How can I stop Becks from bolting in to the street everytime I open the front door.  I do all the obvious, put him on a lead, put him in his bed, put him in the garden etc but I really want to train him to stay and come back when called.  I have been trying, e.g. getting him to sit before I open the door but as soon as its open he is gone, ( am I that bad???)  Today I put him in the car and before i could shut the door he was out, running all over the place including the road, I was so worried that a car would come but he thought it enormous fun for me to be chasing him up the road and if I got near he would lay down and then bolt as soon as I got in touching distance.  I know its my fault for not putting his lead on but I train him if hes on the lead. 

you should start by not running after him, rather run away, it really works.
he's playing a game, one my shepherd plays when I put frontline on my boerboel,
she knows her turn is coming and darts off, or when I take the brush out of the cupboard,
I only call once(no begging), and if she doesn't return on the odd occasion then I get
her attention and run in the opposite direction, she soon catches up and gets her brushing ;)
and no reward for not coming on command.

also whats working great for us is randomly calling them, while they're playing, chewing stuff
or whatever is keeping them occupied, and reward them with treats, day by day their recall
is improving drastically, and now I only reward the very fast dart over to me, no walking/jogging,
and only instant dropping of what they're doing.

as for getting out of the door, I've read many posts here saying they don't care if the dog gets
out before them, but dominance aside, get him to understand that until you've walked through the door
he won't, might take a minute or so getting out the first day but they catch on quick enough.

EDIT : you don't have to run far at all, turn around when he looks back at you, run a very short distance,
maybe to the back of the car, and he'll think its great fun to come find you

My westie is the same a great dog while out on the lead but the minute the door is opened he's off.  He heads for the same garden and runs wild he knows all the gaps into the next garden and just continues to wander with me in tow.  Eventually all the gardens lead into the woods so thats why I run because I'm scared he'll see the pheasants and not bother to come home.  Do you think he would come back he's not a year yet but I panic incase I lose him. When I eventually get him back I tell him he is a bad boy then ignore him for 10 mins what else can I do? That's the only problem I have.

The trouble with this is that you're not telling hime he's a bad boy for running off - you're telling him he's a bad boy for coming back - so he's even less likely to come back next time. :( The first thing to do is to make your garden escape-proof. Block off all the gaps (chickenwire is excellent for this) so he can't get to the next garden in the first place.

Sorry meant to say it's not my garden thats all been secured. Its when someone opens the front door he decides to run if given the chance.  Never thought of it that way I was giving him a row for coming back.  Should I just shout him and walk away and wait until he comes back.  I don't let him of the lead that much either but would love to he just seems to ignore me when I call.

Surely it would be far better to train the rest of the household NOT to open the door when he can get to it?

Door is kept locked most times as my little girl is only 2.  Frequent visitors know what hes like and wait until I have hold of him before leaving its normally people who visit with kids that leave the door open when they come in for something.  I have trained the older ones to use the back door and to make sure the gate is closed at the side.  He has only ran off about 6 times since we had him not too bad and it seems to be lately when he was younger he stayed around us. The house he runs to has 2 cats and you can guarantee he will be there maybe he just likes the chase he is taken out a lot aswell so its not that he doesn't get out he also has the run of the garden all day as I am at home.

when we went to training classes with out GSD we used cones as a door,walked up to the cones with dog on lead said 'sit' then 'wait we walked first then said 'Inca come' and then she followed. Then took the experience home and done it with every door in the house.
At nearly 10 months she is very fond of the garden so everytime i go to the garden and don't want her to come out it tell her to 'stay' which seh does and on my return she is still sat there and gets praised. When going out for walks completely different as all hell breaks loose but lead on pup and comman 'sit' and 'wait' older GSD does not have a lead so she is allowed to go out first then i take a few steps forward and say 'Inca come' it is the sam on the return home and gate entrance. Basiclly with have now got to the stage where some knocks dogs go mad and all i have to say is 'sit' and 'stay' and thankfully she will not move.

It will come with time but not over night, i think for getting you dog in the car without boting is put a lead on and put him in the car and say 'stay' (with hand held upwards infront of him).

Cordelia

Hi,
Have you tried putting Becks on the lead and standing by a door. Open the door, everytime he tries to get through the door before you, bang it shut quickly and loudly (obviously avoiding trapping the dog). Continue doing this until the dog moves back when the door is opened. It doesn't usually take long for the dog to get the message, you'll have to reinforce it every day for a while with further practice sessions. Both my dogs were taught using this method at my local puppy training class and neither dash through an open door, but stand back and wait for me to go through first.
Hope this helps.

Jan

thanks for all the advice.  Its not that Im bothered if he goes out the door before me as, it when he goes without me!!!  Im going to continue training with the lead and sit/stay command until he is older.

jancx's method worked well for me, except my pup didn't generalise as well as I thought. Waiting at all time on lead, fine. Waiting at internal and back door off lead, fine. Waiting at front door off lead, still not there yet! Must keep reminding myself that dogs discriminate so well :)