My dog won't come when called.?

Question

I have a doberman who is about a year and a half. He is well trained and very obediant on a lead, or inside. However, when we are outside, once I take him off the training lead (about a 30ft length) he takes off and won't come to me. I've scolded him for it, but he continues to run. I've tried turning my back and ignoring him, and that doesn't work. I've even bribed him with treats, but with no success. I know he understands the commands I am giving him because like I said earlier, he will do them inside or on his training lead. I'm concerned one day he will end up getting hit by a car or somthing.

He actually will eventually come, but only after he gets tired of running away. After he decides he's ready he will heal and sit, go inside, etc. with no lead on him.

After he eventually decides to come to me I don't scold him for it, but praise him for coming to me, for hopes he will start coming to me straight away. It's not happening.

He will also obey when there is a lead attached to him if I'm not holding it.

I never once gave him any negative feedback for coming to me. I always praise him, then after we go inside I give him a treat.

I've considered a shock collar. I had one for a springer spaniel I once owned (he was a very stubborn dog). Problem was, once I took off the collar it was back to the same old behavior. I can't keep a collar on my doberman! No matter what type of collar or how tight its on him he ALWAYS gets it off!!!

I can't keep him outside in my fenced yard and leave a lead attached to him. That can cause all types of problems. Let me clarify somthing, I have never punished my dog for coming to me! And I do not ignore him when he comes, I praise him greatly!

Oh yeah, and I don't chase him either.

Answer 1

baby steps. what you train inside you must train outside. use the leash until you can not have to hold it then you should be able to use command with out the use of the leash.

Answer 2

He is not ready to be off lead. Start over at the beginning with the recall. You need to train him in all different places with the leash on it is not good if he will only obey at home he has to learn to obey all places and all times(okay the majority of times). Try using a fish line or a thin rope, something so the dog thinks he is off lead and this way when he tries to bolt you will be able to correct him. If you are not using a prong or choke collar get one.
When using e-collars the mistake people make is they put it on the dog and begin using it right away so the dog becomes collar wise. The best thing to do if you are going to use an e-collar is to buy a dummy collar and put it on him as your normal routine for going for a walk, let him wear the dummy collar for two to three weeks (depends on how often you go out) and after the two to three weeks put the real e-collar on him and use it. you should use this in an enclosed area at first because you do not know how the dog will react.
I recommend re-training the recall before you try the e-collar it could just be mistakes that need fixing that you made while training the recall.
Good Luck!!
Getting into some obedience classes may benefit you. You may be able to learn some things you may not know how to do.

Answer 3

What do you mean when you say that you can't leave him on a lead in your fenced yard? To train a solid recall, you should start working him on-leash only, even if the leash is 30 feet long. You shouldn't leave him out on the long line or leash unattended. Really, if this means taking him out on lead only for a few days, it's going to be very effective... just your call how dedicated you are to fix the problem.

You should start working him outside just as though you were teaching recall for the first time with an itty bitty puppy. Work on a six foot lead and use excellent treats or a fun toy to reinforce when he comes back to you. Don't move off the six-foot lead until he consistently looks back at you or returns to you when you call his name. If you can't get him to whip his head back toward you on a six-food lead, you shouldn't take him off. Remember that rewarding a dog *after* he has done the behavior is very different than trying to get a dog to come by bribing them. Both methods might involve hot dogs or other yummies, but rewarding afterward also involves an element of "winning", much like when a kid gets a gold star on their paper. The excitement isn't in the little gold sticker itself, it's in the achievement. Dogs do respond to this too, *especially* working-breed dogs.

If you continue to let your dog off-leash with no outdoor recall, then yes, he is liable to get hit by a car or something. You are making the conscious decision that you're willing to take that risk every time you let him off the leash. There is never, ever a circumstance where you "have to" let your dog loose. I have three big shepherds and no yard to speak of... we do a LOT of work on leash. Yep, it can be a real pain in the neck, but I enjoy it as part of dog ownership.

Answer 4

I had this exact same problem with my Doberman. What i did was purchased one of those metal collars that have the bent bars/curved bars on the inside of the collar, so when you tug on the leash or collar, the little bars tighten into the dogs fur.

I spent about 30 minutes a day training my dog to run to grab something with the leash on, and I would call the dog back over, if it didnt come back over, I would give a light tug on the collar and he would sit down and look at me. So after about 3 weeks of doing this, he was trained well enough to obey what I was asking him to do.

Once he came familiar with this and was aware of his name...lol. I started throwing the object and calling the dog back over, if it stopped mid-way, I would give a light tub on the collar and he would come running over and sit down in front of me.

This collar helps a lot because it associates what it can do wrong with you tugging the collar. It takes about a week and a half for the dog to associate the tightening of the collar with his bad behavior or disobeying.

Hopefully this helped.

Answer 5

he's still in a puppies mentality and wants to explore and run. its obvious he is not ready to be taken off a leash while outside. calling your dog over then scolding and turning your back on him is confusing, would you come to someone if you didn't even know if they were going to hug, yell, or hit you for it? you could try a school for him. chasing him is the last thing you want to do, it will cause him to run off further cause as far as he can tell, you are playing with him.

you can try these links to see if they help.

EDIT
take note i am not accusing you of anything. just giving you the basic idea that human reactions can confuse a dog.

going by this part of the question:
"I've scolded him for it, but he continues to run. I've tried turning my back and ignoring him, and that doesn't work. I've even bribed him with treats, but with no success"

its nice that you praise when he comes to you. but when he runs away you scold him. he pretty much just doesnt get that running away from you equals negative.
thats the confusing part of the post, do you scold him when he comes back or are you just yelling at him as he runs away?
hes not going to respond positively to that.

its the long post that are the best answers. Erica and Shephered are the best answers IMO

good luck though

Answer 6

My dog is the same way! I have spent time training him to come when called for treats, and he does great during the training sessions. But then he goes back to being stubborn. He loves to run off!

I suggest you get one of those tracking chips put into him, in case he ever jumps a fence and runs off. It won't stop him from getting hit by a car though. I have trained my dog on walks to move over closer to the curb when a car comes, so maybe he will associate cars with "move over to the curb".

Anyway, make sure you take him for a walk every day, to get some of his energy and wanderlust under control.

Good luck!

Answer 7

When you call him, are you calling him by the right name? Rover instead of his given name. Also, are you saying please and thank you? Actually the tone of your voice meens a lot, if you sound angry or upset, he will be afraid of you. Make him want to come to you. Give him a good reason like, "Wanna play ball, or something on that order. Good Luck, it's a dog eat dog out there and training him could be ruff. And I'm not just barking up a tree.

Answer 8

Did you ever punish him when he finally came to you? If yes, you may need to teach him a new command for come. I use "here" because one of my dogs was abused before I got him and he is afraid of "come". It has worked fine.

Also, you could use a shock collar. But only use it at the lowest effective setting. Especially because teaching a dog to come can save its life. When you get him trained, you can purchase dummy collars for about $10 so if your dog looses the collar it will not be a big deal.

Answer 9

Sounds exactly like my springer. Sorry, we have never really found a solution but we did get an invisible fence. Seriously, it's a lifesaver (literally).

Answer 10

Dont take him off a leash or training lead then. Problem solved!