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Post by AmyJo27 on Nov 26, 2011 15:54:16 GMT -5
Bola has been a perfect boy since we adopted him. No complaints what so ever. He just has one bad behavior that really concerns me for his safety.  Bola is loose all the time when we are home and if you don’t have your guard up all the time when opening doors and he happens to get out, he is gone. I’ve never owned a runner before and he is definitely a runner. When he’s in the house he listens to the ‘Come’ command very well. When he’s outside on a leash, he listens. When he knows he’s loose, he runs and will not listen. Having a 3 year old daughter who opens doors all the time, he has slipped out a few times and he is quite the escape artist, if you are not paying attention Bola slips out and is gone---Scares the sh*t out of me. It results in us chasing him until we can catch him. We are very careful with the doors but accidents happen and I was wondering what I could do to maybe break this running/darting behavior. We live in a rental house so fencing in the yard is not a possibility and in all honesty, I think he’d clear about any fencing in seconds if we had it. I was also wondering if this behavior is due to him getting neutered as an adult and not sooner? |
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Post by emilys on Nov 26, 2011 16:04:55 GMT -5
is there a hallway in front of the door you can put a baby gate up to block the entrance?
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Post by AmyJo27 on Nov 26, 2011 16:12:24 GMT -5
Nope, no hallway. We have two doors that lead outside- Both are in the kitchen and our house has an open layout. No way of gating off the kitchen.
He also clears baby gates like their not even there.
Was hoping to possibly recondition this behavior if possible.
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Post by emilys on Nov 26, 2011 16:51:14 GMT -5
Nope, no hallway. We have two doors that lead outside- Both are in the kitchen and our house has an open layout. No way of gating off the kitchen. He also clears baby gates like their not even there. Was hoping to possibly recondition this behavior if possible. yes, but meanwhile, blocking the doors (or 100% attention to him and your door-opening child or keeping him on a tiedown when you can't do both of those) would be the way to go. You can buy tall x-pen parts and form a stand-alone u-shaped barrier |
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Post by loverocksalot on Nov 26, 2011 18:48:53 GMT -5
possibly teaching him to go to his spot when the door opens. This would take some time but it might help. also when you take him out for walk dont let him go out the door before you or passing you. Make him sit and wait until he is told he can come out.
Rocky too has bolted out of the yard and calling him to come he does not respond. I use "here NOW" in a stern growl type voice when he does not come from the yard. It has gotten him in from barking at the deer. Last time he got out instead of doing that happy come voice I used the ROCK HERE NOW really emphasizing the NOW to my surprise he came Running back. He has never really gone too far. But chasing does not work he will run faster.
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Post by AmyJo27 on Nov 26, 2011 18:52:19 GMT -5
Today we put chain locks (idk what there technically called) on the tops of both doors so now avery can't accidently let bola out. I've been pretty strict on our routine and so far thats working-he hasnt slipped out but Im not sure at what to do training wise to end his darting urge or if its something we can even change.
It just worrys me because I'm so afraid one of these days, somehow hes going to slip out the door or something and end up hit. :/
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Post by maryellen on Nov 26, 2011 19:00:09 GMT -5
sadie is a runner too, she has gotten past me a few times when i go to let cheyenne out, but luckily she runs to my truck as she thinks she is going for a ride(roommate did this when i first got her he took her everywhere and would go out with her the slider to his truck so she would think she was going for a ride and luckily went to my truck to go for a ride) i worked with her on the WAIT command by the door, and now she is way better, but it took alot of time and treats to get her to not bolt every time i opened the slider.
i would try a gate barrier tall enough for your daughter to not be able to open
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Post by AmyJo27 on Nov 26, 2011 19:00:22 GMT -5
Alright, I need to work on him going to his spot. That sounds like a good idea. I haven't been letting him run out ahead of me, weve been working on him waiting for a command to go out....this is hard for him but hes getting there.
The first time he ever got out, I couldn't chase him. I had just been put on bed rest. He ran, I had to watch him run away, calling desperately for him, called our police to let them know my dog got loose, and drove around looking for him. Almost 2 hours later I drove by my house and he was laying in my yard waiting to go inside. Scared me to death.
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Post by AmyJo27 on Nov 26, 2011 19:04:55 GMT -5
How did you go about teaching the wait command?
I've been making him sit (with his leash on), I open the door all the way, I step outside making him stay sitting , then tell him come and reward. Is this ok??
