there first. All of this is a long way to say that I need to manage them at the door and that Whip always needs to go out first to create stress-free transitions into the yard from my house several times a day. In this instance, my goal is not to change Jake's natural behavior, but instead to manage this thresh-hold in a way that creates the least conflict for my dogs. And because of the way I manage it, Whip actually enjoys exiting because it allows Jake to chase her a bit, which is a game she really likes, and so does Jake. 

Above is a video showing this managed and trained behavior. It's management because I can basically use food to manage this behavior, as well as my position in relation to the door and the dogs.  The behavior can totally be done without food, but to make life easier for my husband and the dog sitter, they generally use food. In these videos I will show you how I trained the beginning steps. It's a great one to train with dinner and also has applications for single dog households. I also discuss cookie-scatters as a method for de-escalating arousal. 

Clip 1: This clip is directly at the door, asking both dogs to wait and then releasing the Whip first and then Jake. This would be a solution if you didn't have platforms to work with. It's also the way the pet sitter and my husband do it. 

Clip 2: This video shows the beginning steps of teaching two dogs to wait their turn. I show Whip as the "wait" dog and Jake as the dog that is coming off to work, but you'd want to eventually practice it with both dogs in each role. In this particular case, I am using the "wait" cue because the goal behavior is to release them to the door. If this were a training session, I would ask them to down and stay, as one dog would be staying for a long time while the other worked. Also, don't be like me and lose all your training stuff - find your treat pouch before starting training (bad laura!). 

This video uses the platforms, which can be REALLY helpful for those just starting out with teaching a wait or stay because it gives a defined boundary for the dogs, which makes learning the new skill easier. You do not need a "dog training" platform, but can easily use an ottoman, place board made of wood, or a raised dog cot. 

Clip 3:  This clip incorporates the idea of waiting at the door. I practice going to the door, opening and closing it, etc. and reinforcing the wait. Note this is an abbreviated session, and that you should break each step down into the amount of steps your dog needs to be successful. Notice I'm layering these behaviors on top of each other to give the dogs the entire picture of what I'm looking for. For multi-dog households, I always teach these behaviors singly before incorporating another dog. Ie. Jake was trained on wait by the door to fluency, then whip was trained on it separately to fluency, then I combined them. You can see on some of my old videos of Osa the GSD guide puppy that I'm incorporating this same strategy to train all the dogs on place at the same time. 

Clip 4: This is how I use a cookie scatter at the door to deescalate undesirable behavior. Many dogs do things we don't love when running into the backyard like chasing animals, running to the fence to bark at a neighbor, etc. Creating a pattern feeding behavior chain (ie. wait at door, release to door, cookie scatter), can deescalate the door situation and give them a new behavior to do when exiting the house. Sniffing out food is a great way to decrease arousal, and tossing food in the grass is like a free puzzle toy! I call it the "lazy dog trainers dinner!" 

Even if you don't have multiple dogs, this wait skill at the door, as well as the cookie scatter can be incredibly helpful in preventing door dashing, or bruised knees as your dog tries to rush out the door. 

Happy Training!