running away

[bobnbbn]

gets out of the yard under over and if you open the door - shes gone

[aly]

Did you read that thread I showed you? Do you think any of that will help?

[bobnbbn]

You know we have tried the treats the praise sometimes it works and then out of the blue - she's gone again. She is still a pup almost 2 it's scary I'm so afraid she'll get hit by car

[Barbiro]

I had opened a thread about Baby, a Chihuahua whose owner was going to give her up exactly for that reason. Any chance Baby got, she ran out the door! I don't know what the solution is and I worry about her getting hit by a car.

If something works for you, please let us all know. Thanks

[shelbys_mom]

Wow, what a great board. I just happened upon it while looking at the dog of the day. This is great....

I have the same problem with my Shi-Poo. Shelby is almost 7 months old and every chance he gets, he runs. I don't know if it is because is inside so much or what? He's in his crate all day and all night - he's out long enough to eat and potty (and play for about 20 minutes) in the morning, then into the crate he goes while we are at work - he's out of the crate for a couple of hours at night (eat, potty, play). Since the weather has started getting nice, I've started taking him for walks... he runs the whole time. I have to keep him on a leash every time he goes out - walk, play, potty.... otherwise, it takes forever to catch him. I would love to take him to the park and let him run and play, but I'm afraid he won't come back.

My question is this: will he settle down as he gets older?

I've got lots of other questions but this isn't the right post for them.

Thanks for listening.

[Cincy'sMom]

Welcome to Pet Talk Shelby's Mom.

We have two Lab puppies...one (Sadie) is 17 months and the other (Cincy) is 6 months. Sadie is confined to the kitchen during the day and Cincy is still in a kennel. At night they sleep in our room.

I guess my answer is yes, they do settle down, BUT only if you work with them. Making sure Shelby gets plenty of time to run and play when a you are home is a great step. Also, you can give him mind enriching toys for when he is in his crate. One suggestion is getting a Kong and filling it with peanut butter.

We try to do as many things with our dogs as we can, but since we both work full time and are involved in other things, it isn't always easy. We took both of them to basic obidence classes and continue to work on the training they got there. (even if it is only 5-10 minutes to review, sit, down, stay, ) Sadie is much more trustworthy then Cincy at this point and therefore gets to do more "off-leash" stuff. We take them different places they can run and/or socialize with other daos. Sometimes it is "dayschool" sometimes a drop-in class at the training place we use, sometimes it over to a family members house to play with other dogs, and sometimes it is just playing with them in our backyard or taking them for a walk...whatever, they do, we have found if they have time to get activty, they settle down better later.

I would suggest playing recall games with Shelby, to get him used to the come command. Put him on a long-line (20 ft or so). Wait til he is interested in something and call him to you. If he doesn't come right away, pull him to you. When he does come, praise him and give lots of treats. Do this A LOT!!! Once he starts to get better with this, you don't have to treat him everytime (in fact if you don't, you will probablly get better response from him) Practice this in the house, with or without the line too. When he start to come relaible you can slowly start to give him more freedom off the leash.