How to stop my dog from dashing

Hi there, I have lots of questions about my dogs, but will start with the most important.

Basically my youngest dog is a bit of a houdini, she escapes from the garden, so we now have to take her out there with a lead, and tie her up on one if we are all in the garden.

She also dashes out onto the road whenever one of us forgets to shut the door before answering the front door. She was nearly run over by a car the other day, which is one of the reasons that prompted me to seek advice.

I know I need to start with basic recall, what is the best way to start this?

Any advice would be great fully received.

As far as for answering the door and her darting out it, put a 6 foot long lead on her when you answer the door and step on it. This way if she tries to run out she cant. Also when you are home with her work with her on a stay at the front door. Put her in a sit or a down stay. Touch the door knob and reward her for not getting up. Over time increase it to where you can open the door and she stays. But ALWAYS keep her on a lead when doing this.

As far as getting out of the yard Im not really sure. Maybe make the fence taller or more secure. Im not too sure on that one.

Hi Sophie welcome to Dogsey.
You don't say how old the dog is or how much training you have done ?
I would concentrate on getting a good 'sit and stay' first, then the recall later.

Here are a couple of articles which might help..

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=14526

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=8049

Also have you tried training classes? Those run by members of the APDT are usually very good and reasonably priced, here is a list of trainers..

http://www.apdt.co.uk/local_dog_trainers.asp

Hi thanks for the response.

Roxy is 5 so hopefully I can teach her these things.
She can do sit and stay, but not down, she doesn't like that position for some reason? When I try to make her, she just goes on her back in submission.

Any tips on how I can do this without her going on her back?

As for classes, I'd love to go with both dogs, but having a young family it's difficult to get the time, so home based training with me is all I can do for now.

I have a deaf dog that used to bolt out of open doors when I first got her, she was 4 at the time. It was really a pain. It took alot of dilligence and work but I have stopped the behavior. First I taught her the sit and down stay so it was fairly reliable. I would make her sit or down at the door untill I went out. then I would call her through. She was never allowed to go through the door before me... ever. once we got through the door, she had to sit stay again. I used this with any and all doors I went through with her. I never forgot. When answering the door, I would also put her in a sit as far away from the door as her leash would allow and put her leash on her, then give her the stay. She had to wait untill the person was greeted by me before being allowed to greet them herself (in this way I could also control her jumping up on the visitor). I had to do this every time and never let her get away with anything other than the desired behavior. It only took about a month before I no longer had to use the leash and I can swing a door wide open and she wont go through. I was very nervous about her bolting and me not being able to call her back so I worked very hard at it sometimes practising a dozen times a day.

I do not have a fenced yard as I live in a ground floor apartment. I used to have to tie Scout up when we went outside, but I no longer have to as she is my little velcro dog and will not let me out of her sight. I have heard of people teathering their dog to them at all times during the day to teach them that they are supposed to stay close, and infact this is something that alot of deaf dog owners use to teach their deafies to pay close attention to them. It may work in your situation as you want to teach your dog to stay with you and not to want to leave your side or your property. It can be a bit of a pain but you will get used to the extra "helper" It also helpes to have a pocket full of treats and several times a day, or as often as you can, randomly call your dog, give her a treat, fuss her up really well and play a bit. She will hopefully learn that coming to you is alot of fun and hopefully more fun than running out on the road. The more you do this, the more reliable it becomes. Never call your dog than give it heck, always make coming to you a reward and hopefully you will be able to solve the staying in the yard thing.
I hope this helps a bit

What a fantastic idea about tethering to me, I've just bought a 5 metre lead, so I will defiantly try that one!! Id love for her to just to potter about with me.

Both dogs also jump up and go mad when we have visitors, which scares some people, so will be getting started on all these excersises right away

Thank you for that!

I am glad I could help. good luck and let us know how it goes.