Dog triggered by specific other dogs in neighborhood

[TimZenkel]

I have a bulldog/Yorker mix. She’s about 30lbs, so small but not too small. We have a few other small dogs in our neighborhood that she triggers off of. She recently bolted out our front door after one.  Other dogs that she’s familiar with she does not do that with. It’s specific dogs that set her off. 
I’m thinking we need to teach her to go to bed when the door is open and then teach her come. She can sit, stay, and go to bed when she’s not barking at a dog. Is there anything else I should focus on?  I’m looking to focus on that first and then work on other activities as that’s the most immediate concern. 
Thank you 

[Adrienne]

Hi there!

Does your opened door lead to a fenced yard or is your dog free to wander?

For sure training her to not bolt through the door is helpful here, however, I would never trust a dog 100 percent leaving the door open especially if without active supervision.  Research from animal psychologists have found that dogs have the intelligence of a two-year old child, so just as with toddlers, it would be risky business leaving them alone to make their own decisions. Just like a toddler may just take off in the road after a ball, a dog may therefore take off upon seeing anything that entices them or triggers theirs instincts to chase. Sure, it is possible to attain super duper levels of training with dogs, where the dogs are always responsive, but all it takes is one mishap one day out of years of no incidents to make us have regrets. 

Because the risks at stake may be too high, I would therefore rather for safety, suggest installing a baby gate or indoor pet gate (that is high enough for your dog not to jump over), to play it safe if you aim to keeping the door open for extended periods of time.

If she is barking and you want to tackle that, working on her emotions and getting a fluent response in watching these dogs from a window as explained in the look at that exercise (link below) can turn helpful. However, if she reacts this way only towards a specific dog, this gets more challenging because we fail to practice with what she struggles the most. Is it possible to have the owner of this specific dog walk him back and forth from a window or the door way, while your dog is on leash? That would be ideal!  Here is the look at that exercise:  https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/ 

Now, if your opened door leads to a safely fenced yard, that gives us the perk of being able to work on this more without worrying about your dog taking off and potentially getting in trouble.  Let me know if that's the case, and we can explore some more options.