Gate Enclosure
Preventing Bolting out when the gate opens
This is an area which is often overlooked, leading to disastrous results such as lost dogs and even worse, dogs being run over. If we look at an open gate from a dog’s point of view, especially if he doesn’t get out for exercise often, the sight of an open gate must be very appealing. Especially so when he has his family running after him shouting and carrying on and trying to catch him. What a wonderful game he has invented, definitely one that will be repeated as often as possible!
The easiest way to avoid these problems is to teach your dog, right from being a puppy to go to a specified place as soon as the gate opens and stay there till it closes. To expect a small puppy to do this is too much, so what we do is make a small enclosure instead. This does not need to be a permanent enclosure; it will be used only for the initial training and when the puppy is ‘proofed’ in this behaviour can be taken away. It can be made from swimming pool fencing, wire mesh or similar with a door or a means to open and shut.
As this whole exercise may prove to be too much for the puppy, just work with him going to the place and closing the gate and when he is older you can take the exercise further. Start off with the ‘place’ command. Give your pup a lovely treat and lure him into the enclosure. As he goes in give him the new cue ‘place’ or similar and treat him. Do this over and over until the pup happily goes into the enclosure. This makes sure he is happy going in and out of the enclosure. This will keep your puppy safe until he is old enough to do a wait for a period of time and then take the exercise further. The rest of the exercise follows:-
Use the enclosure as above. Take your pup into it and ask him to sit and wait, then close the enclosure door. Keep your hand up in the Stop position to help the pup understand what you want.
While he is sitting and waiting, open the gate using the remote (if you don’t have one, ask somebody to assist with this side of it) praising and rewarding him for staying in the sit and wait position. Free once the gate is closed – taking the pup out of the enclosure and then starting again.
Once he has achieved the above we now introduce a car into the scenario and repeat the exercise with the car driving through the gate.
The whole idea of this exercise is for the dog to believe that it is far more rewarding to go to the enclosure than run out the gate. Once your dog is really 100% proofed in this exercise you can start to break down the enclosure. Take the sides and back away first leaving a piece that he can go behind. After the exercise is being done perfectly like this you can then take the last piece of fencing away.
If the pup does try to move, just get somebody to help you to take this one step further and ask the person to stand close to the pup, reinforcing the wait. If necessary you can attach the lead at the same time. However, if the whole exercise has been done properly, this final step is virtually never required
Preventing Bolting out when the gate opens
This is an area which is often overlooked, leading to disastrous results such as lost dogs and even worse, dogs being run over. If we look at an open gate from a dog’s point of view, especially if he doesn’t get out for exercise often, the sight of an open gate must be very appealing. Especially so when he has his family running after him shouting and carrying on and trying to catch him. What a wonderful game he has invented, definitely one that will be repeated as often as possible!
The easiest way to avoid these problems is to teach your dog, right from being a puppy to go to a specified place as soon as the gate opens and stay there till it closes. To expect a small puppy to do this is too much, so what we do is make a small enclosure instead. This does not need to be a permanent enclosure; it will be used only for the initial training and when the puppy is ‘proofed’ in this behaviour can be taken away. It can be made from swimming pool fencing, wire mesh or similar with a door or a means to open and shut.
As this whole exercise may prove to be too much for the puppy, just work with him going to the place and closing the gate and when he is older you can take the exercise further. Start off with the ‘place’ command. Give your pup a lovely treat and lure him into the enclosure. As he goes in give him the new cue ‘place’ or similar and treat him. Do this over and over until the pup happily goes into the enclosure. This makes sure he is happy going in and out of the enclosure. This will keep your puppy safe until he is old enough to do a wait for a period of time and then take the exercise further. The rest of the exercise follows:-
Use the enclosure as above. Take your pup into it and ask him to sit and wait, then close the enclosure door. Keep your hand up in the Stop position to help the pup understand what you want.
While he is sitting and waiting, open the gate using the remote (if you don’t have one, ask somebody to assist with this side of it) praising and rewarding him for staying in the sit and wait position. Free once the gate is closed – taking the pup out of the enclosure and then starting again.
Once he has achieved the above we now introduce a car into the scenario and repeat the exercise with the car driving through the gate.
The whole idea of this exercise is for the dog to believe that it is far more rewarding to go to the enclosure than run out the gate. Once your dog is really 100% proofed in this exercise you can start to break down the enclosure. Take the sides and back away first leaving a piece that he can go behind. After the exercise is being done perfectly like this you can then take the last piece of fencing away.
If the pup does try to move, just get somebody to help you to take this one step further and ask the person to stand close to the pup, reinforcing the wait. If necessary you can attach the lead at the same time. However, if the whole exercise has been done properly, this final step is virtually never required