How can i get my dog to come back to me on walks off his lead?

Question

He is a German Shepherd/Cross lab and when I take him for a run on the field he goes awol for about 15 mins then comes running back. Its a nightmare as he ends up in the street!

Answer 1

Train him using an extension lead...let him go where he wants away from you on this lead then every few minutes, call him back showing his favourite treat.. Keep practising this. When he's got the idea, try it off lead.

The first time you try it off lead, call him back straight away and give a treat, then every couple of minutes, extending the time as you progress. This works. We have two dogs, a border collie and a lurcher and they are very good on recall now.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

First: stop letting him off the lead if there is ANY risk of being hit by a car -- meaning anywhere near traffic. This is never a risk worth taking!

Second: Training recall is the single most important command you will ever teach your dog and you need to have the dog on reliable recall BEFORE you let him off lead again. The reason why (safety for your dog aside) is that if you are trying to train this and at the same time, letting him wander off and not return when you call, just negates all the training work you HAVE done! So make sure you get real results by training completely before trying him offlead again.

The best way is to start working on a long lead in your yard or somewhere quiet, and have a pocket of treats. Call his name and 'come', then reward, call again, reward... if he doesn't come to you, gently reel him in then treat so that he never has the option to NOT respond but is always rewarded for responding. As soon as he starts associating coming on command with treats, he'll come!

Next step is to work on the longlead where there are more distractions -- like a park -- and also start working him off lead in a safe place like inside your home or in your (fenced) yard. Use every opportunity at home to use 'come' and treat (carrying some kibble in your pocket is great for this)!

When he's very reliable, then you can work him off lead in a quiet area of a park, then in areas where there's more distraction. The number one rule is to never let a dog offlead in an area where there's traffic. Even the best dog trainer will tell you: almost every dog, no matter how well trained, has *something* s/he will chase. Don't risk finding out what it is when the dog can run in front of a car.

Important tip: NEVER punish the dog when training recall. Many people get angry when the dog doesn't come immediately, and when he finally does, they then punish or scold the dog! This only teaches the dog that coming to you gets an unpredictable or angry response and makes him reluctant to return. So always praise as soon as the dog comes to you, or you go retrieve the dog and it lets you take its collar, even when the dog didn't come right away.

Good guides on recall:
http://deesdogs.com/documents/reliable_recall.pdf
http://www.petplace.com/dogs/how-to-teach-your-dog-to-come/page1.aspx
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/come.html

Answer 3

Long lead. I train my German Shepherd Dogs with a 30 foot lunge line.

Your dog need a LOT more work before he can be trusted off lead.

Why don't you bring him to some obedience classes, and then run him through an agility class? These are fun ways to learn correct behavior.

Answer 4

There is a video called "REALLY RELIABLE RECALL" it has helped me tremendously! Basically it will show you how to train your dog to come as soon as you call it's name. Some of the tips they do mention in this video is - until your dog comes to it's name never call it by name unless you KNOW it is coming to you. Then call it's name and reward it profusely. Every time you say it's name give it a treat ie; say "Fido" (or whatever your dogs name it) give it a treat. Say the dogs name over and over while everytime giving it a treat. The dog will become conditioned to expect a treat everytime it hears it's name. It will be a positive thing for it to hear it's name. Eventually with a lot of training you will be able to call the dogs name and he/she will be right there by your side expecting a treat. Over time you wean it from the treats - It is all in the video. I can not remember the dog trainers name on the video but it is a woman who trains Afghan hounds. If that is any help. Good luck

Answer 5

Train him onto a whistle. Regardless of how noisy it might be it's hard not to hear a whistle.

In your house blow a whistle then treat, blow then treat, blow then treat...over and over, till you can blow the whistle while he's in a different room and he comes running.

Purchase a long leash (15 ft - 50 ft and all in between). While you're outside in the field keep him on the long leash to further train him. You're putting him in a place that he habitually runs off - now however you're prepared!!

Blow then treat, blow then treat....

Eventually he can go AWOL and you'll be able to blow that whistle and he'll come running right back to you expecting something yummy! Good thing - he came back!!

Good Luck

Answer 6

We had a German Shepherd/cross Greyhound, and we had the same trouble, we had to first make him walk to heel, and all the rest of the exercises, before we could really trust him off the lead, it seems they smell all the scents and they are away. Try making him do them in the garden or a closed in area. make him learn to retrieve things as if you are playing games with him, or alternatively seek help from professional dog trainers.Good Luck.

Answer 7

A couple of options depending on his reactions.

One is to carry a lot of treats with you and get him to come and reward/praise him every time.

The other is to not let him off the leash until he knows the "Come" command. This command is something that he should want to do.
Keep him on a leash, get him to sit..then take a couple of steps back and ask him to come, when he does this praise/reward him.
You can also get super long leashes (about 30 feet I believe),and you could continue training with that, or use that on walks when you are in a field.

Good luck

Answer 8

I had to call animal control to take away a dog. It was for his own safety - he was in the streets. They took him away in a truck. He was by himself. He didn't look like a stray, but his owner was awol. Sounds like your dog isn't ready to be let loose. Work with him more and don't give up on the training.

Answer 9

well it seems as if he got to much energy so you can do a few things you can get him neuter him of take him for more walks or go out to a large field in the morning and usually they tire themselves out for the day but that works better with two dogs or you could just wait for him to get old and calm down. then again if you just wanted to train him to walk beside you you could put the lead on him and have it so that it is fully vertical and he has to walk right next to you and walk at your own speed so he doesn't controll you now if you do even one of them you should be fine

Answer 10

I had the exact same prob with a collie, too clever and very wilful!! Eventually used a shock collar. Many people don't agree with them but I've only had to shock him twice in three years, the first time to train him, and the second as he ran after a fox towards the M1. Used responsibly and properly it definately works.