My Dog Has a Fear of Doors. What Can I Do?

I don’t know if that is exactly a fear per say. I only say this because my boxers. Both are purebred, and I got both as puppies. But Tyson, my older dog, 3 yo. isn’t as likely to go through doors that aren’t open, or that he can’t open. I think he understands that he is supposed to stay where he is supposed to be if the door isn’t wide open. Then there is Marlee, 1 yo. who opens doors, and walks around like she is so cool, (lol.) It definitely may be related to a personality thing. Even half open doors Tyson gets anxious about going through them. Specially if he can’t push it open. I think of all things, be blessed that your pup, of all things he could hold onto, he is just unsure of doors. If you’re really concerned remember, patience, treats and lots of praise for when he goes through those doors! Good luck!

My dog was also afraid of going out the door. I learned he was rarely let out and had generally peed in the house. The owners were angry whenever they put him out, and he always got kicked on his way out. I made going out a very pleasant experience and it took him about a year, but he got over it! Good luck to you.

When we first brought our lab home we went to a trainer that taught our puppy to not go through doors even if they were partly opened…to this day she will not go through a partially opened door. (She is seven now). However, her brother, a lab mix who is two years younger has no problem with doors (we went to a different trainer with him) so now whenever my older lab wants to go through a door she whines until her brother opens it wider for her. Even when we invite her to go through she won’t…so I guess what I am saying is just be patient and thankful she doesn’t do the opposite and bolt through doors! (And that is may have been something he was “trained” to do…)

Your dog is probably waiting for you to go through the door first. Passive dogs need leadership. They should be submissive towards their humans and follow them as their leaders. Your dog should be following you, not you following her. If she is a little fearful, following you through the door may give her more confidence. Even though holding a door open for another human is seen as being “polite”, dogs don’t read it that way. Sounds like she’s definitely a “follower”, so let her follow. 🙂

I had one like that. When I got him as a pup, he seened very fearful of a lot of things, the door being the worst. He would put on the brakes at the door, and I would entice him in with treats, and praise him when he came in – overly praising him. It took a lot of time and patience, treats and petting, but he overcame it and it worked.

I have a 5 yr old boxer who I got as a puppy. She has never liked doors that aren’t almost fully open or open all the way. She will stand and stare at it and wait for me to open it all the way before she will go through it. The only 2 exceptions to this is if she is on leash or at the back door where she can go outside/inside to/from the back yard…or if one of her puppy friends is on the other side of any door, then she just barrels through them, haha.

Boxers are funny things, so brave yet little chickens at times…but what love they share with their humans!

It seems to me that somebody slammed a door on him when he was going through, and he is scarred of this happening again…

We have had two,successive Golden Retrievers that exhibit(ed) this same problem. Neither was ever abused and we had them since pups. It can be very annoying when trying to get the dog to come back in the house without resorting to bribery, and especially late at night or when it’s cold. We have a second dog with no such problem (different breed). Even in the house, he hates having to “nose” open a door, but will do so if strongly motivated – like not wanting me to be alone in the bathroom! We just assumed it was a quirk of Goldens.