BENJAMIN REISER

Hi Adrienne, had another follow up as unfortunately while a few of these techniques worked for about a week or so she was smart enough to realize that one of the times that she came into get food that the door was going to close and has really started avoiding doors if I am near them even if there are treats around. In order to not spend two hours outside every time we go out (morning, post-walk, and night) I have had to resort to using a tense leash to keep her from moving back into the yard and letting it slacken when she moves in the direction I go when we're near a door. While this is somewhat working for the time being she'll basically lie in the open doorway until she gets tired of the tense leash and slowly works her way inside. Of course once inside, she immediately tries to turn around and get back out. This definitely doesn't feel like the best solution, and I have to imagine that this is giving her negative feelings around the doorway despite the fact that I try to give her a unique reward when she comes in (peanut butter, large piece of chicken etc). Recently those unique rewards have even lost interest and she will just immediately go into a room by herself. Acknowledging that it has not been that long since you gave the original advice, maybe I haven't been patient enough. But with her not seeming to be enjoying indoors anymore than a few weeks ago and wising up to going near a door when I am around it, I again feel likes its hard to find a happy medium between being patient with her getting comfortable inside and hopefully wanting to come in more easily and getting her inside in the near term without reinforcing negative feelings she might already have about coming inside or having to be outside for multiple hours every time she goes out!

Thanks Adrienne! The last few days I have been using a leash and recall (command, mark, give her a treat repeatedly for small distances) to get her near the door and using scattered treats to get her inside. I'll let her come in and out to get treats a few times and then close the door one of the times that she comes into get treats. I do think she still feels trapped on the last one, so I'll definitely try your suggestion of scattering treats while closing the door to keep her occupied then rewarding with a Kong. One follow up question - is using treats to get her near the door still a bribery issue that she'll eventually get wary of? Otherwise, she stands too far away to care about the food inside. Would it be better just to leave her outside until she wants to come close to try and scatter treats for her to chase inside?

I have a 3 year old Great Pyr who I adopted a little over a month ago. She very much enjoys being outside and has started to refuse to come inside by sitting down and then laying down anytime I move towards the door to bring her inside. She does not like to play a lot inside, so while we work on training, she gets fed inside, and I use puzzles to feed her I think it's going to take some time for her to enjoy inside as much as outside if she ever does. In the meantime, how do I get her to come in the house without reinforcing her bad behavior (sitting down with her back turned), dragging her in etc. I have tried to use treats to lead her slowly inside and she'll follow part way and then lay down. Worried about leaving her outside without supervision given the type of fencing we have and her breed interest in exploring.