my 11 mounth old german shepard runs as soon as he gets out the front dore we have to chase him . can we stop?

Question

he is a great dog but runns my sons and husband have to chase him he wont come back when we call we all run in diferent directions to cach him we live near a bissy road and are worried about his safty .he dose every thing we say at home or out but when he sees the front dore open he barges through and runs can any one help
we are so worried. jo

Answer 1

1. Get him neutered. He won't feel a need to take off if neutered.
2. Enroll him in obedience school. The dog needs to learn to stay and come when called.
3. Stop chasing him. Dogs think being chased is a game.
4. Stop leaving your front door open and when you do need to open it put the dog on a leash and HOLD on to it.

Answer 2

I would suggest that you leave the dogs leash by the front door and don't open the door until you have him fastened.

Then, you have to get a long line and start teaching the dog to come on command. You put the lead on him, have him sit and stay and walk away from him and then give him the come command and give a sharp jerk on the lead. He should come directly to you. If he does not, you walk forward and have him sit and stay again and do the come command again. You will have to do this several times over the course of several days. Then let him off leash and see if you can get him to come without the lead on. I hope you have a fenced in area to do this. Rewarding with treats works wonders when he does do the right thing. Also, when in the house, you say he does what you tell him? Prior to answering or opening the front door, have him sit and stay and make him do it. If you go towards the door and he goes to get up, tell him no firmly and make him sit again. It just takes work and time to get the point across.

Answer 3

First, don't chase your dog. Make your dog chase you. Run away from him until he follows you, then run into the house. It's surprisingly effective.
Remember, in the dog's mind, the one in front is the boss. If you chase the dog, he's obviously your leader. But if he chases you, you are the leader.
Next comes the harder part. You have to train him not to run out the door. Does he know how to sit and stay? If not, teach him that. Teach him to "stay" even when somebody distracts him. You start with a leash on, so if he doesn't "stay," you can make him stay. If he moves away, say, "No, stay," and put him back. Once he knows how to "sit, stay," you can start teaching him to do it at the door. Practice 10 or 15 minutes a day, preferably breaking it up into 2 or 3 sessions, teaching him that he has to sit by the door unless you give permission for him to go through it.
If you need to, take an obedience training class.

Answer 4

Sounds like you need to get the dogs attention if he is behaving well otherwise for you. Mine was similar, in a relaxed situation she would listen, but when she got excited, well, she wouldn't hear a word. Get a long leash, the retractable kind work well. Have someone open the door, and when he tries to run out, use the command to come, and pull him up short. Then reel him in, do not walk to him, and give him a treat for "coming to you". You'll need to do this quite a bit, and when he is not under your control, use another door into the house.

This teaches him not to rush or run out the door. Once you have this mastered, move on to making him sit back from the door as suggested above. If you use the same spot everytime, he will eventually go to that spot on his own when the front door is used. Use a mat to mark 'his' spot, and you'll have to do this everytime the door is used until he learns. I said "go to your mat" when training this. Remember not to allow him off the mat until you say so.

I recommend using a prong collar, it is far more humane than a choke chain or flat collar for this type of training. Chokes are just that, they choke the dog and can easily injure his neck, especially if he is heading off at a run when used. Flat collars tend to be almost ignored by the dog and they just keep putting pressure on it, again this will injure the throat. Prong collars do not penetrate the skin, nor do they close up like a choke. The prongs are bent, and give a pinch when pressure is placed on it by the dog. They will ease up immediately when the dog stops pulling, and it has the benefit of distracting him from what he is doing, so you can redirect him. (I have a gsd that used to lunge on a lead, on advice from trainer I used a prong collar, she lunged , yipped in surprise at the pinch, and immediately stopped. It took only a few more lunges before you saw her start to lunge and then stop herself before the collar pinched. I used the prong steadily for about three or four months. Then I was able to switch to a flat with only occaisonal reminders. Haven't used a prong now on her in 9 years.) Hint, my brother's male dog was really smart and recognized the difference between the flat and the prong, and would only behave when the prong was on. So he put both on, but hooked the leash to the prong until the problem was solved.

I also trained mine not to step off the property. Again I used a long lead, and everytime she placed a foot over the boundry, I said phooey, and pulled her back. Eventually she knew exactly what her limit was, and that she could not go past that without me and her leash.

You can work on the come command in open areas the same way, I used a 100 foot clothesline. Then when I called, I could reel her in and give her a treat for coming to me.

Good luck, and have patience, it's well worth it for the peace of mind!

Answer 5

First - don't chase him. You've just now turned it into a game for him. If you must chase him because you are fearful he will get hurt, as soon as you get him home, REPRIMAND HIM! Make him sit and look at you for at LEAST 15 minutes. He is not allowed to move. He moves, put him back in place and make him sit again. Its like a doggy time out. There need to be consequences to his actions!

Next - you need to set up boundaries. Desensitize him to the door while on lead. Every time he sneaks closer to the door, tug up and to the side on the leash. Don't let him get close enough to the door to get out. Tell him to sit and be firm. You need to take charge of the situation. He is completely disrespecting you in your own home. Sure he listens most other times, but he doesn't listen all the time. A dog that respects you will listen EVERY time!

Answer 6

get a shock collar so he knows his boundries if you know where there are any back roads as crazy as this sounds and lazy we used to have a dalmation that we could not get his energy out no matter how much we walked or ran with him until one day just because he was wet and did not want him in the car we held the leash as he ran outside the car he got going faster than the car so we sped up next to him he was going 30 mph and when we got home he was worn out so we did that once a day try it i know it sounds crazy and lazy but do not use a long leash just the standard 5 ft lead so they cannot get ahead of the car but still enough to stay away from the car

Answer 7

have you tried training? Put the leash on him before you open the door, make him sit and wait to be told to come out of the door. This is not an easy task. you must break it up in to pqrts. First day or two put the leash on every time his going out, don't allow him to run around out side expect where and when you want him to. Day two, put the leash on and make him sit while you open the door. He' ll get the hang of it if you give him a couple of days. the next step is not allowing him to lead you out the door, if he tries to lead, make him sit you are the leader of the pack always. So you must always lead indoor and out of doors. I have trained my dogs to this it works great when you haave a runner.

Answer 8

Keep him on a leash when my female ran out of the house my husband and I chased her down and cornered her and she tried to get around us and at full speed hit the wall she never ran ouot of the house again

of course I am not trying to suggest yoou let your dog run full speed into a brick wall

Answer 9

Make sure he is on a leash or put a fence up around the yard and then you won't have to worry if he gets out the door.

Answer 10

you could get a shock collor
or get a chain to put him on and before you open the door make sure hes on it.
if you train him to sit and stay theyll listen
but my dogs when they got used to what treat means they always came back when we yelled treat or give the dog something he likes and name it and whenever he runs off say that name and he migt come back to get it