Welcome to the Trick or Treat Giveaway Hop! Starting today and through October 30th, you can visit our hosts, Kol’s Notes and Beagles & Bargains, along with us and 17 other blogs to learn a different trick, and enter to win over $850 worth of prizes! More details on the awesome prizes, and how to enter, at the end of this post.

Disclosure: The Trick or Treat Giveaway Hop is a sponsored event. All brands and bloggers have provided compensation to be included in this giveaway. Wag ‘n Woof Pets only shares our own honest opinions, and these may not reflect the values of all brands and blogs involved.

This is our second year participating in this hop, and our Lab mix Luke was so excited when he found out he’d be learning a new trick that we could share with you. Last year we trained Luke to close doors, and this year we wanted to try opening doors. Be sure to watch our video after the instructions to see how we tied last year’s in to make a fun little game for Luke!

How To Train Your Dog to Open Doors

Here’s what you’ll need:

Treats (we use a variety of high and low value treats including kibble)

Rope toy or rag. Something that you can somehow tie around a handle or cabinet knob.

Optional: Clicker. You don’t have to use a clicker, you can just use the word “yes” or something like that to mark when your dog performs the action you want. We start out with a clicker because Luke responds well to it (but I also often say “good boy” because I can’t help myself!). Once the trick is learned, we no longer need the clicker.

There are two ways of doing this. If your dog already knows the cues “touch” or “tug”, you may be able to jump right ahead here! Luke likes to tug toys, but we’ve never used the word. I was originally going to do it that way, but he only plays tug when he’s in the mood, so we didn’t have time to do that first! Keep your sessions short and only progress to the next step when you feel confident your dog is ready. If you move too fast, just go back to the previous step!

Hang toy or rag on cabinet handle. We started with cabinets because they are easier to open. Later on you can try a door left slightly ajar or other handles once you have the basics down. We started with our kitchen cabinets, but when they didn’t open smoothly, I moved to my bedroom bureau. Mark with clicker or “yes” if your dog even looks at the toy, then immediately reward with treat. Progress to when they actually touch the toy. Next you want them to grab the toy. (We actually started at this point, because Luke automatically grabbed the toy at the beginning. I think using a toy that had already been played with was a big help). If your dog already knows “tug” you can start right here! Next we want them to hold onto the toy for a length of time. This was our toughest step because Luke wanted to drop it immediately to get his treat. Sometimes you just have to wait for them to figure out exactly what you want. Now we want them to pull on the toy! Click and reward when the cabinet door actually moves. Keep increasing the amount it moves before rewarding until it opens all the way, and you’ve done it! You can start with the door slightly open if it makes it easier for it to move. Once they have it down, move to different locations and different doors. With Luke I often have to start back at the beginning with each location, but it goes more quickly.

Don’t worry that your dog is going to run around the house opening things! As long as you aren’t hanging things on your knobs, I don’t think that will happen (plus they’re not learning to turn knobs!) 😊

I decided to put a treat inside the cabinet to try to get Luke to comprehend he needed to open the door all the way. The other reason I moved from the kitchen to the bedroom was that I wanted to leave the door slightly ajar to make it easier for Luke to pull on. The problem was the cabinet had to be opened a certain amount to do that, and when I did that, Luke would close it (last year’s trick)! My bureau door made it possible to have it not latched but closed enough that Luke didn’t think of it as open.

Now, watch the video to see the little game we started with all this. I wanted to do something a little more than just opening the door (such as dogs who might fetch a beer from the fridge like my nephew’s Lab does), but I wasn’t sure what. We weren’t going to be able to get that far in time for this hop anyway.

You can see in the video, we’re still working on it, and he doesn’t get it perfectly every time. But the extra little thing he did at the end, closing the door? That was all his idea! I only had him opening it to get a treat, he was the one that decided to close it at the end, thus making it into a fun little game. I’m so proud of him!

Now that you’ve learned our trick, see what you can win! Here’s how it works: enter our giveaway through the widget at the end of this post. Then visit each of the other participating blogs through the links to learn more tricks and enter there for more chances to win! At the end of the event, one winner is drawn from each blog, and those finalists go into a draw to win one of these five prizes:

GRAND PRIZE

$300 PETSMART GIFT CARD

SECOND PRIZE CleverPet Hub Electronic Dog Puzzle – $299 VALUE – SPONSORED BY CLEVERPET

THIRD PRIZE

HONEST KITCHEN PRIZE PACK AS SEEN HERE- $68 VALUE – SPONSORED BY THE HONEST KITCHEN

FOURTH PRIZE

Halloween Trick Ball, Halloween Treat Ball, and Maple Leaf Nook

$50 VALUE – SPONSORED BY PLANET DOG

FIFTH PRIZE

HOLISTIC HEALTH EXTENSION PRIZE PACK AS SEEN HERE

$40 VALUE – SPONSORED BY HEALTH EXTENSION

WHERE TO ENTER:

Learn to Crawl

by Kol’s Notes by Kol’s Notes

Learn to Calmly Ride in Elevators

by Beagles & Bargains

Learn to Not Freak Out When a Doorbell Rings

by A Dog Walks into a Bar

Learn to Ring a Bell

by ChiPets

Learn to be “Sassy”

by Dog Mom Days

Learn Whistle Recall

by Fetch for Me, Human

Learn “Beg”, “Which Hand”, and Indoor Exercise Trick Sets

by Fidose of Reality

Learn to Stand on Your Hind Legs

by Heart Like A Dog

Learn to Kiss

by It’s Dog or Nothing

Learn to Touch

by Life With Beagle

Learn to Pick It Up or Take It

by My Dog Likes

Learn to Crawl Through a Tight Tunnel

by My GBGV Life

Learn to Shake Paws (for Dogs Who Don’t Like Their Paws Touched!)

by Sarcastic Dog

Learn Puppy Push Ups

by Spencer the Goldendoodle

Learn Two Dog Tricks

by Tails from the Road

Learn “Paw” and “Shake Paw”

by Talent Hounds

Learn to Cover Your Eyes

by Tenacious Little Terrier

Learn to Jump Through a Hoop

by The Broke Dog

Learn to Spin

by The Daily Pip

Also, follow all of these blogs on Instagram and watch for a chance to win a $100 gift card to PetSmart between October 24th -27th! Follow the hashtag #TrickorTreatDogs.

Giveaway open to residents of USA and Canada only, 18 and over, void where prohibited. Starts October 20th and ends October 30th at 11:59pm PST, winners announced on October 31st. Prizes provided by sponsors and Wag ‘n Woof Pets is not responsible for prize fulfillment. No social media sites have endorsed this promotion.

2017 Trick or Treat Giveaway Hop – Wag n Woof Pets