Pavlov’s Doorbell

Try this!  It works best with younger puppies, but with a little work, you can teach any dog to go to a specific place when the doorbell rings.  It gives the dog a job to do which stimulates his brain and focuses him as well as preventing him from jumping up on visitors or barking at the paper boy.

Simply have a helper come to the door unnoticed and ring the bell.  Immediately command your dog to go to his spot, I use “on your bed” and lead the dog to the spot and administer praise and treats if you wish when you arrive at the spot.  Repeat this four or five times with a few minutes in between rings.    Do this drill every night for several nights.  Each night, use the stay command and walk away further until you can go to the door and the dog will stay.

Once this is a success, start making noise at the door and eventually let the visitor in and start talking.  Practice a lot with your helper so that you can stop and correct if need be.  Too often we try to train when we have an actual visitor and give up because we don’t want to annoy the friend.

If the dog leaves the spot, stop every thing and lead the dog back to the spot and start again. make being on the spot a positive thing with treats and / or praise.

End on a positive even if you have to go back to a go to command like sit or shake-a-paw.