How to Train Dogs to Shut Doors

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By Pam Hartley
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It is really easy to train your dog to help out around the house by closing doors on command.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Your Dog
Your Hand
Your Dog's Favorite Treats

Step 1

Teach your dog the “hit it!” command. You will need his favorite treat (use tiny little pieces), your dog, and your hand.

Hold out your open hand, flat and palm-up. Between your ring and middle fingers, firmly hold a piece of the dog’s favorite treat.

Let the dog sniff the treat that is concealed between your two fingers, but say nothing. If the dog attempts to lick or bite the treat from between your fingers, close your hand or pull your hand away to prevent it, then offer your hand flat again when the dog is calm.

After a few tries, your dog should attempt to use his paw to get the treat away from you. As soon as he does this, say “hit it!” and let the treat drop to the floor for your dog to scoop up.
Step 2

Move around to teach your dog in different locations.

Your dog will soon be smacking your hand like a Catholic nun, and you’ll be rewarding him by letting the treat drop through your fingers to the floor. Once he understands “hit it!” thoroughly, start moving your hand (still flat, palm out) to different locations. At this point you are rewarding the dog after the fact from treats held in your pocket or other location, not from between your fingers.
Step 3

Introduce the door to the dog.

Now that the dog has been trained to hit your hand no matter where it is, you can start teaching him to hit a door with his paw. Ideally, depending on the size of the dog, you want to train him to jump up on the door to hit it and close it.

You can achieve this by holding your hand flat against a closed door. This is so you don’t start with the door moving, which can startle the dog. Once he will jump up to hit your hand with his paw, you can then start moving your hand away at the last moment just before his paw connects with the door. At this stage, start offering the command “Shut the door!” just as the dog hits the door with his paw.
Step 4

Build the dog's confidence with more challenges.

Now you need to open the door up just a crack – enough so that when the dog shuts the door, it moves a tiny bit and closes. Stay at this step until your dog is very confident and not worried about the small movement and noise of the closing door. Then, you can start leaving the door open a little more each time, building up the dog’s training until he can close the door from any position.

Comments

genteelhart said

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on 6/16/2009 Thanks for the note! I love teaching my dogs this skill, and it really does come in handy, especially when we have kids in the house and the darn doors always seem to be hanging open! :)