Boundary Training

[BG and Gavin]

Looking for wisdom and experience concerning boundary training.  We will be opening our cottage in 6 weeks.  Our property is not fenced.  I would like to do some training with Gavin to keep him within certain parameters of our property.  I would not let him outside unteathered and unsupervised, but when we are outside with him I want to be able to have him off-leash without him wandering into the bush, into the water or onto the road or other's property.  We have been working dileigently at obedience classes and I practice STOP with him obsessively in preparation for when he spots a rabbit, chipmunk, porcupine etc.  I do realize however, that over-coming prey instinct is a lofty goal, especially for a 7.5 month old GD.  Anyways any experience gladly accepted. 

 

Also if there are any fellow cottagers out there, please consider joining the Cottage Doodle group.  I think that cottage life will pose a number of challenges and fun times and I will need all the help I can get.  Thanks!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It would be a Herculean task to boundary train an 8 or 9 month old puppy who is part-retriever. And that would be for someone who has years and years of experience in that type of training. Before you could even attempt it, the dog would have to be spot-on perfect in his obedience training. It is extremely rare for even non-sporting breeds to be reliably boundary trained before 2 or 3 years old.
I would think about devising some way of tethering him that will allow him some freedom while you're outdoors together. And no dog should ever be left outside alone on a tether.
I have had one boundary trained dog of my own and two fosters who were boundary trained. The fosters were 5 year old GSDs with K9 training. My dog was past three years old when she was finally reliable with the boundaries, and it took a lot of daily intensive training after she was obedience trained to the CD level.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Would you think it a bad idea to tether a dog in a fenced yard with a special tree trolley designed for this purpose? I think tethering a dog outside when you are not home, or in an unfenced yard, leaves the dog vulnerable to all sorts of trouble. But I have tethered a dog on occasion without a problem, for instance when I wanted to do a garden project on one side of the house without "help". Of course I am around then but not directly supervising.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I have been told by numerous trainers that a dog should never be left tethered alone outside, but that it's fine if you are out there, too, even if the dog isn't in your immediate sight. Working in the garden was one example given.
The shelter I adopted Jack from actually has a policy about this; leaving the dog tethered outdoors alone is a violation of the adoption contract and they can take the dog back from you, although how they would ever know about it is a mystery to me. And there is also a nationwide group that is trying to make it a law that you cannot leave a dog tied up outside alone for more than a certain length of time.
http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/laws.html

[F, Calla & Luca]

Well of course I do it so they can have some fun and fresh air and not get into trouble. I'm sure there are people who leave them out all day never mind the ones who leave them out there weeks on end.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I've also been told by trainers that tethering dogs for any length of time can also lead to aggression.

[Noble Vestal Labradoodles]

He will need a visual marker like flags, you can get some from Lowes or HomeDepot, similar to what is used to mark utility lines. Mark your parameter and walk and treat, cross and correct. It is like training for invisible fence without the collar. It is very hard if you can not work the task for 21 days uninterrupted.

Why not just get invisible fence

[Julie B.]

We have a cottage also and I will be having similar issues when I bring my new 7 month old pup up there in May. I had my son's Golden doodle pup up there last summer ( I kept him for the first 5 months he had him due to landlady problems...) Granted we don't have a busy road to contend with and our neighbors were only up there on the weekends so our boundary training was rather "flexible" but what I did was anytime I was outside with him I always had a piece of string cheese in my pocket (it was the only time he got it) and I would call him back to me a lot and reward him with string cheese. His recall became very strong and at least I could get him back to our yard the minute he wandered away. I found he was very happy playing in the lake in front of our place and I have another dog who is awesome around our cottage so all of that helped 2. I agree with Karen that 2 get him perfectly boundary trained would be very difficult but at least you should develop a good recall so he will come back to you when he wanders off or becomes distracted by.... dead fish? One of the hazards of cottage living. These retriever hounds will find any dead fish to roll in. I hope you have a good outdoor bathing station for your dog. We hooked up a garden hose to our outside shower so we have hot water too and we put one of those car wash sprayers on it so we can load dog shampoo in it and switch it over to "soap" and then switch it back to "water" for the rinse. I tether them to a pole and have at it. It has been a lifesaver for dogs and the lake! Its wonderful to be able to have a dog at your cottage. I call it doggie heaven because it is for them and for me. We take long walks on Lake Michigan beaches, fetching tennis balls and for variety we go on walks in the woods when its windy or not real warm. I just love it and so do my hounds.

[BG and Gavin]

Thanks for the helpful information Julie. I need you in the Cottage Doodle Group. Please join! :)

[BG and Gavin]

NVL: Our cottage it on the Niagara escarpment and sits on alot of rock. Burying the cable would not be an option, so I figured the invisible fence would not be an option either?

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

PetSafe makes a wireless fence. I think it gives you a 90 foot circle of containment and you can add on to it to increase the containment area.

[BG and Gavin]

Excellent info Haley's Mom. I had no idea of such a thing. This could be just the ticket for us. Also the price is not prohibitive, no hassle and peace of mind. Thank you!

[Stella]

We just purchased a Petsafe Wireless fence, still working out how to train the dogs to it!! I live near Huntsville, and several people around here use them with great success so I am hopefull!!