My 8 month old male Sheltie has recently decided that he likes to run around the neighborhood, and not respond to return commands. I follow him on foot, get a couple feet from him and he just takes off running! I have never physically hit or spanked him. It's becoming very frustrating.
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Annie, your puppy is trying to tell you something. He is lonely and bored at home. He is a "working" dog. Shelties are shepherds and they need their exercise and a mission in life. Grab the leash and start taking him for walks. Try to take short drives and walk in new areas too. We went through this with our Irish setters until it dawned on us they are sporting dogs. They want to hunt, run, explore.
This pup has learned he doesn't have to mind so he doesn't! Also it's fun to get people to chase him when he runs away. He needs concentrated training. You need to let him out with a collar and light weight rope such as clothseline for a leash. Let him play and run and then when he's forgotten about the leash and you, call him. When he doesn't come firmly and steadly 'reel him in' all the time saying the couple of words you've chosen.
Long ago my ex-boyfriend had a large German shepherd who would just take off. One day a dog catcher brought him back home after he caught him & threatened to lock him up after he had gotten in a fight with a much smaller poodle... This dog catcher told me something VERY important: He said that ALL dogs now & in nature like to have a certain "path" or more correctly a "course" they walk each & EVERY day & it usually is the same exact course that they walk every day of the year, sometimes expanding it to include wider areas.
After watching the "Dog Wisperer" Fridays on the National Geographic TV channel I've found that that dog catcher was right... This is what dogs do... & the only way to break them of this habit & also keep them happy is to WALK them EVERY DAY! ...The walk needs to be AT LEAST 40 minutes long... This daily walking isn't JUST for their exercise, it's mostly for their mental health & to keep them content & from wanting to wanter off on their own. Dogs are curious creatures & will get very board being just inside a house or a back yard. They want to know what going on in the big wide world (like we do).
Have you been walking your dog daily for 40 minutes or more? If you don't have the time yourself, then think about hiring one of the neighborhood teenagers or a teenager from your church to do this important task for you.
If you have "ON DEMAND" on Comcast cable, you can watch past shows for free. Just go to "On demand" then to "Family", then to "The Dog Whisperer" & find a one of the old shows that's about dogs that take off running.
PS. I'm glad you've never hit an animal because If you hit an animal, they won't understand why & it only confuses them. Our pets are Gods little creatures, given to us to become more understanding & help us grow. Whenever I get frustrated with an animal, I think about how WE humans are less intelligent than any animal compared with the Almighty & how he has complete patience & understanding with us humans.
I would certainly be looking at either dog obedience or that shock collar. Not only will you end up disliking your dog he will end up being hit by a car. Dogs can learn to be happy and content in their surroundings. Our dogs (2 of them) are always in the yard.( and one of them is a working dog-Australian cattle dog) We have a wireless containment system and our dogs are in and out of the house and completely content.
I'm a dog trainer, and this is a common problem. If you are following him, then he's winning the game -- in his mind, it's chase! Try getting his attention, then in a playful manner, run the opposite way to try to get him to chase you. Clap your hands quickly and squat down a bit. Make it look like you are wanting to play. It also helps if you have a favourite toy and/or treat in your pocket. Make sure to praise him and reward him when he does come to you. He won't understand that he was bad to run away if you are angry with him when he gets to you. He'll just think you're angry when he came to you and he'll remember that next time.
Also, the earlier posts about the walks are very important. Especially at this age. He's a teenager who is finding the outside world much more interesting than you (his "mom").
Training the recall is something you can practice at home -- inside and outside. You can do it with someone else or just with you and the dog. Each person has a pocketful of treats. Just tiny pieces of extra tasty treats that he loves. Little tastes, no something he has to really chew much.
