Should You Or Your Dog Go Through A Door First?

“Never let your dog go through a doorway before you.”

If you’ve ever raised or trained a dog, you might have heard this idea. It has floated around in various forms for a long time, but has been vocalized most famously over the past several years by Cesar Millan, “The Dog Whisperer”.

I was recently reading a book by a well-known dog trainer that made fun of the idea, calling it a “voodoo ritual”. (In other words, as ineffective as sticking pins in dolls.) Another book calls the idea “bat doo-doo crazy”. I don’t think the idea is ineffective or crazy, in fact it is part of a very effective training philosophy. Furthermore, the reasons it works are actually quite rational and understandable. I want to add my two cents here, since I’ve never seen the idea adequately explained or defended.

Wall-as-doorway

A few clarifications first.

For one thing, the idea isn’t just about doors, gates, or even just things on hinges. Anything counts as a door in the relevant sense as long as it is narrow, something that you and your dog probably won’t pass side-by-side.

In the photo of the black poodle on the left, for instance, the space between the walkers and the wall of the building counts as a “door” (or at least the humans can use it that way): either they lead their pup down the sidewalk past the wall, or the dog pushes ahead and leads them. (Which is what’s actually happening.)

Shrubs-as-doorway

In the picture with the white poodle, the wall of shrubs acts as a “door” when you walk alongside it, for the same reason.