How to Teach a Dog to Push Doors With Its Paws

Deprived of opposable thumbs and with poor manual dexterity, dogs cannot turn a doorknob or open or close doors as effectively as humans do. Though with proper training and the right incentives, these smart fellows can be trained to push a door open and close with the touch of a paw. Teaching Scruffy to push doors isn't that hard; all you need is a pinch of patience and a load of treats.

  1. Build Motivation

    • Pushing doors may not be Scruffy's cup of tea, until you provide him with an incentive for engaging in this behavior. Because the best way to a dog's heart is often through his stomach, it may be a good idea to invest in high-value treats that make him drool buckets of saliva. Skip those stale cookies you forgot in the cookie jar; instead, look for gourmet goodies such as freeze-dried liver, roasted chicken or string cheese.

    Target Training

    • Target training with a clicker is a good way to train your dog to use his paws. Introduce your pooch to this training method my placing a colorful sticky note in the middle of the floor. The moment your dog looks at it, click and treat. The moment he walks near it, click and treat. The moment he steps on it with a paw, click and treat. At some point, you want to become picky and click and treat only when your dog interacts with the sticky note by using his paws.

    Raising the Bar

    • Now that your dog reliably touches the sticky note with his paw, raise the criteria and generalize the behavior. Remove the sticky note from the floor and hold it in your hand. When your dog paws at it, click and treat. Afterward, try to attach the sticky note to the wall next to the door. If your dog paws at it, stick it to the door slightly left ajar. Upon touching it with his paw, Scruffy should make the door close a bit. Impress him by immediately clicking and giving him a jackpot of treats.

    Adding the Cue

    • Once Scruffy starts reliably pawing at the door and pushing it, add the verbal cue "push," "touch", "target" or "paw it." Say the verbal cue of your choice just seconds before he paws at the door and moves it, followed by a click and a treat. Once he responds reliably to the verbal cue, try removing the sticky note and asking him to do it without it. If he doesn't, put the sticky note back and fade it gradually by making it smaller and smaller until he no longer needs it.

    Lowering Handles

    • If your door has handles that can be lowered, train Scruffy to open them by using his paws. Place the sticky note in your hand and let your dog paw at it and then gradually raise it up higher and higher. Once your dog learns to paw at it when it's high, place it on the door handle and ask your dog to paw at it until he's actually able to slightly lower the handle. If your dog is reluctant to touch the handle, tap the door handle to encourage him into action.

    Opening Doors

    • When your dog is good at touching the handle reliably, help him by depressing the handle so the door opens. Once your dog discovers that lowering the handle opens the door, he'll perfect the technique on his own if you give him enough incentive from the other side. Do this by placing yourself behind the closed door and asking Scruffy from the other side to paw at it. Once he does, and successfully lowers the handle opening the door, encourage him to fit his nose through the door opening so he can open it wide enough for him to get through and come get his well-deserved tasty treats.