05/28/2026
This is for any of you folks who were told you had to get through the threshold before your dog or your dog would lose respect for you/walk all over you.
I promise that just getting through a threshold before your dog does isn’t going to inspire polite, deferential, respectful behavior.
What *will* have a hugely positive impact on your dog and your relationship is addressing any pushy, overly-aroused, disrespectful behavior at thresholds of value.
The goal is to be able to “create the invitation”, meaning, give your dog full opportunity to make a decision as to whether to bum rush the threshold OR to wait for permission — without you blocking it or holding them back. Because if the dog isn’t doing the work to calmly restrain *themselves* without being obstructed or restrained, then they aren’t making any decision, they’re simply unable to do what they would otherwise do if allowed.
And that my friends earns you zero leadership/relationship points.
Instead, use a leash and training collar, or an e-collar and train the proper behavior at any valuable thresholds (some will suggest food for this — I find it counterproductive due to the arousal it creates, the over complicating of a simple exercise, and only helpful for the most cupcake of dogs), and then once trained, correct your dog for any of the pushy, overly-aroused, disrespectful stuff we talked about above.
If you train it correctly, and then after if you address any inappropriate behavior around the threshold, you’ll find that you dog is far more polite and respectful, and will start to look to you for permission to make the next move.
Now, expand this out how dogs come in or out of crates, how they go in or out of the car, how they are fed, how they take and release toys, and how they behave in the face of any high value situation, and you’ve got some great stuff to work on to build a far more healthy relationship.
It’s simple really. Get your dog to look to you for permission in all high value/tempting situations and you’re on the right track to becoming a more relevant leader that your dog looks to — rather than the old school nonsense that just makes you look foolish to your dog.
