Article Six
Running
Away
A question
I have been asked is why if the dog believes the family
home to be his den does he keep running away. Most
dog owners at some point will come across the time
when they go out to the garden to fetch their dog
only to find it is missing. In the majority of cases
it is a very rare occurrence. A gate left inadvertently
open is an invitation for the dog to explore his surrounds
and in most cases the dog will not have wandered far
and will return in due course.
However there
are those dogs that at any opportunity will escape
their surrounds and this is the problem dog. There
are two forms of escape behavior, first when the dog
is anxious because the owner has left the premises
and second the dog which just wants to get out into
the environment whether the owner is at home or not.
You must ask
what is the incentive for him to leave the home and
what steps have been taken to stop it. Typical reasons
are, boredom, looking for bitches, not enough exercise
and neighbours feeding or making a fuss of the dog.
Once the reason has been found then a solution can
be put into place.
First of all
he must get sufficient exercise to meet his needs.
Try to make the home area more interesting for him,
play retrieving and give him toys to keep in the garden,
offer chews periodically. Get the whole family involved
by watching him in the garden and try to prevent any
efforts to escape, if caught rebuke him and sent him
to his bed but remember the home should be a happy
place so try and catch him off his own territory for
example just after he has jumped the fence. If after
watching him for say five minutes he has made no attempt
to escape then go out and praise and play with him,
make a real fuss to show how happy you are that he
is still there. Build up the time for a few weeks
then start to leave the window for short periods if
on returning you find he has gone then go and find
him do not wait for him to come home. Go back a few
stages and continue with the play and praise. If you
are going out then the use of a video camera may be
useful to pin- point his method of escape.
You must also
consider preventing his escape by physical means such
as heightening the fence or turning the top inwards
by 45 degrees, also check the gate is secure. Talk
to your neighbours and ask them to help by not fussing
or feeding him but to contact you as soon as possible
so that you may be able to go and fetch him. If the
dog is escaping to find bitches then a possible solution
is castration but you should always speak to the vet
if you are considering this course of action.
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This article
was written by Paul C Bunker, a professional dog trainer.
You can visit the website at www.Southwestk9services.com for more articles and
dog training resources. You may freely distribute
this article or save to any electronic media as long
as it is left intact, including this copyright box.
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