How do you "punish" a dog when he runs away?

Question

Okay...punish is the first word I thought of..but I really want to know what the best way to deal with it. When my dog jets out of the house he thinks it is a game so he keeps running. The problem is that he has a dark coat and he ran last night clear up the neighborhood (and boy is he fast).

How to I train my dog to understand that it is extremely dangerous for him to run away and not come when called?

PS...i did punish my husband for not shutting the door all the way :)

Answer 1

your dog needs to learn how to "come".
get a long training leash at wal-mart or another store. get one atleast 20 ft.
then, take himoutside with some small, soft, chewy, smelly treats (i like to use liver bits, they are in a pink shiny package).
keep the treats in your pocket.
now, let him roam around on the leash.
then, in your lightest, happiest "come and play with me" voice say "come here _____, come on ____, come here boy."
if he doesn't pay attention at all, then pull him toward you as you call him. then, when he gets to you put him in a sit position and give him some treats. tell him "good come ____, good come".

then, let him roam some more and repeat the prior steps.

the leash helps you keep control of the situation. it helps you bring him to you at first until he learns the command "come".
keep doing this a few times a week and he will eventually learn that if he "comes" he will get a treat. so, he will come.

good luck and happy training!!!

oh and the key points to remember, no matter how mad you are at him, keep your voice happy and playful. a dog isn't likely to come to an owner if they think they are gonna get it!
also, the treats don't have to be big. just something smelly and chewy that he can inhale quickly wihtout breaking the rythym of your training.
also, keep up with the training. it will be hard at first, but he'll get it.

we learned this technique in puppy school with out lab.

p.s. does he get enough walks and outside time??? i know by the end of the week our dog is sooooo ready for the weekend b/c that means walks and more outside time. i've found that when he tries to run off he's just telling us "hey, c'mon it's walk time!!! follow me, i know the way!!!"

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Never, ever punish an animal or a small child. You make him/her fear you and that's not the best way to establish a happy relationship or encourage healthy mental and emotional development. If the dog is frisky, be sure you have him on a leash before you open the door. As for getting the dog to follow your instructions, I would strongly recommend going to a dog trainer for a few lessons. You will spare the dog , yourself AND your husband a lot of needless pain and anxiety.
The money is well worth it.

Answer 4

Please don't punish your dog for coming back to you, or do an alpha roll (a primitive and ineffective way to punish a dog)
Your dog isn't ready to be allowed to jet out of the house. Every member of your family must be aware of this! Work on your dog's recall under controlled situations. This is sooooo not a scenario where the dog needs to be shown "who's boss" at all. Your dog will understand that it's most rewarding to come when called if you are consistent in rewarding the heck out of him when he comes to you. For his safety, practice this on a long line so that you don't end up with a tragic situation. Here's a link to a great video:
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB810
Good luck!

Answer 5

You are right, you should not punish him. My dog was the same way, she would get out and think it was a game. For the immediate problem of getting him back, the instinct is to chase the dog ... but you should do the opposite, if you run away, he will still think it is a game and chase you (most dogs at least). This makes it easier to get him. Long term, I played with our inside and out back (if you don't have a yard try a dog park or another fenced in area ... tennis courts at the park work if you can find one that the cops won't chase you out of). Play with them for awhile, then just stop and sit down and call them. Do this until they come (use treats if you need to) and then praise them and pet them mercilessly. Keep doing this, after a while you'll notice you don't need the treats and you don't need to wait for them to come. They'll know by your body language and your voice that the game is over and they'll want to come over for their reward of pets and praise.

Answer 6

Never punish him for coming back, which is what you will do, because when he comes back he has already forgotten what happened 2 minutes ago... You all have to agree on the importance of CLOSING the door! Train with the dog, make him see that it can give him great pleasure to come back when you call him. Start training with him on a long leach, that way if he does not come when you call, you can gently pull him back towards you and praise him when he gets there. Patience!!! And you will see good results.

