Doorbell Issues

This video will help, click where its says "Boo"
 
[linkhttp://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/dogwhisperer/showclips.php]http://www.dogpsychologycenter.com/dogwhisperer/showclips.php[/link]

The idea you have is correct but I wouldn't do it on Halloween, he may get scared of the costumes, how old is he?
Welcome to the forum, and we really like pictures here.
 

Max also loves to go to the door when the bell rings.  He doesn't try to run out - he just  has to have his nose right there against the door to greet whoever is on the porch.  Just to be safe, I always grab his collar before I open the door.  On Halloween, I'll have the candy right there by the door and Mr. Max will have his collar held whenever the door is open. As I said, he's usually very good about not running out (I just say *stay* and he does) but Halloween is a weird night and I wouldn't want to depend on *stay* [] especially if it looks like there's something really interesting out there.

Joyce

I wouldn't try it on Halloween either, I'd find it all too distracting and debv is right about the costumes possibly being scary. I don't think he will understand/learn much because you will be handing out candy instead of showing him how you want him to behaved.  But its definately a good time to make sure he cannot self-reward by escaping....
 
Is it possible for your husband (or any helper!) to ring the doorbell a few planned times during the day? Then you can reward him for not running out the door and desensitize him to the sound of the doorbell without it being too exciting (ie with someone he just saw 2 seconds ago!). 
When you have guests, it may also help to have them ignore him until he has calmed down and/or has listened to you first! This is especially important if he does succeed in bolting out the door because you don't want him to be even more rewarded for this behaviour (he is self-rewarding by escaping and sniffing the guests but at least if they ignore him, it won't be as much fun).  By having your guests come inside and then giving him a treat for sitting, he can learn that its much more worth his while to wait inside (if you put a container of treats near the door  where people treat him for staying inside, he may automatically start going to his treat box instead of zooming out to greet people!)

I disconnected our doorbell. The little terrier got so when he heard a doorbell on tv he'd bark, and was starting to train the big dog to do the same! Plus, my oldest's neighborhood friends were ringing the fool thing all the time, so I just undid the wires! Very freeing . . .if somebody wants to talk to us bad enough, they just have to knock!

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking of having my husband hand out the candy and me work with Monty, but you're right, the costumes may be way too distracting, plus the doorbell ringing literally every 5 minutes may be too much. We've tried it where one of us rings the bell but it's like he knows it's one of us and gets less excited since he seems to know who it is and we'll be coming in soon. It needs to be a stranger. I tried enlisting the help of friends which usually ends in disaster. I tried using my friend's son and the boy refused to do what I say and he ran in the house and chased the dog around repeatedly. My parents think what I'm trying to do is mean since "Monty just wants to see who it is." I don't know many dog people or people who really understand training a dog and the reasons for doing so.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. We'll just keep trying different things.