Can my doodle learn to stay in the yard? Come when called?

[Erin]

Oh, Hershey is working on my last nerve these days. We tried so hard when we got her at 1 year old, with training, and she is so so good inside - knows commands, comes to my side immediately when I call, etc...

But outside these days, its like she's just being stubborn and could care less.

We live in town, an average neighborhood street. We live on the corner, and have approx 1/4 of an acre - plenty of space to play fetch. In the past few months, she's just taken to running away as soon as we let her off the leash. Bunnies, squirrels, birds are all very tempting, but sometimes she just goes off to explore. And she doesn't even turn to look at me as I'm calling her name and begging her to come back with a treat! She knows the word treat!

Putting up a real fence is not an option in our situation, and she is never outside without one of us with her. She hates to be left alone outside, she just sits and cries. We tried it a few times with a cable tied to a tree, when we were outside doing yard work. Anytime we left her sight, she'd howl!

I'm desperate enough to spend the money and try to see if an invisible fence works. I've read all the pros and cons, and I know that it's not a 100% guaranteed solution. But my heart can't take it anymore when she just disappears behind houses and backstreets for 10 minutes at a time! I'd rather work on it with obedience training, so that I know I have a trained dog that will come when I call her, no matter what is distracting her... or that will at least LOOK at me when I call her!

So here's what I need from you all... Have you been there? Have you had a dog like mine, that seemed very well trained inside, but not so much outside?? Did you do training with a professional? What worked for you? How can I get her to pay attention to me, but give her the freedom to run in our yard? Am i resigned to going outside with her on a leash 6 times a day and having my arms wrenched from their sockets when she sees a rabbit in the distance?

[Adina P]

MOST dogs are like this. Have you spent as much time in training (ON LEASH) outside as you've done inside? Until you trust her 100% due to extensive training in parks, downtown, with many distractions using various length leashes (MONTHS to accomplish this) I would NEVER let her off leash. She sounds 100% normal to me and the danger is too great.

To me it sounds like she is not DONE being trained...she just got started.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Hershey sounds very normal. Work outside consistently with her on a leash for short periods. Four 10-15 minutes trainings in a day is better than a 1 hour per day. As she gets better and better gradually lengthen the leash to work on the recall. Once Hershey is totally consistent at leash length, start using a longer leash and recall her from "take a break" she's just moseying around. ALWAYS use the very very best treat for the recall. Do not recall often from a stay or you will loose the stay. Do not let her off leash until she is perfect for quite awhile on the recall. When she is on a break she should not pull on her end of the leash. At the first tension do not recall. Just pop, say 'easy". and walk away from her, so that when she turns around your back is toward her. If she returns to her praise her. This teaches her that her most imortant job is to keep an eye on you. As the leash gets really long and she takes off after a squirrel or whatever, just before she hits the end of the leash, say "Hershey" and turn and walk away from her. When she returns to you praise her. If she just runs right by you wait for her to get almost to the end, say"Hershey" and turn and walk away. The difference between these two is when Hershey just ambles to far away you are reminding her with a pop that she is to watch you and stay inside the leash. In the second she is actively leaving you and she, herself, is hitting the end of the leash, you are merely holding it. All three of these are necessary behaviors before she can be safely off leash. Come means come to me, sit down and let me hold your collar and you will get a really good treat. The other two are build in her mind that she must always know where you are - that is more important than anything else. It takes a great deal of training maybe a year for some dogs to be off leash, others seem to get it fairly quickly. Never recall Hershey without being able to enforce it. I use "let's go or cookies" for a casual situation like we are leaving the yard and going inside. Come is for come to me, sit and have your collar held. Going weekly to a good trainer can be a big help. An electric fence a) requires a good bit of training, has numerous pitfalls, and can never replace a really well trained dog, who does not need one anyway. Good Luck

[Kim Williams]

Hi Erin,
I certainly understand your frustration, but it sounds like an obedience class would be so helpful. My obedience teacher always said an obedient dog will have so many more freedoms. She also said to never do a recall unless you are prepared to enforce it. This means, especially in your case, you should have a long line leash to help with training. Do you have a recall word? We use the word "NOW" instead of come because "come" is such a common word.
Adding distractions is the first step to getting your dog to listen to you anywhere. They call it "proofing" You have to gradually add distractions. My teacher said to "think of distractions on a scale of 1-10. Ten is the squirrel, the child on a bike or whatever else encourages your dog's brain to shut down. We cannot start with number ten distractions. We must instead, begin with low-level distractions, and gradually work up to the number ten distractions over the course of many weeks." My obedience teacher is retired now, but has left her website up as a wealth of information. Her website is www.caninedevelopment.com Her motto is "Because every lliving thing should be encouraged to develop to its full potential" I have a lot of respect for her knowledge. In the beginning, Parris was even distracted by toys inside the house. It took a LONG time before she was not distracted. Let us know what you decide and what works for you and Hershey.