Answer 7

I think you are asking the wrong question. Do you really want to know punishment techniques, or do you want the dog to come back when you call? Let's say you are not a
Marquis De Sade of dogdom, and you are really interested in getting more control over your dog, so that when he gets out he'll come back when you call. To do that, there are a few good overall training things to do:
Do not over feed your dog, so your dog is motivated by treats.
Ask your dog to "Sit" many many times a day, and especially if the dog wants something--to be petted, to go out, before being fed.
Getting your dog to sit, which is easy, and doing it over and over and over until your dog has a Phd in Sit, means you will get control over the dog. My biggest triumph in dog training was training my dog to sit, as above, and then when he was chasing a deer, I yelled "SIT!" from far far away, and damn if that dog didn't slow down, stop, and sit in the middle of the field with the deer leaping away. I have to admit, I was amazed. But even if your dog isn't that good, "Sit" anytime anywhere is a great, easy training program you can do everyday that both gives you control over your dog if he gets good at it, and reinforces "You are dog and I am Master." In a nice way.
Use treats in the above training, but not always. Sometimes he gets treats. Sometimes he doesn't. Like a gambler, he will always be hopeful for that treat payoff. If he always gets a treat, well, maybe he doesn't want a treat sometimes. The gambling aspect actually makes the potential treat award more exciting and motivating.
Use a distinctive verbal cue to give him his food and special treats. By distinctive I mean your voice has a particular sound for this phrase. I use "Something to EAT?" And my voice on the word "eat" goes way up. I can whistle the sound of this phrase. When I need my dogs to come to me quickly, I whistle the "something to EAT' phrase and they run over like a shot. I also just use it every so often, give the dogs a treat when they come, they tell them to run off and play.

Getting your dog to come to you, get a treat, then run off and play should be part of your daily walk routine. First get him in a fenced area, make sure he knows you have treats. Call him, give him a treat, tell him to go play. Keep doing that.

If 90% of the time you call him he comes and gets a treat and then gets to go play, he will have no problem coming to you when called. You can gradually reduce treat giving, but still reinforce nothing bad happens when he comes most of the time. He gets patted and praised, and off he goes. Of course, somethimes he is called and you put the leash on and he goes home--but as long as most of the time he is called it is either for a treat or a pat, he will learn to come easily.

As far as punishing him when he runs off, give it up. You can reprimand a dog efffectively within about two seconds of a behavior. After that, you are just abusing the animal. If your dog is a hound, and has that nose with a million amp smell pleasure device, he's probably going to run off no matter what. There's just nothing you can do reward wise that's worth it. Then it's on you to foresee how he might be able to get out, and to prevent those situations. Punishing the husband is good.

Answer 8

You can't really. You should have some treats ready and when he does come back to you, reward him for that. If you yell at him, he will think he's in trouble for returning. I had a dog that did that, we got him from the SPCA and for the first couple of days he was fine, but once he settled in, if he got out front, he took off... very fast and chasing after him only made it worse. He's better now... most of the time. Funny about your husband! :-)

Answer 9

Rule #1 from obedience training: NEVER punish a dog that runs away when it comes back to you! Dogs are not humans & do not think at all like we do - if you finally get the dog to come back & then you scold it, its brain sees it got yelled at for coming to you & is more likley to run away next time.

You need to cajole the pup back to you - pick up & play with a favorite toy, use pleasant happy tones (stress shows in your tone, not your words with dogs). He will be intrigued & come back to see what you are doing to have so much fun. Also, if you haven't taken formal obedience classes, sign up. They can demonsrate how to use a clothesline tied to your dog to teach it to come - tied to him & you, you walk & let him get ahead, then TURN quickly & go the other way. By the time he gets jerked, your back is to him & you are walking purposefully away. Then he will rush back to see where you are going - then past you & repeat, till he sticks close. You will be amazed how this works, but proper body language nuances really need to be taught by an obedience instructor. Good luck!

Answer 10

Do you really want to always worry about him running out? You need to train him to the point you can have the door wide open, and he'll just casually hang around. Are you walking him enough? Should be at least twice a day, one hour each time. Another thing you could try is let him hang around the front yard/porch on a leach for hours.