Something terrible that happened in my neighborhood last week spurred me on to write this article. My neighbor’s beautiful chocolate Lab Clyde, got himself run over when the car he was chasing hit him. Everyone loved this dog, so we were all saddened by his death. If his master had taken a little time to train Clyde, this would never have happened.
You can use the following tips to train your dog to stay within his boundaries. Once you have successfully boundary trained your dog, you can be more relaxed when you have him out in the yard. A dog that runs out into the street is not only at risk of getting injured or killed by a passing car, but he could also get into a fight with an aggressive dog or bother some people.
Eliminate the problems caused by a run away dog by boundary training your dog with these few tips. Even if your dogs are not yet having run away problems boundary training is always a very good idea-you never know when something tempting may happen across the street. Of course, boundary training your dog is even more important if you don’t have a fence around your yard to keep him running off.
You can boundary train your dog by applying the tips below in a consistent and positive fashion.
- Get the boundary training started by placing a piece of string or rope or some kind of visible boundary marker around the area you want him to stay in. Put your dog on the leash, and take a walk around the area. You can walk close to the marker, but not so close that the dog can cross it. If your dog attempts crossing over the line, command him firmly “no” and gently tug his leash to stop him from crossing. weight loss pill It reinforces the training of course to give him lots of praise and a treat when he refrains form crossing the line and stays within the boundaries. In case he forgets himself and tries to cross the line, don’t yell or punish him-just focus on rewarding the times he does it right. Frequent repetition of the training is needed daily until your dog gets the right idea. Dogs are smart, and before long he should learn his boundary.
- The second step is putting your dog on a longer lead-maybe about 20 feet long, so that he feels less controlled by you. As you walk him around the yard and he nears the line, get ready to tug and say no before he actually can cross the line. Repeat this exercise several times daily and be sure to reward him with praise and treats for not crossing the line.
- Now that he seems to have started learning the basics of boundary training, you can move on to the next step- a further test to see if you have really boundary trained your dog or not. Put something on the other side of the boundary that will surely tempt him to want to cross over. Have a family member or a friend (or even a volunteer teacher’s aide dog) stand on the other side of the boundary. As you take your walk and approach the temptation, be ready to say no and tug on the leash (use the regular leash for this) if necessary to prevent him from crossing the line. Don’t worry if he still crosses the line, it only means you have to keep at it a while longer-be diligent. Return to the previous lessons and keep practicing till he has it together. If he has passed this test, another step would be to throw a favorite toy or a ball across the line. If this strong temptation is resisted, your pet is doing wonderful, and is ready for the last test.
- He is now ready for his off-leash test. Take him for a walk, keeping him in an off-leash heel position, and walk the inner perimeter of the boundary you’ve marked off being sure to give him lots of praise and rewards for staying with you and not trying to take off like he used to. Several times every day you should practice this training for a 15 minute period. You can reinforce this training strongly by practicing it each time you and your dog come out into the boundary area. If your dog hasn’t been boundary trained properly he’ll try to cross the line and you’ll need to go back to the last step.~
If you think about it, boundary training your dog is well worth the effort, especially compared to losing the dog you love. The boundary training greatly reduces the odds of your dog getting lost, hurt or killed by running out of the yard.
For more tips on boundary training and other dog behavior and training issues please click here- www.BehaveDoggy.com.
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This post was written by Noel DCosta on September 25, 2009
