Hey y'all. This is Louie and he's afraid to go through the doggy door. We've had the door in our home for ages and our other small dog uses it all the time. We adopted Louie a week or so ago and so far, he doesn't really get it.
If I put a treat inside there, he will grab it but only if I am holding the flaps up (like in this picture). As soon as the flaps come down, he acts like it's an impenetrable wall. He's seen his bro dog go through so many times but I guess it just hasn't clicked yet how he can push on the flaps to move them.
Looking for any tips and tricks you all might have used to get this process moving. This is Day 4 of him not learning. If the answer is just keep working with him, patiently, I'm good with that but hoping for other ideas if you have any. Cheers,
Good! He'll take treats from the tunnel when you hold the flaps up. That's a huge start!
Boil some chicken and do the same treat thing you've been trying. Then, show him you have the chicken. Place some shredded boiled chicken into the tunnel and tell him to stay. Close the flaps and then tell him to get it. He'll likely whine and poke his little head against the flap. Give him 5-15 seconds before you help him by lifting the flap a tiny bit. More and more until he takes the chicken. Then, lift the flap less and less until he grabs it from the tunnel on his own. DON'T LET THE INNER FLAP CLOSE!!! Keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't get his head stuck trying to step back from the tunnel. If he has real cause to freak out, you're gonna lose a lot of progress.
Got him eating from the tunnel? Awesome! Now leave him inside and go outside and call him out with you. He won't love it, but you'll have your secret weapon: shredded boiled chicken. Reach through the doggy door to show him you have this high value reward and then leave a BIG pile of it outside. If that doesn't encourage him to go through, have someone start giving him a little push through. When he accomplishes it, HIGH PITCHED HAPPY PRAISE! YAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!! Lots of happy pets and scratches and play! Keep trying this, he should pretty quickly enjoy hopping out on his own pretty quickly.
Now, for the final step. Go outside with him. Go back inside without him. Call him in. Call your other dogs and offer them treats. Send them outside and call them back in, and then just hang out. If he starts barking, call him in. Don't help him. At some point, your new boi should magically appear inside the house and you'll be so excited for him that all the puppies get treats, YAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!
At least, this is what worked for me when I installed the new through-wall dog door with the double sealing flaps. Then, I adopted another pound dog who'd never seen a doggy door before and whose veins flow with anxiety and cocaine.
That rescue dog guy on TV lifted the flap and gave a treat on the other side several times before lowering it some, treat, repeat, treat, lower, treat, and so on until the dog got the idea.