running in front of cars

[neaters]

My pug Phoebe has found a new fascination. She is NOT allowed in the front yard being it is not fenced but she waits for her chance to dart out the front door when someone goes in or out. Mostly visitors not so much family members because we know of this trick. When she does escape she happily runs into the street watching for cars to drive by so she can chase them. We try and call her back in and tell her "treats" which usually works for everything else. What I have to do then is get in my car and tell her lets go bye bye. That sometimes does the trick. Unfortunately we do not have a screen door on the front of our house but I'm planning on getting one as soon as the extra money arrives somehow..(oprah maybe??!!)

My question is, what kind of training should I do to keep her from doing this? I would absolutely be devastated if she got hit by a car. She's my little buddy and I love her so much.

For the record I do take extra precautions to keep her from running out front. I take this very seriously but as other dog owners know, dogs do get out sometimes. And if anyone is a pug owner i'm sure they know the stubborn streak these dogs have..

Any suggestions? Ideas?

[stacwase]

Well - she's a pug, so she can't be very tall. Isn't there something you could temporarily attach to the bottom part of your doorway so that she couldn't get out? Just a board or something - you could step over it, but she couldn't get out?

[Karen]

Gosh, the lure of the open road is just so strong for some dogs. Do you have a doorbell, is there some warning the door is going to be opened? Perhaps training her that when she hears that noise, if she runs to the kitchen and sits pretty she gets a treat? This would require a two-person training effort (one to be outside ringing doorbell, or knocking , one to be inside hollering "Just a minute," and administering treat away from the door ...

How often does someone come to the front door? Perhaps a small printed note taped to the door, warning of a small K9 SKP (canine escapee) on the other side will help?

[LabradorLover]

I think all of this can be fixed by some good, reliable commands. You should work on her recall. That way, if she gets out she will come back when called anyway.

You could get someone you know to ring the door bell and dont open the door until your dog is sitting down. This way, the dog knows she needs to sit down for the door to be opened. The catch with this is that you need to make sure she is reliable with the sit command and will remmain sitting until the guest is inside.

Again, for this one to work you need her to know sit very very well. Pheobe reminds me of my Grandmas JRT.My Grandma taught her dog (Kipper) to sit when she tells her to. For the first while she kept treats by the door so when the door bell rang she would tell Kipper to sit and give her a treat until the person was in the door.

My friends dog is trained to look out the window when someone comes so he doesn't run out. This will take some two person training. I know she taught her dog to do this by having someone ring the doorbell and telling her dog to "go look out the window" and she ran towards the window. When it reached the window you should praise her ect.

Just make sure you use postivie reinforcement.

These things might not work for your dog, every dog learns differnet.

I hope I explained them well enough :o

[ginagt]

I agree training the best route, and the note a the door but in the mean time while you are working on the training, how about when you open the front door you have a leash by the door, before you open the door you snap it on, that way she can't run out.

[Pit Chick]

I agree with the training methods everyong has suggested. Or keeping the door locked so when company comes over, you have to pick Phoebe up and then open the door.

Another method that will require two people: One person stays inside with Phoebe and the other goes outside and knocks or rings the door bell. Whoever is outside should have a "puppy bomb" (a soda can with several pennies inside, tape the opening closed). When the person inside opens the door and Phoebe tries to run out, the person outside jumps out from behind something shaking the can at her. This should scare her enough not to do it again.

[neaters]

Thanks for all that replied. I plan on trying everything i can until Oprah calls and tells me she's buying me a screen door..Until then I'm going to try everything I can to prevent her from her little bit of sneakiness!!

Thanks again!

[IRescue452]

Try a baby gate. Also does she react to you saying bye and walking away from her, our dog Pepper would only come to us if we said goodbye and started out as if we were leaving. Can you get an electric fence on your property? Does your dog have any obedience training? I found the words "leave it" work good for Autumn, she started out with just treats on the ground and my saying leave it and we worked our way up to things such as running into the street when her ball goes too far. If she stops and waits for me she gets lots of praise and a treat. Now she stops at the curb without my even telling her to leave it. This doesn't work on all dogs though so I recommend using a baby gate while trying to train her because if all else fails she can't get out in the first place.