Originally Posted By LVBelle Last weekend we installed a doggy door in our new house. Now we're having trouble getting Maggie to use it. We've managed to teach her to push her way through it but she usually will not go through unless one of us is on the other side. We've only seen her do it on her own once and she pooped in the house (on the new carpet!) last night. I swear she thinks we need to be present for her to do her thing. We praise the heck out of her when she does use the door, especially the time she did it on her own. Any suggestions for us? We'd like to keep the new carpet pretty and clean!
Originally Posted By debtee ohhhh I wish I could help....When we installed our doggie door I thought we were going to have all these issues but Barry had barely finished installing it before Woody stuck his head and body through it and jumped right in. With a closely followed Toby on his tail and they have been DIVING through it at a million miles an hour ever since! LOL I did see on Dr. Harry ( our doggie expert ) a white poodle named Maggie funnily enought, that wouldn't use her doggie dog and he said she was un-used to the feeling of having the flap hitting heavy on her face. So he instructed them to tape up the actual heavy flap and cover the hole with see-through glad wrap ( kitchen wrap?? ..I don't know what you call it ) so when she touched it, it was light on her face and not heavy. They then called her backwards and forwards throug it, with some treats in their hands to reward her and once she got used to coming and going they slowly lowered the "proper" flap until she felt safe with it. I'm not sure if this will work but you could give it a try! Good luck!
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Aye yi yi, do I know what you are going through. We had to train 2 doggies and 2 kitties to use the doggie door. We made a game out of it with treats and toys...in and out over and over again. We figured out it was more about going out then coming in - so we did most of our training standing in our patio convincing the dogs sitting comfortably in the house that they should come outside. LOL! Hang in there - eventually she'll get it.
Originally Posted By LVBelle Well, we've had some success and some failure here. She's pooed on the floor the past two nights but I've also seen her use the door on her own twice! So I guess eventually we'll get there. Until she's really good with the door, we'll probably be blocking her off to the back of the house so if she does have an accident at least it won't be out in the living room where we'll have guests. Thanks for the advice and encouragement ladies!
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORGOCH: All this sounds like a question ta be answered by my trampy sister, Orddu. She knows more 'bout tricks than anybody!
