# Open a door with a lever handle?



## Sophia4 (Dec 14, 2008)

Any idea on how to train a GSD to open a door with a lever handle? 

On a general dog forum I would expect people to tell me I am asking too much, and y'll might too. But, he is a smart GSD so I think there is a chance. 

Right now my parents have a back door where the latch has been removed. So when he wants to come back in, he just pushes his way through. To go outside he does the Lassie thing of leading someone to the door and looking at it. 

I know he can open a exterior door with a lever handle because at my house we had him inside and Mom and I were talking in the garage. Between the house and the garage is an exterior-grade door which opens inward and a lever handle on it. He came bounding out to us. I accused mom of not shutting the door completely. So I put him inside and made sure the door was completely shut. I was two feet away from the door and he was bounding through again. So, I know he can, but I think because we were consternated to see him come through the door, he now thinks it is a bad thing to do. 

I am dogsitting him at my house. My backdoor has a lever handle and is mostly glass with 4" of wood around the outside. The glass has blinds between the exterior and interior glasses so I can block his view of me, and let him see me. I tried kneeling and encouraging him to come to me while he was outside and I was inside. He seemed to think I was mean to tease him like that, so I gave up on that method.


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## Grims (Jul 3, 2008)

I need ideas to untrain my pup from opening a door with a lever handle lol. The problem is it's the front door with a highway one house down.


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## wsumner26 (Jan 27, 2006)

One of my foster GSDs went to his new home and while there, I heard a door open. He had gone upstairs and opened the bedroom door (also lever handle) within the first 10 minutes.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

All my dogs learned how to do this simply by watching me do it. I think it's easier for them to do if the latch pushes up so they can push it up with the nose. Some of them never even needed to be taught, they just figured it out.

Have the dog sit quietly - don't try to teach him when he wants to go outside and chase a squirrel. Make your hand like a first and push the lever up with the top of your hand. If you're grasping it with your fingers, he might not get it or think he can't do it becuase he doesn't have fingers.

I had one dog who was trained to push the door bell when he wanted to come in. You need 2 people to train this - one to push the bell the other to open the door quick. Praise praise praise and he'll be doing it in no time. His nickname was Rex in or Out? and it made me a bit nuts so I never taught another dog to do this.



> Originally Posted By: AxxelI need ideas to untrain my pup from opening a door with a lever handle lol.










swap the lever for a knob.


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## Grims (Jul 3, 2008)

Lol yeah I know, it's on the list....darn it, that lever knob is like 4 months old and was NOT cheap lol.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Vishnu and Joschy learned how to do it by watching. I actually had to take the lever handle off the door going to the garage because after I would close it and go out into the garage, they'd open it and come prancing out. So you might want to reconsider teaching this one. Oxana can do it as well. So if I have to put her in a room when I let one of the other dogs in the house, I have to lock the door on her


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## novarobin (Oct 4, 2007)

Yeah, I doubt you will find anyone on here who thinks its too much for a GSD to do. LOL. 
Kaper also learned all by himself. He can get out of the van (can't lock the door b/c the lock opens anyway when you pull the lever). The lady who kennels the boys has had to change her locking system because Kaper figured out the slide lock and let himself out. Our door to the porch has teeth marks in it b/c he knows how the door knob turns but can't get his body to execute the proper movement.
We also just fenced in the backyard. I had some family over for a bbq in the summer. I was in the kitchen with DH and went to walk out to the deck, there were they boys wagging their tails at me, happy to be part of the party. No one would have let them out b/c Kape would have barked at anyone except DH or I (most are afraid of him anyway). It was a simple lift latch, all he had to do was lift it with his nose. 
We have old doors in our house that sometimes don't latch without being slammed but appear to be closed. I have watched Kape turn his paw and pull the door from the bottom open so he can get out.
Chatham, our lab, can't open a door if its almost wide enough for him to get through and just needs a push. LOL.


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## Sophia4 (Dec 14, 2008)

It never occurred to me to me that he was pushed up on the handle. I had assumed rearing up on the back legs and using the front to pull down. I think we are safe to teach this. Right now the bedroom doors have levers and the rest have knobs at my parent's house. They are willing to replace the knob on the back door. Dad had this silly idea of bolting one of his ropes to the door at mouth-height. He just sort of looks at you when you use it and you know his mind of full thinking of the squirrel which is probably in the yard.


