if your dog is bad?

Question

If your dog leaves the yard, do you reward him for returning home, or punish him for running away. WIll he be confused as to why he is in trouble?

ok obviously i know i dont have a fenced in yard, im not an idiot. Maybe a fence isnt something i can jsut go out and buy. thanks for being supportive towards my question though........

oh my, i guess i wasnt thinking when i got a dog. i must have disregarded the fact that i am the only person on the planet without a fenced in yard. how dare i get a dog with out a fenced in yard. The foundation for my question was how to punish my dog the right way, not to see if it was my fault for not having a fence. uh hello carmelchik994

Answer 1

reward him for coming home. if you get mad at him when he comes to you he's not going to want to come to you so quickly the next time. i have had problems with dogs getting out of the yard, even with a fence, so i understand. fences are expensive but the best thing. good luck!

Answer 2

You should never punish a dog for returning to you. The dog will associate the punishment with coming back, not with running away so you will be working against yourself. Because running away is it's own reward for your dog, you want to avoid giving your dog the opportunity at all costs. You may want to invest in a long line until you get your dog's recall really solid and never allow him to be off leash. It will help move you toward your goal faster and also keep your dog safe.

I have heard great things about a dvd called, 'Really Reliable Recall.' My dogs could use some recall work as well, so I'm hoping to add it to my own library soon.

I understand the difficulty of not having the exact, perfect, ideal situation in your own backyard. We didn't for a while either and struggled to get our border collies properly exercised before we spent $5000 on fencing (I feel your pain on the fencing issue). Your dog may be running off out of simple need for more exercise and there are ways to remedy that without going broke on fencing. If you run, take the dog with you; look for a dog park and try to go at times when there aren't a lot of people or dogs (I have heard that there tend to be a lot of ill mannered dogs at these places) or sometimes parks will have fenced baseball fields you could use as long as you clean up after your dog and he doesn't tear up the field. This way your dog will have the opportunity to run and still be safe. In these situations you can work on recall off leash. One thing I have learned through experience is that you don't want to call your dog to you unless you KNOW it will come. I have started asking for a down-stay and then I walk to the dog to put it back on the leash when it is time. I also find that the better exercised my dogs are the better their manners are, the easier it is to work on obedience stuff with them.

Good luck. I hope that this isn't confusing. I know it's a lot of information jumbled together a bit.

ETA: I just wanted to add that it is much better to reward the behavior you WANT rather than punishing the behavior you DON'T want.

Answer 3

The first thing to do is take your dog for a good walk. Most dogs behavior problems come from not enough exercise. Then aways remember if you act excited with your dog he will get hyper. If you approach going in the yard casually he will too. Always make sure you go out the door first so that your dog knows you are the leader. And the more you spend time with him the more he will want to be home.

Answer 4

Mankind has not yet found an effective punisher for a dog who runs away (well, except for being hit by a car, but we don't need to get into that) You do always reward a dog for coming back to you, and hopefully you're always, always working on your recall. Here's a booklet to help:
http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB813

Remember : dogs do what is reinforcing. If it's more fun for him to run away from you instead of coming to you, you need to keep him on a long line while you cook up more fun ways for you to interact with your dog. Does he like to play tug? Or does he like food more? Either way, once you know what gets your dog excited, you will then know how to motivate your dog to come to you - fast!
Remember too that you practice this in 'boring' places at first. Be sure that your dog will choose to come to you the first 50 or so times you do your recall game. Leslie Nelson breaks it all down in the book I linked to - give it a try.

Answer 5

To me the thing is the first thing you do your suppose to have a backyard and hello with a fence thats the point cause you don't want to have your dog inside or peeing all oveer inside and thats why you have a backyard so they can play well if the dog ran out the house then yes but mainly it's your fault

Answer 6

If you don't have a secure fence, why is your dog outside off of a leash? You can't punish your dog for doing what comes naturally. It's not like you can explain where your yard ends - dogs don't speak English.

Keep him on a leash when he is outside or get a fence that he can't escape from. You can't punish him for your lack of doggie security.

Answer 7

Dogs will leave an unfenced yard for so many reasons. A femaledog in heat, another dog (pack mentality), fido the explorer genes, and search for food.
If he was really mad at you, he wouldnt come home so obviously he was just being a dog (a naughty one ).
Secure your yard.
Talk to him, they understand. Say " Where did you go? I was worried about you" Seriously, they will look at you with this look that says "I didnt do anything wrong" There was his cute poodle....

Answer 8

You reward him for returning home, because or else next time he runs away he might not come back in fear of the dreaded punishment. Don't let your dog leave the yard, as soon as you see him straying give him a firm correction to keep him in the zone. Hehe.

Answer 9

My dogs never leave the yard unless they are with me or my husband.They're both too afraid we'll do something they'll miss.
We've put them outside with the gates opened.They sit at the door looking in.
Provide for all your dogs needs and he won't leave.They need exercise and mental stimulation on a daily basis.

Answer 10

just try to give it a lot of love and affection and if it loves you that much hopefully i won't run away next time....people with fenced yards still have dogs that run away ....sometimes things just happen ...if you come to him and punish him then it won't want to come back to you ...if your dog doesn't already know this...teach it how to come no matter try placing a treat i front of her and if she comes to you instead of picking up the treat then that is porbably good also to come immediatiely no matter what