Training Your Pet for Pet Door Use

Opening the pet doors of perception Unless you can afford to hire a doorman for your dog or cat, you're going to have to train him or her to go in and out of your new pet door. Pet door training should be a simple process, especially if you have an intelligent pet. However, there are a few tips worth mentioning that may help you to train a young, skittish, or less intuitive (read: dumb-but-lovable) animal. First, make sure you have a properly sized pet door. Going through the flap shouldn't make your pet feel like Bruce Willis squeezing through ventilation shafts in Die Hard. As for training techniques, it's better to reward your pet for proper behavior than simply shove him or her through the door. Don't scold your pet if he or she doesn't respond the way you want. Instead, allow your pet some time to check out the newly installed door and become comfortable with it.

Flaps, magnets, and electronic sounds can be distracting or intimidating at first, so you might want to remove the magnet or disable automated pet doors during training; transmitter collars could then be used after your pet has become familiar with the door.

Try a treat reward on the other side to get your pet to go through the opening.the animal with a treat when it goes through to the other side. You'll probably need to lift the lap for your pet the first couple of times to get him or her to go through. You may even want to remove the flap entirely for the first day or so while your pet gets used to going in and out on her own.

If you're training your pets to use dog doors or cat doors with locks, try to establish consistent routines from the very beginning. You don't want your pets running into locked pet doors that are normally open at a particular time of day.

Above all, avoid actions that will cause your pet to become scared of your pet door. Magnetic and electronic pet doors are a huge convenience for both you and your pets. Give your animals the time and encouragement they need, and chances are they'll make this happy discovery quite quickly.