· By Minou Tpain
Author: Denise Partlow
Instagram: @modernk9 Carolinas
Now that you have practiced hanging out by the doorway with your dog being calm, you’re ready to head out the door.
What you were practicing inside at the doorway is exactly what you’re going to practice outside.
Continue to practice those doorway manners before you head outside, that is not something that should just be practiced during the training, it’s something you will need to continue to expect from your dog from now on.
Once you step out that door your dog‘s going to think that it’s time for a walk. So here’s where you will have to be patient and calm. Hang out in one spot until your dog relaxes. If he is overly excited or anxious, head back in the door for a quick reset and then back out to try again. Repeat that as many times as you need to until your dog is calmer.
The idea here is for your dog to lose his association to the outside world that he currently has. Most dogs view the outside world as either an exciting place or a scary place-so if you were to just go straight for a walk you would eventually have a dog that’s overly excited or overly nervous. So take your time!
You can choose to take short breaks with your dog and allow him to explore your front yard or the immediate surrounding area and then go back in the house and repeat the whole sequence.
I think this part can be difficult for many dog owners because you will literally be doing nothing. Dogs need to learn how to settle in an environment like this and so you too will need to learn to not do anything.
The more times you can practice this within one day the faster you will see progress but do what you are able to do. However, frequent short sessions will be more beneficial than one lengthy session.
Tomorrow we will talk about beginning to walk around.
