how can we break our dog's habit of running away whenever she gets outside?

Question

We keep her on a leash at all times but sometimes our kids can't hold on to her (she pulls everyone) and other times they forget to shut the door all the way. Whenever she sees a chance to sneak off she bolts. sometimes just around the neighborhood sometimes across a busy street so we worry alot. She always comes back (or is found by a neighbor) but we know it's a dangerous habit. Is it possible she needs more walks? She has done this since we got her as a puppy. Also any suggestions to help teach her that an open door is not an invitation to run outside. We have to put her in her crate anytime the doorbell rings. Otherwise she is a good dog- she sits, lays down, comes when called, and will stay- as long as we're inside. Once she's outside it's like she was never trained. She's 3 year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, very sweet and mellow but we worry our new black lab mix (5 months old) is going to learn her bad habits. any ideas?

Answer 1

More exercise may be in order, particularly since she is a working dog. Tired dogs are usually better-behaved dogs. Try a little doggie backpack with a couple of bottles of water inside, to make her expend more energy on walks.

I would also recommend being stricter with her on walks. Gather her up on a shorter leash, and use a gentle-leader or harness if you have to in order to teach her that walking beside you is where she belongs, not out in front pulling you. When you allow the dog to be out in front, you are telling her that she is the pack leader and in control of the walk, when it should be the other way around. You may want to hold off allowing your children to walk her until she is better behaved, and until you can teach your children to make her walk beside them as well as you. Your whole family needs to assert the pack leader role in order for her to truly get the message.

As far as open doors go, you'll need to again teach her--and your children--how to command her to stay before any door to the outside is opened. This will take some work and consistency, but it can be done. Again, it's partly a matter of the role of the pack leader, and partly you telling her what is acceptable and what is not. Good luck!

Answer 2

Dogs react by the tone of your voice. Since your voice is lower, and probably louder, than your fiancee's, your dog is more nervous when you yell at him. Peeing is a nervous reaction. When you catch him in the act, say 'no' and then give him something he is allowed to chew. That way you give him an 'out' by distracting him with his own toy instead of him just standing there nervously, not know what comes next. When you get home after being gone and find he has chewed something, discipline does nothing because the dog doesn't understand why you are yelling at him. The fact that he chewed up something earlier in the day means nothing to him and as far as he knows, you're yelling at him for just standing in the room. He's only 2 and still a pup by Lab standards. Keeping him in the kitchen is a good idea while you are gone and when you are home, just be sure he is within eyesight while in the house.

Answer 3

My parents have a chocolate lab that did the same thing. They'd put him on a pulley runner when they let him out, but when ever the door opened he'd try to shove past and would go for a half day run.

I got them to invest in a wireless invisible fence. It has a radio wave emitter that can adjust out to half an acre in radius. He wears a collar that shocks him if he goes outside that radius. It took about a week to train him. Set up these little flags around the barrier edge, take him out on leash to the edge, wait for the collar to beep an audible sound, then he'd get a small shock (it's adjustable), then teach him to come back toward the house to turn the collar off. He took 2 days to figure out the beep and white flags meant he was going to be shocked, then it took 5 more days to show him it was ok to go out into the yard as long as he stayed away from the edge. At first he wouldn't leave the porch. But after a week of working with him, he quit running, no more pushing out the door, no more leaving the yard. The same thing would work with the type that buries a line on the edge of the property, but my parents couldn't have the buried line because of construction equipment my father drives all over the yard.

Check out: http://www.radiofence.com/dog_fences_wireless.htm

This one is nice because it can go camping or where ever with you if you want to move it to another location. :)

Answer 4

Keeping her on the leash all the time most likely fuels her desire to run free. A dog like her isn't meant to be kept inside all the time or on a leash outside all the time. More walks wouldn't likely make a difference, she's just curious and any chance to go outside without a leash is irresistible. If you have the means, a fenced in yard or back yard or even a dog run would excellent. I can't promise it will do the trick or even work at all. You might never break her of it, it just might be her nature.

Answer 5

Can you put her on a lie-out leash for an hour or so per day? This would be an oppurtunity for exercise if you don't have time.

The dog should also be trained NOT to pull away from the children, either by you walking alongside, or with a choker chain. She could wind up hurting one of the kids.

Try teaching her the boundaries of the yard by giving her plenty of walks inside the yard and pulling her chain when she tries to go astray.

Answer 6

You should put them in a room before you open the door to go outside, or you could invest in getting a cheap wire fence to put around the yard, not a short one because the lab might jump the fence as it gets bigger, and the retriever might jump it also. When you go for walks, you should be the one that walks the dog and have another adult walk the other dog, not the kids, the dogs are too strong for them.

Answer 7

if you are comfortable to use one, get a choke collar. i, myself, am not comfortable in using one. i ended up getting the gentle leader. its a strap that goes over the dog's nose and neck. when he pulls or takes off, it makes him turn either left or right, depending on which side he is on, and makes him stop.

at first he'll resist, but leave it on for 10 minutes and he'll get use to it. he shouldnt pull or take off after that.

if you need, you will need to train her to go up to the door and stay. break her habit by using a squirt in the face or a shake can (coke can w/ pennies in it). i think using a shock collar is a bit much.

Answer 8

You could move away when she runs off, that would teach her, just kidding, you should really put up a fence if she can't get enough exercise or be trained, that would solve everyones problems.

Answer 9

Well first you need to teach her how to walk nicely on a leash.

Answer 10

Please sell her to a duck hunter who knows how to take care of this dog. Keeping it cooped up in the city on a leash at all times is cruel. He needs to be free.