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## ebrannan (Aug 14, 2006)

We had to change door handles also. Our female GSD Abby, who has since gone to the bridge from cancer, was able to open just about any door there was. 
She even opened the door while my kids were playing in our fenced-front yard and I had run in to use the restroom. It just so happened in the really short time I was inside, the water meter reader came to read the meter. He came in our yard to read it while the boys were playing and my GSD didn't care for that. 
She opened the door, chased him from the yard and bit his leg as he ran and flew over the fence (he didn't bother with the gate). 
Of course, with all the barking, noise, etc., I was out there in a heartbeat, but one step behind the action. He was VERY cool about it - said he saw the dog watching through the storm door, saw my signs on the fence, saw the boys, but chose to come in the yard anyway. After all was said and done, while he was packing snow on his leg, even though I offered everything under the sun for it, he asked, "Did your dog open the door?" 
I did send him a small _Harry and David_ gift fruit basket though, simply because he was such a good sport about the whole thing. The card read, "Sorry my dog took a bite out of your leg, here, take a bite out of this."
You might want to reevaluate teaching your dog to open the door. A bell hanging on a string works well.


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## galadybug (Dec 15, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: Angela_WVishnu and Joschy learned how to do it by watching. I actually had to take the lever handle off the door going to the garage because after I would close it and go out into the garage, they'd open it and come prancing out. So you might want to reconsider teaching this one. Oxana can do it as well. So if I have to put her in a room when I let one of the other dogs in the house, I have to lock the door on her


I completely agree with Angela..LOL Lady is always watching and then has to try stuff out for herself. Getting ice from the Icemaker, flushing the toilet, opening gates, opening the well's water shutoff valve box, etc.. I have to actually use a deadbolt lock to make sure she doesn't get out. Our entrance gate to the property now has a great big ole chain and padlock that we keep shut and locked except when we expect company thanks to that GSD curiosity and cleverness with their paws and snouts! I shudder to think what would happen if she had a thumbs instead of a dew claws!


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Joschy could do the push buttons on screen doors to get out. NOT good.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

We don't any any lever type handles in our house, so I have no idea how Keefer learned how, but the first time he went to the kennel when we went out of town he let himself out of his room and went through the building looking for someone to give him love and attention, lol! And maybe some extra food.....









There's a secondary hook they can use to secure the door and prevent that from happening, and we remind them when we drop him off that he can and WILL let himself out, so they need to use it.


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## Sophia4 (Dec 14, 2008)

Now that I think of it, he did let himself out of the back gate once. There are side neighbors, but the back neighbor is a street that isn't used very often and there is a gate out to it. One block down is a 7-lane street. My folks got a call from a store on the corner of those two streets saying "We found your lost dog." "My dog isn't lost he is right ... We will be right there." The gates are now either padlocked or bolted shut.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Yikes Sophia! Keefer can open chain link gates, but we have them at the ends of our dog run that's inside a separate wood fence that goes around the whole back yard, so at worst he's rampaging through our planters in the main part of the yard. He usually only tries to get out of his run and into the rest of the yard if we're in the yard and he wants to be with us. When we're gone or in the house and we've forgotten to put the bungee cord in place he doesn't even try to escape.

There's also a chain link gate in the garage pen, and we use a carabiner lock on that 'cause he can open it in seconds if we don't.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

> Originally Posted By: Sophia4The gates are now either padlocked or bolted shut.


Mine too - with a chain around them becuase some lock pickin dog figured out how to nudge the latch with her foot making the lock moot. 

Eye hooks at the top of the front screen door are very helpful too - except when the cyclinder jams in the back door and you have to climb in through the kitchen window which can be forced open with a screwdriver...


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

> Originally Posted By: SunCzarinaMine too - with a chain around them becuase some lock pickin dog figured out how to nudge the latch with her foot making the lock moot.