[Kim Williams]

Jane,
It sounds like you are such a great DoodleMom! You are right that "now" is a forceful word with no negotiation. Leah, my trainer, said this is the "safe their life" word. She even made us not decide on a word until after a week to test ourselves on how many time we say "come". I found I said it a lot , so I chose Now. But many in our class chose "come" with great results.
I am impressed with your off leash success. Sherlock and Noah are lucky doodles.
Kim and Parris

[Kim]

Allie is so bad outside!!!! We always have her on a leash because we don't have a fence. We are definitely getting the invisible fence though, SOON! She bites me, and jumps on me, AND won't listen to her commands. Inside it is so different, she understands "no bite" and "down". She doesn't want anything to do with commands outside! I feel your pain!

[fergie11]

Do the invisible fence. Do It! It's not an answer to everything but it worked great for me. Yes, an above ground would be better but for some of us that is not an option. Search invisible fence on this site and it will tell you all the pros and cons - then make your decision. Your dog will still want to be with you but it will so much show it the boundaries. I absolutely love mine. I had a dog for 18 yrs and fought that same problem. When I got Fergie I decided I would never use the word treat. I actually call treats "Fergies". I always hated running around the neighborhood calling treat, treat, treat... Anyway, when i got Fergie I said flat out NO MORE OF THAT. Put in the invisible fence when Fergie was 6 months (cost us about $350) and have loved it ever since. She won't even go over it if I stand and call her and tell her it's OK - like when her collar is off.
I have to carry her over to take her for a walk. Good thing she's only 42 lbs.

Now, that being said, it doesn't replace continued training. Keep up with all the other suggestions. Don't worry this will all fall into place with just a little work every day. Doodles are so-so smart.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't have any answers to this question, but I think we should keep in mind that these dogs are hunting dogs...their heritage (on BOTH sides, by the way) is to chase rabbits, squirrels, birds, and just about anything that moves. That's what retrievers and poodles were bred for. Asking a hunting breed to ignore their natural prey is asking them to completely go against their natures. IMO, you need a LOT of training with any dog to be able to trust them outdoors off-leash, especially near streets...and a lot more training with retrievers or retriever mixes. They are wonderful dogs, but they do have a natural tendency to be easily distracted, especially when outdoors. That doesn't mean it can't be done, but it isn't easy.
I personally would never trust any dog alone outdoors without restraint, and the only dogs I have ever been comfortable with having off-leash outdoors near streets in my presence were working breeds that had been through K-9 training. It's great to get them trained to that point, but there are other solutions rather than taking a chance on the dog getting lost, stolen, or killed. The rewards are not worth the risk, IMO.

[Karen & Lucy]

I think Hershey is a very normal doodle. I went through the same thing with Lucy. How old is Hershey? No matter how obediant Lucy was inside or out, she would chase anything, even leaves, and not come back. So, because she is my baby and I love her, I invested in an invisable fence. I know alot of people do not like them, but I love it. Yes, she did run through it 3 times while being trained to it, and I cried like a baby when she yelped, BUT she has never run through it since. It was worth it for her safety. I would of cried alot more and been heart broken if she would of run on the road and got hit or someone took her. One time she ran off and was gone for 2 hrs. I could do nothing, it was like my child was obducted. What a feeling. I live in the country on 10 acres, and can not imagine living in town with a dog that likes to explore. I have had this system now for 2 years, I do not even have to put her collar on anymore. She knows her boundries very well. I have to take her through the house and into the garage to put her in the car because it is outside her boundry and she knows it. But that is OK. Works for me. I do, at times, just put the collar on her as a reminder, but it is usually just hanging by the door and she will sniff it as she goes out. I guess that is her reminder LOL LOL LOL You have to decide for yourself what will work for you and Hershey. Your main goal should be to keep her safe. Good Luck