Help with dog darting out the door

[ReadingMama]

We adopted a 3yo shih tzu/lhasa apso mix two weeks ago. He is a great dog. But we have to be careful going in and out the front door because if he gets a chance, he'll go running down the street. And he won't come when we call him. Ideas for how to work on this? I guess the darting out is one issue and the not coming when called is another.

[Alyantavid]

Leash. We make our puppy sit and stay before we open the door. She stays until we give her the command to go out. And I always go first.

But if he's running away and not coming back, I'd start using a leash. Beyond that, I'm no help.

[buttercup784ever]

I turned this into a game with our dog. My husband is not amused when the dog now makes him play it too, but it keeps him from bolting.

When I open the door for Jupiter to go out, he freezes and just stares at me. I ask him, 'do you want to go out?' and he just stares. Then I wave my arm and say, 'go on outside!', and he BOLTS out the door. lol

How did I do it? Treats and lots of practice. Does your dog know 'sit' and 'stay'? That's the first step. Then get her to sit and stay right next to the door. If she stays seated when you walk toward the door, treat her. If she stays seated when you touch the door knob, treat her. Open the door a crack, treat, etc, until she can stay seated with the door open. This could take days or weeks. If she messes up, go back and reinforce the last step again.

I would also teach her to come to her name. Inside first, and then outside in a protected area. I did this by giving a treat every time my dog would come up and look at me. I would say his name and treat. (Keep a pocketful. haha) Then during random times at different areas of the house I would say his name. If he came to me and made eye contact, treat. Then we moved it outside with distractions. If I called and he came and made eye contact, treat.

You'd think that my dog would be a big fat cow with all the treats!

[ReadingMama]

Well, I found the solution. Apparently, all we have to do is make the "stop" sign with our hands and say, "Stay." He responds to hand movements better than words. Maybe he speaks another language!

He also does little fake sneezes over and over and does the begging thing with his front paws in the air sometimes. If we make sneezing noises, he'll do it while begging. I guess it's part of his trick repertoire!

[buttercup784ever]

Shih Tzu are Chinese so maybe he only speaks Mandarin?