Rescue dog attacking doors as we go out

[Iloveautumncolours]

We have had our rescue dog for almost 8 months.
We have had many ups and downs as he has high anxiety due to his past life. He is 2 and for the first year of his life he was placed in a crate and hardly let out. When he was it was only in the flat he lived in. They had no garden and never gave him a walk (I suspect they mistreated him in other ways too).
During this time he should have been socialised and desensitised to the world and this was obviously missed so now, at 2 he is quite an anxious dog but we are working hard with him and he is settling down in many areas of his new life with us.
However, there is one thing he does which really causes him (and us) a lot of stress. It is when we open the back door to take him for his walks.
I will put his harness and lead on then open the back door and walk to the back gate onto the path.
During this time he goes mad, makes a high pitched whine/bark/yelping noise that could stop traffic! At the same time he attacks the back door biting it up and down, he will then do the same with the back gate, it’s ruining both doors. Once on the path he will attack the plants and bushes too.
Obviously, we keep him on a short lead but he lunges at the doors in attack mode and it’s really quite hard to keep him back. He is only 11kgs but surprisingly strong.
We are working with a behaviourist but her advice is to open the door and throw out treats to distract him, this often doesn’t work at all because he will still lash out at the door before jumping out for the treats. I am also loathe to keep offering treats like this because he does seem to associate food and anxiety together at times.
I can’t afford to pay for another behaviourist and the one the rescue uses lives on the other side of the country to me and she just keeps saying it’ll get better but actually it’s getting worse.
He never does this to any door when we come back in or when I let him in the garden to pee (which is obviously several times per day).
He will also attack doors if I ever take him to my parents house around the corner, so I’ve stopped taking him anywhere as it is obviously stress inducing for him. I feel he would do this anywhere.
We have just purchased a caravan for touring but he started to attack that too!
I am trying to understand his mindset and think it must be anxiety over where he is going. He was in that flat from the age of 7 weeks to around 1 year when he was then surrender to the rescue. He was also adopted for 3 months last year but they returned him due to his anxious behaviour so he has been pushed from pillar to post bless him and must be scared and worried he’s being taken somewhere else (when on the actual walk he is fine though).

Does anyone have any tips how to make this transition from house to outside a much more enjoyable and stress free experience for him.

Also, we have tried all the ‘natural’ stress reducing remedies but they either do nothing, upset his tummy or make him worse.

I don't have experience with this so can't offer advice, but I do have a dog and at the vets their is a behaviourist who is very good. She has helped my dog with minor issues. Could it be worth asking your vets if they have one or know of any who could help.

Have you tried approaching the door - treat, hand on the door handle - treat, open the door slightly - treat, close door, open door with him on a long line - treat and let him explore as much as he wants?
All the above without going anywhere at all.
Apologies if these were steps from the behaviourist you haven’t put in your OP.

He needs the whole ‘door’ thing deconstructing so the flood of fear he’s getting doesn’t have time to take hold.

How is he just going in the garden without his lead and harness on? Could he have his harness put on just to bimble about in the garden then back in again?
He has to be engaged with the treats, it needs to be a calming strategy rather than a reward. A chance to sniff about for them, as sniffing is a calming activity.
A LickiMat or box full of newspaper with bits of kibble in it will help associate the Scary Door with a positive experience too.

Ditto with your caravan. Keeping below threshold near it to start with and gradually work up to being inside it without going anywhere.

The vets have recommended a lady but not only does she only offer zoom /video sessions, she also charges £400 and I just can’t afford that right now unfortunately.
Saucery the advice was to get him to sit, open door and throw treats out in the hope he would be interested in the treats and forget about the door but he is so preoccupied that he takes no notice of the treats. We have been trying breaking it down by getting him to sit, open the door and then wait but he is still lunging at the door. I think we will need to break down even more like you suggest, thanks.
Saucery Thank you. I will try and keep his harness on for longer in the day and try him in the garden with it, as you suggest. We do lots of sniff activities but tbh only indoors, I will take these outside too and incorporate it into the door exercise.

It sounds like your dog finds going outside of your property and for walks incredibly stressful. If he never got much socialisation, the idea of being outside is probably simultaneously both exciting and terrifying.

In all honesty, with his past experiences and his lack of socialisation, I would be tempted to just make it as easy as possible. What's he like if he's carried, or if the doors/gates are already wide open so you just have to walk him out of the house?

