We adopted our daughter's springer spaniel/collie cross when she moved back home and found that he had no regard for road safety and traffic. We managed for months with fencing around the home but this has had to be removed for work to be done. The minute the door is open he sometimes manages to escape and dashes straight down the drive and across the road. We take him out to the garden on a lead but he refused to do the deed unless he is off the leash and then he is at liberty to run.
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A dog should NEVER be off a lead unless they extremely trained. And even then, they can never be 100% trusted. I have seen highly trained dogs go nuts for a squirrel, or whatever. You have to be smarter than the dog. You are letting her run you. It only takes a second for a car to kill her or for you never to see her again. You as the human have to put her safety first. She is dependent on you for her life. A basic obedience course is a start. But you must make sure she's always on a lead until the work is done. It's only temporary so she will have to adjust. They will eventually go, it's nature.
I agree with guest post from 8/29...we had an Irish Setter that would take off whenever she could and NOTHING ever broke her of that trait.
Some dogs are natured that way and you can never, ever trust them. She would stay with us if we were out with her, if we turned our backs for 1 second she was gone!!
Dogs are like people...if this trait is born in them you will play hell to ever break them. Just like career criminals.
Sorry, I know it is discouraging, but you need to face it like it is. My son had a black lab/mix exactly the same way...she would even break through the window screens to go after something. She eventually did that one day and was never found
again.
Keep her on a leash always, until she gets old and she will probably quit then...otherwise, she will not get old.
If you have a treadmill, let your dog 'run' all her energy out before you take her outside. We have 4 dogs, 2 of which are puppies and we trained them not to run out of the gate when we opened it. Consistency was the key! I would open the gate, tell them to stay (they were on a leash in the beginning) and would reward them with a little milk bone or a taste of peanut butter and praise them for listening.
Our dog is trained to a fenced in yard but belongs to a breed that will panic-run until she dies, if she gets loose. She is terrified of rain, thunder, and lightning or any combination or singular thereof. I have to be very careful of opening doors when any of the three are in our area, since her reaction is to always try to run out an open door if she hears, sees or smells storm conditions. I habitually lock all doors and check on her before unlocking the door. If a friend is in the house and may open a door without due care, I always leash her. During hurricanes or tropical storms (such as right now) I have sometimes had to take her out.
Training is a key but almost as important is excercise. The Springer portion NEEDS it (the other collie part too!). With sufficient excercise daily, not only will the "run" tendency be reduced but he will be generally calmer and easier to train.
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