If it's just one person, have the dog sit/stay. If there's two of you, have one person stay with the dog while the other moves several feet away. The "away" person calls the dog's name, and then "come", encouraging the dog with happy body language. When the dog arrives, treat and praise, excessively. Then the other person moves away several feet and does the same: calls the dog's name and then the command. Treat and praise. Keep making it more complicated when the dog is achieving a success rate of at least 90%. You can move around corners, to other rooms, you can hide behind couches, etc. Make it a game and play it often to reinforce the learning. You want your dog to think: "Come" means playtime and good things happen when I come to the person who calls. When he gets proficient, you can try the game outside the yard, in some secure area. Start with short distances and keep the "training game" short and very fun. And you don't always have to use treats. In fact, treating intermittently, once he's figured out the game, will make him more motivated to play. And throw in a few jackpots now and then to really keep him interested.
I hope this helps. As for Cesar Milan's show, while he's done a lot of good and has a lot of useful advice, he does use some controversial, punishment-based techniques, and remember that you don't see everything on a television show. TV is misleading if you take it too literally. Read and learn as much as you can from a variety of reputable sources. Try Karen Pryor's "Don't Shoot the Dog", Victoria Stilwell and Tamar Geller are good trainers, too, as well as Stanley Coren and Paul Owens. All of these trainers have books and websites.
I'd like to add a note about shock collars: they are inconsistent and can fail and lead to bigger problems. They can malfunction and punish dogs at the wrong time at the wrong level. They can malfunction to the point of burning holes in dog's skin. They can cause behavioural issues like aggression, fear biting, and skittishness. They can cause dogs to fear or dislike things they associate with the collar: like things they see when they get shocked or the person who puts the collar on.
Just some food for thought.
I agree with dog winning. I had a yorkie and he would tear out of house like a bat. He loved for me to chase him. Thankfully we were in a quiet neighborhood so I would walk to end of driveway with his favorite squeak toy and would squeak away and he would coming right back! Once he ran up to this dog that looked like a mini horse huge and barked at dog yorkie all of 6 pounds thinking he was tough I went out squeaking toy he ran inside and had no more desire to run out the front door. The big dog scared him. good luck
My dog does the same thing. She is 16 months old and in heat. She will only ignore vocal commands when off leash in public dog park. I only use a small mesh harness on her and never any collar of any kind. If we are in the bush or on a logging road, alone, she can be exploring ahead or behind but when I call she comes. She will walk right beside me out there too when I tell her to heal. In public, it is a totally different story. It is like she is distracted.It is frustrating. I can't have her off leash successfully yet.
What I am doing now is that when I take her to a park, I hook the 6' leash on her harness instead of the 16' zip line leash. I drop the leash and we walk. I call her and run with her in the field at the park. This way if she sees something more interesting than my calling her or telling her to come, I can grab the leash when she is taking off in the opposite direction, before she runs into any sort of dangerous situation, like a big aggressive dog, traffic or a bicycle etc.
So far I think this is working. I am constantly praising her when she comes and I ignore her when she doesn't. Except to get her leash and lead her in the direction I want her to go in.
I am hoping that once she is spayed that her behavior will change somewhat, a bit calmer, less investigative perhaps. Hopefully listen better. Once she is healed from her spay, Roxy is going to obedience classes for basic command training. I sure hope that helps. She dislikes her harness and I dislike having to put it on her but right now it is for her own good.
Especially in heat and at a dog park.. lol. I am confident that Roxy will come around and listen even better than she does right now, most of the time. When we are in the dog park and she has played catch me if you can, it is when other small dogs were around that she was playing with.
Roxy loves kids too and when she hears them playing in the park, they attract her, just like other dogs do. The park I am practicing in right now has kids as well as the occasional dog. I think within time, Roxy will come on command, whether there are other dogs around or not. I am determined to teach her.
Shelties as a breed have a tendency to bolt (run away). They are also often chasers (anything they see from squirrels to cars sometimes)...this is part of their instincts as dogs of pasture so it's hard to train them not to (even though otherwise they are very obedient breeds). It's not just a puppy thing; it's likely you have bolter and it may be difficult to change that. A fenced yard is usually recommended to the point where some breeders will not sell someone a Sheltie without a fenced yard.
I have had 3 Shelties and they like to run around in circles,, run away and bark incessantly. Because these are innate behaviors I have not been able to train her to do otherwise. Our house rule is that no one, under any circumstances opens an exterior door unless she is in her crate or in the dog run.
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