Help with disobedience

[Jackie]

I have been trying, unsuccessfully for 2 years now to get Bailey to come. We have done training courses and have had an excellent trainer come to the house (she thinks he has adhd). When he is off his leash he will not obey one command. In the house where he has nowhere to run he will sit, lay, roll over, dance what ever we ask. But he will not come!! We have had a few scary moments when he has seen a rabbit or another dog outside and the door was not shut properly and out he went. He just takes off running and we can not catch him. two times a stranger has said come here boy and he goes to them! We are terrified that he will get hit by a car. One time he ran two blocks away and an older man was on his lawn, he started hitting him with his newspaper. Anyone with any idea's? I need severe obedience for his own good.

[Lynne B]

I don't know what you have tried, so it's hard to offer suggestions, but here are some things you might try.
1. Figure out what the highest value treat is for him, it might be pieces of chicken breast, warm hot dog, or dried liver, but it should be absolutely irresistible reserve it for 'come', don't use it for any other training lesson.

2. Start teaching come on a long lead. Use the hand signal for come, and make crazy high pitched excited over the top noises, (you don't even have to give the command a name until he learns it) Whistle, pat your legs, crouch down, etc. Hold out the treat (that you showed him already). If he comes, give him the treat and lavish praise on him. A hint here, whenever the dog comes, have them sit and grab their collar before giving them their reward. If he won't come in spite of you making a fool of yourself, then physically reel him in with the lead, and praise and give the reward as though he had done it on his own. when he comes on his own you can start associating the word come with the action.

3. Repeat this 10 zillion times, when he learns it teach it off lead. Off lead is more difficult but one thing that might help is if the dog doesn't come, run away from him, his natural instinct will be to chase you.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I know a lot of people are going to get on me for this but I was in the same situation with Gracie as far as "distractions" which were her friend dogs and tennis balls. She is totally fine and even when she sees a stray dog but when she sees her friends she is off like a bullet. If her tennis ball heads down our hill she will run at lightening speed down the hill right into the interesection. We live in a cul de sac at the top of a hill but the intersection below can be busy at times. I have this fear of seeing my pride and joy hit by a car. I don't think I could ever recover from that so I have taken drastic measures and they have paid off ten times over. I bought a shock collar which my trainer would have a fit if she ever knew. I certainly do not abuse it and Gracie is so damn smart that it only took one or two shocks to get the message across. She is two years old and I decided about three weeks ago that I had to do something. Mine is not one of those fancy $500 ones that the field trainers use for hunting dogs. Mine also doesn't go up to hair frying shocks. I start her on a 2 and if it is total confusion with dogs everywhere and everyone yelling, I will then take her up to 4 out of 7. It also has a "tone' alert which is a high pitch tone that she hears. After the first or second shock she got the message and now I only have to "tone" her and she stops and sits down. The last few days I haven't even had her shock collar on when we are playing ball and when it starts down the street I don't yell but I use a loud firm voice and say "Gracie...NO" "Gracie Sit...Stay" and then she stays while I walk down the hill and get the ball. I remember my trainer saying to use a firm voice and yelling and shouting only makes them more wound up and something about not using her name in commands but with as many as 6 dogs playing I feel I need to single her out so she knows the command is for her. Either way...whatever works...do it! It totally has worked for me and I am so proud of her. Just 10 minutes ago before I read this e-mail I opened my front door to get the mail and the dogs across the street were playing. Gracie didn't have her collar on and she bolted out the door. I called her and told her no and she stopped, turned around and came back to me. Then one of the dogs across the street who is not trained came over to distract her and again I called and told her no and to sit. Gracie sat right next to me as the dog ran in my front door and through my house checking things out!!! I was so proud and impressed with Gracie and how well she is doing...and without the collar. I still put the collar on when it is a street situation as a fail safe. Everyone in the neighborhood is very impressed with how quickly Gracie learned and how quickly she GOT IT!! Sometimes we have to take drastic measures to protect the ones we love and the shock collar was the answer! Hope this helps you. PS: I just read the reply from Lynne B below. When I am looking at Gracie and want her to come I will use the hand signal as well as call her. But when they are running away from you looking the other way there is no hand command or treat in the world that is going to stop that dog. At least not my Gracie. The ball is the reward and goal! That is why the only recourse was to call her by name and say NO and have her sit/stay and to get her to learn this I had to use the shock collar...again, only a few times and she totally got the message!

[Adina P]

I think the e-collar can be a very valuable aid. I have never used one, but know others who have. I think the misconception is that you're constantly "frying" your dog...but if used properly you never 'fry' at all. AND even when a shock is given the dog learns pretty darn fast and future shocks become more and more rare.

[Jackie]

To be honest with you, my brother bought one for his Golden Doodle, Flynn. He lives on a major highway and Flynn has learned how to get out of the yard. Although there is a privacy fence, part of the yard has a retaining wall right on the highway and he has learned to use this to get out. It only took one or two shocks to get him to stop. We were thinking about getting one as well, but last week Bailey had a seizure, so for now we are holding off. I know what you mean though, when they take off you can only think of stopping them and they have no intention of stopping! We may have to get our inhome trainer back again, but in this economy no one has the money. I am going to try the treat issue, I would really like to take him more places but he doesn't listen!

[Adina P]

The fact that a trainer told you he has ADHD instead of helping you FIX the issue makes me think it wasn't such an 'excellent' trainer. But on we go...it's time to find a trainer that can give you some better results. I don't know the NJ area so can't recommend anyone but I'll ask some trainers I know.

In the meantime, the training program I used (click here to read about it) would probably work quite well for your dog...but it starts from the very beginning and works up to off leash stuff. If you have time and a 100% commitment I think you could do very well with it. There is an excellent way to proof COME on and off leash.