Here’s the next round of answers for our Ask a Trainer feature on our new website. It’s your chance to get dog training advice from the pros at AnimalSense. Stay tuned for more questions & answers, and if you have a burning dog training question, just “Ask a Trainer”!

My dog has it made around here, yet when I open the door he bolts out. How do I get him to stop?

Obviously this is a big safety issue for your dog. Your dog may enjoy the freedom of running loose, but he could be hit by a car, encounter another animal, or become lost or injured.

The best way to deal with a bad behavior is to prevent it from happening in the first place, as explained in Trainer Greg Raub’s blog about prevention and management. There are several ways you can prevent your dog from running out the front door:

• Keep your dog on leash when opening the door.
• Use baby gates or other blockades to create an area so that your dog cannot get to the door.
• Establish consistent rules in your house so that no one is allowing the dog to run out of the door.
• Teach your dog “Go to Place” and use this command before opening the door. This will take some work, but the general idea is that your dog goes to a “place” such as a bed, lies down and stays there until you tell him to get up.

Here are the steps for teaching “Go to Place”:

Remember that if your dog escapes, you should never scold him when you finally catch him.

If you scold a dog when you catch him, you are actually teaching him not to let you catch him.

You should also have a reliable recall, or “come” so that if your dog does manage to escape, he will return to you when called. AnimalSense’s Recall & Leash Manners class can help you reach that goal with your dog.