Ah bless him, he is already way over threshold if he isn’t interested in the treats.
It’s a slow process and it might seem very boring, but the tiny little steps mean that the door thing does become boring, which is what you want.
I hope you get somewhere with this, it’s difficult when they have a fear/arousal about something so essential to daily life.

You need to gradually desensitise him to the door opening and him leaving the house if that’s his issue.

I’d start by putting harness and lead on multiple times a day as if going for a walk but don’t actually go anywhere so he doesn’t automatically assume the battle with the door is forthcoming.

Once he’s chilled with that, progress to having him at a distance from the door on his lead and getting someone else to open the door as if going outside, then immediately closing it (even get them to approach the door and just touch the handle if that’s too much).

Gradually increase the difficulty (with some easy reps in between so he doesn’t always think it’s going to be harder).

Can you change the walk routine in the meantime so that he’s not practicing the behaviour you don’t want? Go out of a different door, don’t use the harness for example to break the pattern in his mind.

Is he worried by anything when he’s out of the house? I’d try and limit his exposure to the trigger if so and work at a distance that he can cope with, moving gradually closer (e.g. traffic, people, other dogs, strange noises).

if you’re really struggling you ideally need to get a professional involved and nip things in the bud before the get worse.

I meant to add, I walk a dog who is very similar to yours in terms of breed and early life/lack of socialisation.

He doesn't bite at doors, but he lunges and barks leaving the house and going out of the gate. He won't take treats and is way too over-aroused for any training to take effect. As I'm "just" the dog walker I unfortunately don't have the time to spend hour desensitising him to doors and gates. The owners have worked with him but it's been three years now and he's plateaued massively.

I just get his harness on, put him on a short lead and go. Everything is ready before I open the door so I don't need to mess about finding anything - though I appreciate it's maybe not that easy if you need to lock up after.

Some dogs are sadly so scarred by their early experiences that you just have to work with what you've got. It's not always possible to "fix" them - you just have to manage your life and environment so that it's as easy and stress-free as possible.

Sounds like he's overwhelmed by walks, especially if he ignores treats during that time but doesn't when calm. I'd take a break from walks for a couple of weeks and then work on relaxed engagement with the harness and lead before trying to take him out anywhere. You need to bring his stress levels right down before trying any training on the walk, in my opinion. And before anyone says otherwise it's totally fine to not walk a dog every day if walks are raising their stress levels so much! No one's having a good time if you're both stressed out about leaving the house!

That does seem the way coffeecupsandwaxmelts, that he is both super excited but extremely anxious at the same time. He wriggles like crazy if picked up and can snap so that’s not really an option. Come the nicer weather I always leave the back door open so that should make things easier (although I’d still need to lock it when going out) but the gate opens onto a side path which has a main road alongside so keeping that open isn’t an option.
Thanks Lightningrain, I will definitely try all of those things. He does appear to enjoy his walks but I think it’s just being let out into the big, wide world which is overwhelming for him. I will try mixing up going out the front door and the back way to see if that helps him. It’s horrible to see him so anxious and like you mention, over-aroused because the walks do seem to be the highlight of his day, hopefully, over time he will realise there is no threat out there. Just glad we have wooden doors which can be rubbed down and painted!!

mrstiggywinklesapron we did try that for a few weeks but he would bark constantly even though we would occupy him other ways. He does appear to love his walks and once out he is sniffing and loves meeting other dogs it’s just this transition through the doors and gates which is causing him so many issues. I won’t walk him for a few days though and see how it goes.

@Iloveautumncolours when you get ready to walk him, could you pop him somewhere secure, go out, get everything ready, open the gate and door, come back, leash him up and walk him through the already-opened doors and gates? I appreciate that might not be possible depending on your set-up.

It could be that the time it takes for you to open/close doors and sort out locks and latches is too much for him. His adrenaline is probably building from the minute his harness goes on, and having to wait for you to get out of doors and gates is probably causing that adrenaline to surge, and then he bites the doors out of frustration?

Poor chap.

Id go down the gradual desensitisation route too. In the mean time if you can get him out by carrying then do but does he actually enjoy walks? There are bags of ways to tire a dog out without leaving the house whilst you work on it.

A bit different but our pup was initially a very reluctant walker. We live in an area where it was safe to clip the light lead on then go ahead then let her make the choice to come with us which we heavily rewarded. She loved her walks once we got out of the door. Now she’s fine. If we had to get her somewhere like the vets or training classes which she loved then we carried her. Now she’d drag us out if we let her.

Distract with squeaky toy and run with him to get through it quickly ? Also you need high value treats like chicken or sausage for praise