Yeah, that's how Keefer opens the gate into the yard. Just putting a lock through the hole doesn't work because he can pop the gate open without actually opening the latch. We have a short bungee cord that hooks into the chain link, then goes around the pole and back to the gate, and it needs to be TIGHT or he'll still get the gate open.


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

Gotta be careful with a bungee though. I know someone who had them to tie up noisy halyards, one day it popped off when he was attaching it. In a freak accident moment, the hook wiped around and caught him in the eye. Gives new meaning to you could put an eye with that thing.


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## Sophia4 (Dec 14, 2008)

I just figured out why he is playing dumb about this. 

Dallas stands by back door looking eager as I go into the kitchen. 

I say, "Hi, there, little boy. Looks like you want to go out. (I pet his cheek and open the door) There you go. Have fun." 

So, basically he is getting positive reinforcement for having us open the door for him.


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## adas (Nov 22, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: Sophia4I just figured out why he is playing dumb about this.
> 
> Dallas stands by back door looking eager as I go into the kitchen.
> 
> ...


Sneaky aren't they!! You gotta think like a dog or get Conned!

Frank


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## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

Really think about training this








What if 5 years from now you visit someone else with him and they have lever handles on all the doors?
It's not just about right now but about the next xx years as well!!


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

My Mom's last two dogs (one purebred GSD, the other a GSD mix that she got at the pound last April) both learned to open regular doors with knob handles. No training, they just figured it out (and the second dog was adopted after the first died, so it wasn't a matter of one dog learning from the other). It's become a problem because when Mom wants to leave, Eddie lets himself out in the garage looking for her and then gets in the garbage (or anything else he can find). In the summer when the garage is open, he could let himself out (which Dax, the first dog, used to do).

They use their paws and just curl them over the knob and turn it. As long as the door opens away from them, there was no problem getting it open.

So personally I wouldn't encourage anyone to teach their dogs to open a level handle because once they're taught to focus on the handle, there's a good chance they'll figure out how to open a knob handle too. And then you've got a dog that could escape. I think you're better off letting the dog in and out, or installing a dog door. Dogs usually only need out 4 or 5 times a day and that's not too much to ask of a human .. *L* 

Melanie and the gang in Alaska


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## Sophia4 (Dec 14, 2008)

It never occurred to me that he could physically open a round handle.


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## rainydaygoods (Oct 13, 2008)

Charlie can nudge a round handle with his head just enough to push to open it if we don't fully shut the doors in our house (and they open away from him). We learned that the doors take an extra pull to fully shut - and we keep our outside doors locked. Sooner or later he'll probably figure out how to get our keys and unlock them, I swear.









If I lived in a house with lever handles I would probably have to replace them - I know he'd get them open in no time, and don't want him going outside without us or getting into rooms that we've shut for a reason!


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## Crookedcreekranch (May 27, 2008)

My kitchen door has a handle like that and they figured out long ago how to open that door .... no problem. They can open the sliding doors to ...some do it by using paws and/or teeth on the slide handle then once it is open enough for paw/nose its a done deal. Others know by pushing their body weight along the door and sliding it will open. Clever doggies aren't they? 

I have one Houdini female that opens wire crate door, by pushing the slide then I tried zip ties - hah! just another minute or so those were gone, tried metal clips and she bent the frame of the crate enough to squeeze through. No kennel can hold her unless on concrete and fenced over top. She is the only dog to escape all the vet's kennels and doors 3 of them.... but that's another story.

Bring your dog over if you want to teach her how to open doors, Mena will be happy to demonstrate.


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## novarobin (Oct 4, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: Sophia4It never occurred to me that he could physically open a round handle.


Lucky for me Kape is focused on opening with his mouth which makes round knobs impossible.


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## Sophia4 (Dec 14, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: novarobin
> 
> 
> > Originally Posted By: Sophia4It never occurred to me that he could physically open a round handle.
> ...


Mouth opening is what I envisioned. 

He already knows how to open doors that open outward from him. The only time when that is a problem is when he feels the absolute need to see what you are doing in the guest bathroom. 

He probably gets let out back a dozen times a day. My parents are retired, so they are always there. In addition to the potty-breaks, he plays through the fence with the neighbor dogs, and he needs to patrol for squirrels.


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