Keep dogs from coming inside of house

[herediachar]

I live in Costa Rica. My husband and I live in a small house with 3 exterior doors that remain open all day. Our current 3 dogs (a funny earred Doberman, Pit Bull, and a tri-pod Labrador) come in and out as they wish. I would like to adopt at least 4 more Costa Rican street dogs as our property is just over 3 acres and with fully secure fencing but I don't want anymore dogs in the house.

I would appreciate some training tips on how to train these dogs not to come in the open doors. I think it would be easy if none of the dogs were allowed in but that is not the case, the three will still be allowed to come and go and the others that we rescue or adopt will have to stay out.

BTW: We spend at least 40% of our day outside and have a wonderful covered patio area secure from the rain and wind.

Another BTW: There is currently a Weimaraner that is starving that I feed regularly. I believe he'd love to have a home with us. So this could be the first one that I would train. He looks to be about 2 years old and probably weighs 45lbs and should weigh about 60. He mets me every morning at the bus stop. I don't know much about this breed. Before retiring I worked and trained Dobies.

Thank you for taking time to reply!

[Dog Obsessed]

Hello there, herediachar!

It sounds like you and your husband have big hearts. I think that's wonderful!

Personally, I think it would be VERY hard to train just 3 dogs that they can come inside, and others that they can't. It would be A LOT easier if you taught all of them one way or the other. If you decide to teach them all that they can't come inside, then I would buy a safety gate. You mentioned that you have 3 exterior doors, so you would need 3 safety gates. They aren't expensive and they can help teach your dogs that they can't come inside. People can easily step over these gates, but for dogs it's a little harder. Some of your dogs may be able to get over them, depending on their size. IF they happen to, then say a firm "NO!" and place them on the other side of the gate. If you can't purchase safety gates, then you can stack bricks, or rocks, or wood, or a stool, or tires. Pretty much, you can use anything to create a "door blocker" that's about 2 to 3 feet high. After about 4 or 5 weeks, you can take down one of the gates or blockers. And then after another 2 or 3 weeks, you can take down another blocker and so on. But keep consistent.


Good Luck! I wish you the best!
-Dog Obsessed

[herediachar]

What do you think...any ideas to add to the below process!

I'm thinking...leave all the doors closed for one week. Letting the girls come in and out and telling Duncan (the street-wise Weimaraner) No and the times he does not go for the door I reward him. Then the next week leave one door open and not allow him in that door...that does mean I have to be alert and watching this door at all times. Then if learns to NOT come in that door that week...I go to leaving another door open, until all doors are finally open. I reward him for not coming in. My hope is since he is street-wise he is use to being outside where my girls are not.

[kuritsa18]

I think it is great that you want to rescue dogs and adopt them into your family but you CANNOT play favorites with your dogs!

Letting some dogs into your house and not others will only create behaviour problems between the dogs. Dogs need and want to be a part of a 'pack'. It is a natural social behaviour that they have and excluding certain members of your 'pack' is only going to create turmoil and problems for everyone.

Dogs don't undestand that you don't want more than the three dogs in your house they see it as those dogs are more important than me and have a higher ranking in our 'pack order' so now I need to fight for my place. They don't understand the human world only how the dog world works. They won't undestand why some dogs can go in the house and they can't which will make them act out.

I don't know if you have kids but you can kind of compare it to that as you would never tell your child that you like them over their sibling or give the first born special treatment because they were here first.

If you have dogs all of them need to be treated equally if not you are going to find that you will have a lot of behaviour problems with the dogs getting along. The only way for everyone to get along is to either have them all inside or all outside. They all need equal attention and love and if you just want to segregate the new dogs then maybe you shouldn't have them.

[Dog Obsessed]

Hello herediachar,

I would try that! That sounds like a good plan. It will take patience and time, but Duncan will get the hang of it. Is Duncan your only dog that is outside? Or are there more? Because if there's more, than I would train all of them at the same time. With other obedience commands, I wouldn't train more than one at the same time, but in your case I would. Do you see what I mean? Because if you only train Duncan right now, then the other dogs will think it's ok to go inside, cause the girls do, but Duncan can't. I'm just saying you'll probably confuse your other dogs, unless you train them all at once. The other thing I'm questioning is it might take more than one week before you can open one of the doors. But I could be wrong--Duncan and your other dogs could learn fast, you never know. Just keep that in mind.

Good Luck!
-Dog Obsessed

[kuritsa18]

You cannot seclude or segregate your dogs!!!

If you try to keep them out while others are in you will only create behaviour problems and aggression!!

You can try closing the doors for a week but as soon as you open them and they see the other dogs going in and out they will too because they don't understand the concept of only certain dogs can go inside and others can't. They only see a solid pack living together.

It is not fair to pick and choose your dogs and play favorites!!!

The dogs you seclude will be at your doors scratching, whinning, and barking trying to get in to be with the you and the other dogs. They will scratch your doors and chew on your srtuff in frustration of being left out of the pack. They will probably become aggressive towards the dogs aloud in the house because they will see them as your favorites and will try to fight them for your love and attention.

The point of getting more dogs is to spend time with them and have them be a part of your family not separate and seclude them from everyone!

