They always do the training on me. They've trained me to do all sorts of tricks, like open the cat food, clean up their poop, and much, much more. Cats are the smart ones. They'll figure out the cat door all on their own.

Just saying ..

It was a fairly rigid plastic door, too.
Then again, a couple of years ago I caught my Siamese showing my domestic shorthair how to open the sliding screen door to the lanai. If he had figured how to close it, I would have been a bit nervous.

As they got used to it I kept lowering the flap a little, after maybe a couple weeks they finally got it. Yeah, I admit I had to gently push them through the first couple times, not the brightest bulbs on the tree. lol

A time or two though.


Back story.

Her litter box was in the garage at this house was in the garage and the fairly big pitty mix dog figured out how to squirrel her way through the little cat door. And at the time was a runner.

So if the garage door was open for any length of time the cat door had to be locked.

And sometimes that it was locked was forgotten.

Then the cat would hit the door at a run and bounce off.

Oh...the dirty looks.

We all know training a cat is an exercise in futility.

Hmph!

Is a sweet gentle dog.

We just moved into a place with a doggy door and he picked it up pretty quickly. We were surprised because like you said it's hard to train beagles. Must be their good nose. They are always distracted with smells.

Have fun training.

Sort of single-minded, though...

SQUIRREL!

Now in case you don't know Poodles are considered one of the most intelligent dogs, so they learn very, very quickly. Of course they love ritual so much that the first time for anything they just resist completely. But the second time is OK because they've already done it once. Voila! they know how to do the second time, without even batting a lash.

Well, whenever she did something she knew she would get punished for she just punished herself. Her punishment was to go out into the patio for time out, through the flap, of course. She would tuck her tail and push through the flap and sit just outside the opening hanging her head in utter guilt and remorse. And when she thought she'd punished herself enough she came back in on her own.

She amazed me all the time.

And yes, she trained all of us. Poodles are amazing and it's even more amazing when a toy poodle is the boss of the house.

now. The older one has it down. Our Beagle Freedom Project lab rescue beagle is slower to accept new things, and needs a little more encouragement, but he's getting it too. We're teaching them the words "dog door" with every repetition. Lots of praise and head rubs, too. By the end of the weekend, they'll both be pros.

I was sitting on the couch just now, and the older beagle basset went over and gave the flap a good sniffing. The locking panel is in it for the night, but he was checking it out. His little brain is cataloging it. Tomorrow, he'll be eager to try it again, and the other dog will learn from him. It's all good.

the glass sliding door with her nose too, just in case.
That was our first warning about how smart she is.