Walking your dog off the lead and getting him to come back or not run off in the first place?

Question

Let him off his lead for the first time this week. All was going really well until today. A huge alsation came bounding out the bushes and chased him. He ran off in the opposite direction, only returning when a couple prompted him to return in my direction. Now I do not feel very confident and pretty gutted really, as we were both enjoying the off lead walking. How can I either stop him running off after people or animals? Or if he does how to I ensure he comes back?
Mandy

Answer 1

Shock Collar

Answer 2

I would be in no hurry to let him off the lead until he gets a lot more reliable about coming when called, while you are using a long lead... one of those retractible ones is terrific and well worth the cost. I have gone through many of them in the last 10 years or more.

To get him better about coming when called, use FOOD. It's a great motivator. My favorite choice is dried liver treats from a pet store, which I can keep in my pocket in a small plastic bag. My current dog also will work for tiny bits of carrot.

So the drill is, over and over and over again, let him get out away from you and then say, "Buddy, COME!" with lots of enthusiasm in your voice. If he comes, he gets a treat and "good boy!" If he doesn't, don't scold him, just wait and then try again later. Pretty soon he will think you are a very interesting person, even more than he already does. At that point, you'll have to be pretty tricky to find times he isn't keeping an eye on you just in case. And about then is when I'd be ready to try him off lead again.

Answer 3

Take your dog on leash to a safe place like in a fenced area or a very large room. Have him sit near you and take off his leash. Have some kibble ready and drop it on the ground. That will encourage him to stay near you. Let him wonder off then call him. Give him some kibble and let him wonder again. Walk around. He should be watching you and staying pretty close to you. Drop kibble as you go. If you are happy with the results then try it outside. Keep kibble with you and drop it like it was an accident. If your dog wonders too far or if he chases something, don't get mad, just keep walking and call him. Don't chase him because he will run further and faster. When he comes to you praise him and give him some kibble.

Please do not do this near car traffic or where there are a lot of people or dogs. You are endangering the dog and setting him up for failure.

Answer 4

Hi Mandy,
It is very important to take him to obedience classes. There he will learn to come on command, along with other things..sit, stay, heel, etc.
Just a few tips.. Get a very long, very light weight nylon cord and attach to his collar. (50 feet long or so) Use his regular leash for walking .. The cord is to make it feel very light, and he won't notice it as much. Let him get about 20 feet or more from you and using his name say "ROVER, COME!".. Say this ONLY one time. Pull him in with the cord until he is facing you and praise him "GOOD BOY", and give a little treat. You can let him go to different lengths with the light cord.. The light weight of it and the distance he can get from you will confuse him a bit..That's to your advantage. Practice this on a daily basis, several times. NEVER hit or yell at him when he comes to you.. even if you have to inch him all the way to you. PRAISE him.. You want him to connect coming to you and those two words.."NAME..COME!" Using his name gets his attention the second word is a command. I repeat DO NOT repeat the command. Eventually you can add distractions to the area you are working in and train him.
The reason you don't repeat the command is that you are training him to come the FIRST time he is called.. If he's running toward a car coming down the street, you may not have time to repeat the command before he is hit by the car. So, that is the object you are working towards. The reason to NEVER scold/hit when he eventually gets to you is that he will learn that coming to you in a GOOD thing.. Not a bad thing. If someone called you and sometimes when you got to them (he is not aware that he should have come NOW)
they hit or yelled at you.. You would be shy about wanting to go to that person. So, use the training cord and it will work. It will take time and patience on your part.. Don't give up and don't get angry.
This is in the second phase of Obedience classes, but it won't hurt to practice now.
ALSO.. make sure your words are crisp, loud, and CLEAR.
Also, break it up... Use this training but put breaks in between so that he does not get burned out. Practice about 6-7 times in a 20 minute period.. He's on the cord, so you DO have control.. (don't be in a danger zone..cars, etc)Let him run and play.. Then repeat later in the day.. Use the same lesson with his regular 6 foot leash.. Before too long, he will be returning to you as soon as he hears his name and the command "come." The praise works great.. Have him "sit" in front of you facing you and give him his treat and TONS of praise..
Good luck, I think you will do well!

Answer 5

You do it with YEARS of obedience work. I HATE it when a dog comes charging out at us when I am out walking my (leashed) dogs. I carry pepper spray and will use it on a dog that will not back off, it is my responsability to protect my dogs. Even if your dog is friendly, you have no idea if mine are.

Many people have their dogs offlead and think they have control, when they do not.

I have been teaching obedience for 25 years and have 5 dogs. I only have one that I would trust, without a doubt, offlead. I only trust her because she is under voice control. We have been working for 10 years and she is very well trained with many HITs and titles. And even then she is only offlead for serious work in my yard, never to just trot along offlead. The others are ALL ONLEAD!

Most offlead work is best done during class time or in a safe, enclosed area.

Please keep your dog onlead, it is the safe and responsible thing to do.

Answer 6

when he runs off and he comes back, ignore him, or praise him for coming back, whicheve you believe will be the most effective. DO NOT scold him for coming back, because then he does not associate the scolding for running off, but for coming back. Work on walking him on a long lead first and ensuring that he returns while you still have control other than simply vocal on him, and start at first at a time of day when there are few distractions, moving it to a different time of day as he improves if it is necessary for you.

Answer 7

Buy a training lead. Its just a really long leash so the dog does have the option of wandering off but you can correct it without having to chase him down.

Answer 8

Please don't walk your dog off-lead until he is under COMPLETE voice control and is heeling.

I absolutely hate it when I'm walking my dogs on-leash and another dog comes running up to us. I am trying to teach one of my dogs to not pay attention to other dogs because he gets over-excited when he sees them. The training I am doing is set back every time someone with a dog off-leash (which, where I live, is illegal) lets their dog come running up to me and my dogs. I'm left with my dog spazzing out trying to play with this off-leash dog while he's still on the leash. My dog is 95 lbs, if that will help give a picture of what a struggle it is to keep him from playing when the other dog is essentially saying "Hey! Come play with me! Let's have fun!"

Also, normally non-aggressive dogs can be aggressive if they are on a leash and an off-leash dog comes up to them. On a leash they feel a little bit more vulnerable and may act aggressively out of fear.

Some dogs will never be reliable off-lead. Mine will not ever. So I don't ever let them off lead in areas that are not securely fenced. We go to the dog park, and our yard for off-leash play. Yours may also, depending on breed, not ever be good off-leash. But even dogs that do take good voice control while off-leash take years of consistent training to do so. It doesn't happen overnight.

Leashing your dog for a walk is not cruel or bad. It is in fact a prime time for bonding, training and working together. If your dog is off-leash you are really loosing an opportunity to be together as a team. You're essentially telling your dog, hey, go wherever, I don't care. Like a teenager, they may think they want that, but it's really not an ideal situation for them most of the time.

Answer 9

I started when Rocky was a puppy. We didn't have a fence so I kept his attention towards me and when he started to walk away, I just called him back. I don't use a leash unless we're near a busy street, you know just in case. Now he is almost 5 and he automatically stays close and if someone else gets his attention, I just make a little noise or say his name and he comes back to me to see what I wanted!! It's kinda cute. Good luck

Answer 10

Ignore the idiot who said shock collar. That's called abuse! Just keep practicing with him and be prepared because he will run off and explore at times. Try to walk him early or late when your street is kinda empty and keep up with it. Scold him firmly when he does something he shouldn't. He'll get it!!