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 My dog plays Houdini!
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| Posted by | Topic subject: My dog plays Houdini! |
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lucidity03 Member  Posts: 71 |
posted 08-14-2003 09:03 AM
  
Before I got my dog, I was cocky and said, my dog will never get away from me! I'll keep a close eye on him. Well... last night my husband and I took my dog next door to play with her dogs. She has a fenced in yard. The dogs were happily playing until a man (we call "the whistler" because he whistles daily on his walks with his dogs) passes. The whistling drives my dog nuts. Anyhow, my dog apparently moved plywood blocking the back gate and pryed the gate open and escaped. The dog charged down the road towards the whistler. It scared the daylights out of the whistler. Luckily, we have a very friendly dog (to people and other dogs) so he ran to them, startled them, and then took off up the road with my husband following. Luckily, we got our dog back in one piece and no one was hurt (though I felt awful for scaring that man). Does anyone else have escape stories? (I'm hoping this sort of stuff happens to other people, too.) IP: Logged |
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Maisey Member Posts: 309 |
posted 08-14-2003 09:51 AM
We only have a four foot picket fence in our front yard, we don't let our dogs go into the front unless we are with them, because I know it wouldn't keep them in. I always go out with my dogs when they go outside, I just do...but lately we have been working on our house and backyard, my pup will sneak into the front and get over the fence while I am busy, he has done this about four times now, he comes back to me immediately when I call him, so it's not a chase game, but I don't want him getting hurt or scaring a person. He isn't able to outright jump the fence yet...he kind of scales it, which is dangerous for him as he could hang himself on a picket from his collar or get his head stuck between the pickets. We have horses and use electric fencing at the barn, they have learned to respect that there, so I am bringing home a small portable box and hooking up a strand around the top of the inside of our picket fence at home. Hoping he will learn to stay away from the parameter of the fence all together. We are also putting up gates on both sides of the house to keep them from going into the front, but there are times when we take them up there, and I just feel it is important for him to learn now that he has to stay away from the fence. IP: Logged |
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honeybear Member Posts: 152 |
posted 08-14-2003 10:26 AM
We use to call Wylie our houdini when we first got her. (or she got us, she was a stray that picked us for her parents) Well we only had her a couple of months and went camping, we had her tied up, it is like one a.m.and my husband is still out by the campfire, he said the knot just came undone and she took off,Im like sure so he is wandering the campsites calling her, luckily he found her. This happened a few times, one time we were in the tent, she is tied up since she can nose out of it I actually watched the knot undo itself and out she goes! Now she wouldnt purposely run away if her life depended on it, when we leave our fence gate open and we are out front she will go to the backyard and sit at the gate wanting us to go back there with her, it is her security blanket. Except she is such a high energy dog and we have 300 acres behind us and we had a horrible heat spell a few weeks ago so she wasnt able to play, or go on walks well my husband was working out front and apparantly she decided to take herself for a walk. He said she was gone for about 15 minutes and came back panting up a storm. She just has that need to run. Honeybear IP: Logged |
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9jan8 Member Posts: 12 |
posted 08-14-2003 04:33 PM
I think every dog owner has an "escape" story. My rottie mix loves to chase. Joggers, cats, maintenance workers, you name it. When I first got him (he was a stray, about 1-1/2 years old), I immediately started obedience training, but he would lunge on the lead at whoever/whatever was passing by. I had to put him through "attentive" training; I continued with the obedience training, trained him in recall, and had him neutered 2 months ago. Now we walk every morning to a huge empty field and he goes off lead for a real romp. We often walk back to our front door off-lead. He is definitely interested in the other early-morning exercisers, but he is controllable. When I say "come" he comes and sits next to me like he was trained to do. I would suggest you spend time and train him to respond to your command, so that you are always in control of him, even when he escapes! My biggest fear was that Duke would get loose and run into a road and get hit by a car. His compulsion to chase another animal is much much stronger than it is a human now, but I can yell "STOP" and he stops and drops. It took awhile, because he has a rottie stubborn streak, but the 20 minutes a day I invested for 6 months will yield me a dog for a lifetime. And I intend to keep him around for as long as he'll have me! IP: Logged |
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lucidity03 Member Posts: 71 |
posted 08-15-2003 05:14 AM
My dog has attended classes. He's a better dog by 100% than when he got him (He's only a year, so he's full of energy). But when we brought him home, he was so excited and uncontrollable. But, when the dog escaped and my husband walked after him (and I said walked because our class did teach us never to chase him), he ended up coming back to the yard on his own. My biggest worry is also the dog being hit by a car. We're half way on the training. He'll do exactly what we say while inside. We're now working on distractions and the outside. (I think that will be a more difficult task!) IP: Logged |
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9jan8 Member Posts: 12 |
posted 08-15-2003 04:09 PM
It's me again with the Rottie mix....attentive training worked great for me and outside distractions. Get yourself a 15' canvas or nylon lead and a slip collar. You can start in your backyard, or take the dog to a field or a park. Say nothing to the dog. Stand with the dog on the lead and be patient. He'll soon want to sniff a bush, a tree or run after some kids; something will eventually distract him and he'll stray away. As soon as the dog moves, you start walking in the opposite direction. The dog will come to the end of the lead and get dragged a short while. Say nothing. Just keep walking and dragging until he decides to catch up with you. Say nothing to the dog. Repeat this exercise for 10-15 minutes or so. If he's smart, he'll figure out within a very short period of time that he will be far more comfortable if he pays attention to YOU and what you are doing. If he's a quick learner, he's going to stand still or sit and watch you. In that case, mark yourself out a large mental square in the field, park or backyard, and move along, making the turns. Again, do not say anything to your dog. Just march along. I couldn't believe how fast my dog learned to watch me instead of the kids playing in the playground. If he learns the park routine quickly, set him up to fail. The next step would be to put him on his long lead with the slip collar in the house. Park him in front of an open door. Have your husband go outside and hunch down and without speaking, beckon the dog with his arms. As soon as the dog starts out, turn and walk the opposite way. Repeat until he catches on. Same exercise with an open gate to your backyard. The whole object of the training is to get the dog to pay attention to what you want and what you're doing instead of what he wants to do. I thought this would be impossible without giving some verbal commands, but it worked! IP: Logged |
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