Can anyone help, I have a golden retriever puppy aged 13 weeks and she is very good but she does try to rush out of the kitchen when we open the door. I am quite sure this is because this is where we leave her alone when we got to work or go to bed or eat our dinner so I think she thinks that whenever we open that door she better make a run through it otherwise she might be left on her own again. Has anyone got any suggestions how we could stop this behaviour as often if I just need to pop out of the room it takes longer for me to try to stop her coming out than it does to actually do what I needed to go out for in the first place. We have tried telling her to sit and to try distracting her with a treat but it all seems to go out the window when she knows we are opening the door. Any help would be much appreciated.

HI, I had the same problem with my lab.

I wanted to do the KC good citizens bronze test where one of the tests is that you have to make you dog wait while you open a door and walk through it with them when YOU say so.

I taught her by bringing her to the closed door on the lead and making her sit. Then I would open the door an inch. If she stood up, I would promptly shut the door and tell her to WAIT, then make her sit. If she moved again...... again I would shut the door.

Eventually the penny dropped!

She would wait while I opened the door 1 inch, 2 inches etc... progressing slowly to a fully open door and then telling her to come while I walked through it.

I use the word *WAIT* for a whole range of things now, it's very useful!

~Sharon

I will give this a go tonight and see if we have any improvement. Thanks a lot.

Is she limited to the kitchen all the time, or loose in the house with you, pottering about, and only shut in when you eat etc? If so, then maybe having her in the rest of the house more of the time would make it a less exciting place to be.
Have you got a stairgate you could fit in the doorway so that she can still see out, and see you coming? Then she might not feel so isolated.
Just a thought.
:)

A useful tip for going through doors for us was to use a lead in the house and open the door a crack, shutting it quickif MOrse tried to rush, then opening wider and repeating the close whenever a long nose stuck through.Morse now backs up to let me through doors first. Like walkhound I found Wait useful when crossing roads or going through gaps. What about giving her a kong or toy she likes while you popout? MOrse enjoys finding hidden treats or jumping in cardboard boxes - check for sharp staplesthough. I also leave the radio on when I ha\ve to work.

She is allowed to be in the rest of the downstairs when Im home so she shouldnt be too excited about going in it. I tried the advice given by Walkhound and it does seem to be working although I think she needs a lot more practice. We are also using wait when crossing the road and when we give her her food so hopefully she will learn quicker. Thanks everyone for you advice, all of it was very useful.