I have a 9 week old treeing feist who has been living with me for 3 days. I'm wondering how strict I should be with the "human goes through doors and up stairs first" rule. Is he too young yet for me to worry about this?

Crate training has been going well. He screams for about 10 minutes when I put him in and then settles down. I have taught him to stay calm and not to come out of the crate until I call him - I can open the door and he will wait for me to call to him before coming out. I don't make him wait more than a second or two though and if he tries to come out too soon or gets excited I close the crate door on his nose.

He has not learned the same manners at the door though. He doesn't like being outside because it's been cold and maybe because it's unfamiliar to him. I've just been getting by by opening the door, holding him back by the leash and then poking him and blocking him from entering. When he pauses from trying to come in and looks away for a second, I call him in immediately before he starts trying to barge past me again.

I'm wondering if I'm expecting too much of him, or if I should continue to treat doors and staircases this way. In one of Frawley's DVDs (Basic Obedience or Pack Structure - I don't remember which) he shows the technique of closing the door on the dog when he tries to barge past (like I've been doing with the crate), but the doors to my house are heavy and dangerous and I'm worried about injuring him. Advice please?

I wouldn't make a big fuss about it, but work on it at the same time.

If he is hating the cold, like you also mentioned in another post, his busting through the door isn't defiance of leadership. Its because he is freezing his nuts off. Maybe work on doors inside for now. Use marker training, make it FUN to wait at doors and stairs.

Most of all have fun with the puppy!

And remember that he has only been doing this "living" thing for 9 weeks.

Marker training and time are on your side.