I decided to write this article right now because of something horrible that happened on my street the other day. A neighbor of mine had a wonderful chocolate Lab named Clyde, who has chased his last car. Everyone loved this dog, so we were all saddened by his death. It was no secret Clyde liked to chase cars, and it was a shame is owner didn’t bother to properly boundary train his dog while he had a chance.
You can use the following tips to train your dog to stay within his boundaries. Boundary training your dog is a great idea because you’ll be able to relax much more when he is outside, knowing he is not likely to run off and maybe get in some mischief or even get hurt.A loose dog is a potential hazard to himself, whether from cars or aggressive dogs, and can also be a problem for the people he encounters.
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. Walk within the marker, so that the dog has no chance to cross the marker. If your dog tries to step past the edge of the boundary marker, just lightly tug on his leash, and firmly command “no” before he can cross the line. Reward your dog for listening to you when he comes back to your side with plenty of praise and a treat. 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. Be sure to repeat the training several times a day until your dog gets the idea. After several days of this your smart dog will recognize the boundary you have set up for what it is supposed to be.
- Use a longer lead, perhaps 20 feet long, so your dog doesn’t feel the same amount of control by you. Walk him around the yard, but be ready to tug on the leash and say “no” in case he tries to leave the boundary. Train him several times a day every day, until you are seeing good results, always praising and rewarding him for staying in the yard.
- 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. At this point, you should place something that will tempt him to cross over the line. A good test is to have a family member or friend that the dog likes, or perhaps another dog, wait on the other side of the boundary line. Walk near them with your dog on his regular leash and see he tries to cross the boundary- be ready to tug on his leash and say no if he tries to cross the line. If he does try to cross over the boundary, that just means he is not totally trained yet. You just need to go back to the previous lessons and keep at it till he really has it down. If he passes the test, try tossing his favorite toy across the boundary. If he resists this temptation, the training is doing very good, and now he’s 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. Keep practicing the boundary training with short 15 minute sessions several times a day. In fact, every time you bring your dog into that area it is a good idea to refresh his memory with some boundary training exercises. If your dog isn’t properly boundary trained at this point he’ll try to cross the line-just return to the last steps and keep at it.~
Make sure to make the effort to properly boundary train your dog especially if your dog likes to run off, and your yard has no fence. 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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