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Post by melonie on Nov 26, 2011 19:30:03 GMT -5
Mac was a runner when he realized he was off leash. I found out that yelling "Hey Mac, wanna go for a ride?" would get him to bolt for the car. This worked every time. Cleveland got out once and I ran to my car, got in and followed him, when he stopped, I opened the door and yelled at him for a ride, and the silly boy got in the car. With a little one it's going to be hard to go for a ride, but you can at least get him in the car, run back for a leash and the kids and go around the block once. You could also pick up this play gate thing... www.walmart.com/ip/North-States-Superyard-Xt-Gate/8457890I have this, and it comes in handy for both the dogs, and grandkid. You could set up a perimeter around your main door until you get him trained reliably. When I go to the door, both Winston and Cleveland will respond to 'back it up' I would think the wait command and stay command are the same thing, and would work in the same way to train. |
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Post by maryellen on Nov 26, 2011 19:32:16 GMT -5
start out small, say Bola Wait, and if he doesnt move, treat him, then praise heavily..with door shut.... repeat ... then after a few days of that, do it again and this time hold door handle in your hand. Bola Wait.. treat, praise heavily if he doesnt move... repeat a few more times.. then, repeat, and now turn door handle , etc, basically i did baby steps to proof the wait command , then worked on hand on door, hand on door handle, hand turning door handle, hand turning and opening door an inch, hand opening door 2 inches, etc... basically i did baby steps to where now i can open the slider all the way and say sadie wait and walk out and close slider without her bolting (90% of the time) we still work on it every day, and she gets better every day
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Post by adoptapitbull on Nov 27, 2011 7:03:19 GMT -5
Cappy's a runner...and a window jumper. He's good about not darting out when we go in an out of the house, but if he's left unattended with access to outside doors, he'll try to paw them open. My big must do's are crate, lock doors, closed windows, and make sure everyone is aware that he does it.
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Post by AmyJo27 on Nov 28, 2011 15:09:12 GMT -5
Ok, everything makes sense! Starting very slowly with him...
He is one tricky boy, you let down your guard for two seconds with a door and its a chase!
Wonder if this behavior will also decrease due to being neutered now?!
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Post by marc on Nov 28, 2011 18:51:38 GMT -5
start out small, say Bola Wait, and if he doesnt move, treat him, then praise heavily..with door shut.... repeat ... then after a few days of that, do it again and this time hold door handle in your hand. Bola Wait.. treat, praise heavily if he doesnt move... repeat a few more times.. then, repeat, and now turn door handle , etc, basically i did baby steps to proof the wait command , then worked on hand on door, hand on door handle, hand turning door handle, hand turning and opening door an inch, hand opening door 2 inches, etc... basically i did baby steps to where now i can open the slider all the way and say sadie wait and walk out and close slider without her bolting (90% of the time) we still work on it every day, and she gets better every day +1 on the above. This is what we did with Jackie...and are still doing. Wait also works well in other situations for me b/c i've not taught a 'stay' command. |
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Post by maryellen on Nov 28, 2011 19:56:45 GMT -5
sadie will still try to bolt out the slider if she knows no one has their guard up.. its a work in progress
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Post by fureverywhere on Nov 29, 2011 10:09:15 GMT -5
Something to remember too that I learned early on with Ophie. Chasing after a dog is an olympic event, most of us cannot outrun a Pookins. It's finding a unique call they respond to-something you only call when it's important, not all the time or they don't listen after while- and stoop down or kneel and call them. Practice it indoors first.
I don't use spoken commands with Ophie very often so when she hears "Ophie, OVER HERE NOW" she runs to me almost instantly
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Post by johnr on Nov 29, 2011 10:41:04 GMT -5
Something to remember too that I learned early on with Ophie. Chasing after a dog is an olympic event, most of us cannot outrun a Pookins. It's finding a unique call they respond to-something you only call when it's important, not all the time or they don't listen after while- and stoop down or kneel and call them. Practice it indoors first. I don't use spoken commands with Ophie very often so when she hears "Ophie, OVER HERE NOW" she runs to me almost instantly Never chase! When a dog gets loose at the shelter, I always kneel, sit or even lie down. It's the rare dog that won't come back if you do this. It generally won't work when they first bolt. In that sense, you do have to follow them to wherever they went. But once they aren't bee lining at top speed, they can generally be gotten back by getting low. |
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Post by AmyJo27 on Nov 29, 2011 12:39:59 GMT -5
Thing is, we have to chase. Even if its at a distance, otherwise he'd be gone. I've tried 100 different calls, I've knelt, layed down.....when hes loose, he could careless...your lucky if he even looks back once.
The only time I didnt chase him he was gone for almost 2 hours, then he came home. God knows where he was, I refuse to do that again.
I'm sure this is something we will b be something we'll always have to work with, thats fine I just can't stand the thought of him running loose so we'll do what it takes to prevent.
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Post by catstina on Nov 29, 2011 12:45:36 GMT -5
If I run in the other direction Saxon will come after me and I can grab him. That's how I do it if he's too excited to listen at the beach or something.
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Post by johnr on Nov 29, 2011 12:58:27 GMT -5
If I run in the other direction Saxon will come after me and I can grab him. That's how I do it if he's too excited to listen at the beach or something. That's a good one, too! I got a loose dog to run back in through the gate at the Animal Orphanage by running that way. I took a dog aggressive Pit Bull (Pablo and he almost got into it in a park in a moment that is burned in my memory forever) off the streets of Bordentown by running past him and leashing him when he followed. Joseph was serious stuff. We ended up sending him to a rescue in Queens after he did stray time at BCAS (long before I was employed here). |
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I look forward to learning much here