[herediachar]

I would agree with you if I were living in Dallas where we stayed indoors when at home. However I live in Costa Rica and during the day we spend at least 40%-50% or more outside. We eat all meals outdoors, don't even have a table inside...and if you haven't ever been to CR then you have no idea the health and conditions under which the street dogs (and cats) live. An outdoor home (3 acres) here would feel like a palace. Plus our pit and dobie pretty much only come in to sleep so I think I can give a great home to about 3 to 5 more dogs without them coming in the house. They will get just as much love as my 3 now and they will know where they are to eat and sleep. If one comes in and doesn't mix well then I will take him to the shelter, a shelter that this year we donated 9K dollars to for their outreach project to spray/castrate in rural regions. We love dogs and our mission is to improve the lives of animals here! However I am a dog magnate and so far in my life (raising agressive breeds) I have yet to have any lasting problem and we have all lived happily. I will report to the group my success or failure. I had hoped to brainstorm with this forum on ideas to make this work...there is plenty of love here (and time --- I'm retired) that is not an issue.

If you have time read the below:
When I was 5 years old my grandmother (a dog lover) read an ad in the newspaper about a beagle that would have to be put to sleep unless someone came for him. This dog had been trained to go for the throat and the man who had trained him had passed away. My grandmother read this to me and said, Char, we are going to go get that dog. She called the wife and said we'll be there in an hour. The wife said the dog is mean and has never been on a leash or in a car. My grandmother said I figured that, we'll be there in an hour. We went in and grandmother asked where the backdoor was--the lady said you are crazy to go out there without any protection. My grandmother said he is a dog. I mean him no harm. She took my hand and we went out and there was Fearless. A cute middle sized dog and he wagged his tail and came trotting up to us. The wife was amazed. My grandmother put a leash on him, the three of us walked around to the car and Grams lifted him up into the car. We drove home. He lived his days outside in the back yard with a nice dog house and he eventually loved everyone who came to see him. We saved a dog, a very good dog. Grandmother always told me not to afraid. It is when you are afraid they attack. My husband has seen me work with Dobermans, socializing them and he is amazed. I have though never left my doors open from sun up to sun down and trained a dog to either come in or out but I think it is possible. All things are possible when love is the reason. I'm still looking for more ideas...creative brainstorming is wanted. Again stay tuned for the report I plan on getting Duncan home tomorrow.

[herediachar]

Dog obessed,
If you are anyone should think of some other training ideas pass them on.

Thanks for your vote of confidence too. You are right and I am prepared should it take more than a week. He's smart. He has been meeting for two weeks every morning at 7:30. If I walk to the bus stop at 6:00a.m. or 2:00pm he isn't there. I have driven the roads around my place and I never see him...but at 7:30 he is there. So I have a smart one to work this with.

Duncan is the only dog at this time to stay outside. My hope is that since he is a street dog he'll wanna be outside. Our friends have rescued two street-dogs that don't like being in the house and one that doesn't ever leave except to potty. They never trained them it just ended up that way. We figure it is because their first owners wouldn't let them inside. So perhaps I will be that lucky.

I think sometimes people under-estimate the socialized dog. My girls get different treatment because they are different. Chili came along first so she gets to get up on the bed. She is eight and when she is gone perhaps another dog will be allowed up. But I have had no fights and no complaints from LaLuz or Stella. LaLuz and Chili stay in the heal position when walking and Stella gets to go out on the extended lead. No complaints. I hold the bowl for LaLuz at every meal but do not do this for the others. No fights. She has a weight problem and she doesn't get the treats the others get. Her's aren't near as tasty but she has yet to growl at either Stella or Chili.

So I think Duncan can be trained to do somethings different and not feel segarated and not have behavoiral problems.

I too thought of the gates and looked into having one to use. Thinking that putting a gate up before fully opening the dog would be a nice step and they are really expensive here. And he has to learn not to come in and he will as he has learned to only come to the bus stop at 7:30a.m. Pretty interesting...dogs fasinate me. Also I probably should be worried that he'll dig since he has been used to total freedom or that he'll fight my dogs for food because he has been deprived...not concerned at all...I can look in his eye and know that he already knows who is in charge and that life is going to get better...he wants to be cared for.

I'll report at the end of seven days how things are going. Tomorrow is the day to find out how he is going to take to a collar and a leash.

[herediachar]

I said I would report on Duncan, the street-wise Costa Rican Weimaraner, that I rescued 2 weeks ago. I have done nothing as far as training really and he doesn't come in. I left our three doors closed for 2 days and then I opened them and he doesn't come in. He came in once when it was thundering and once when we had lots of company. I told him no/out, he immediately went back outside. It has been that easy, lucky me, lucky because I now feel even better about being able to rescue other dogs and keep them outside easily. All the girls (my 3 other dogs) love him and him them. I wish I had something to report on training ideas but I think what it boils down to is that he has never been allowed into a house and houses in Costa Rica leave their doors open...so he doesn't really want to come in. Which works out great because our little house can't fit anything/anyone else into it. What is great is something that I had not thought of and that is the 3 doors lead into places that we stay when we are inside. One door he can lay down at and be with us as we watch TV. The other door is near our PC area, and the other door near out kitchen so although he can't come in he hears and sees us all the time--most of the time he is busy with our pit roaming the 6 acres...it is now completely fenced and ready for more deserving souls. Thanks for the input/feedback on this to all who took the time. BTW: He has put on 6 lbs and know how to sit and stay and his healing is PERFECTO! Come to Costa Rica, live the good life and adopt a few dogs! or even cats!