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My sister had a golden retriever that refused to come. He was very smart but thought it was kind of game and was a bit of a runner and put himself in danger several times. He would do all the sit, roll over etc so he understood commands. As a last resort she got a shock collar, which she swore she would never do. It took three times of getting a medium shock with the warning beep to get him to come. They used the collar for about a month and used the warning beep and he would come, then not go to area he was not supposed to go. They kept collar on kitchen counter for a while but never had to use it much again. Except a few times he roamed, they would have him wear collar with no shock and no beep he would obey much better and not go where he was not supposed to go.
Is dog fixed, that may at least slow down his wondering ways.
Is dog lonely? Maybe visiting cows for some interaction. Does he harass cows or just visit. Maybe get him a pet goat?
I would like to add that while this is how shock collars are supposed to be used, when the dog responds correctly to the shock, it should be followed up with a ton of treats and praise. Positive reinforcement trumps everything else.
I love my dog. She is a good girl but she has a very bad habit of roaming. Now, I wouldn't care if she roamed hither and yon anywhere she pleases on my rural 26 acres, but she seems OBSESSED with crossing the busy highway to check out the neighbor's cows, and bring back bits of cow poop with her.
I don't believe in tying dogs up, especially not this dog who loves her freedom unlike any dog I've ever seen. When I leave I put her on a tether and neither one of us like it one bit.
To be honest, because she loves her freedom so much, I am willing to accept, with a broken heart, if she were to be hit and killed. But the thought of her being hit and injured is way too much for me to think about. What if her injuries were so bad that she had to be put down? Or what if they required hundreds or even thousands of dollars to repair?
The bottom line is that I'm out of good ideas.
We have a cattle fence. 3 strand barbed wire, but she gets under it with ease. We've blocked off escape routes in several places but she always finds another. Our highway frontage is almost 1/4 mile and putting up an electrical wire would be next to impossible as it would mean cutting down a LOT of very large trees. Invisible fencing would be around $1,000 and I am not even sure that would work.
We could put in a smaller fenced area but I don't know if it would hold her and if it did, it would still feel like confinement and I doubt if she would be happy.
I am at a total loss. Please share your thoughts, experiences and ideas.
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Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson
We did not plan on having a dog. She magically appeared one night and has stayed ever since, even though she has always been free to go.
We have a very small home. Less than 800 sq. Feet. We also already have 5 indoor cats who have never seen or been around a dog.
The dog is very young. Certainly less than two. She has the kind of boundless energy that only a toddler can have. I watch her in the morning tearing around the yard going 80 miles an hour. I cannot FATHOM in my wildest nightmare what would happen to this house if she were left unattended for even 5 minutes.
Training takes time. I am all for training and happy to invest the time. But what in the heck do I do in the mean time?
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I had to collect myself before responding. I do not want to be unkind, but I do want to be frank.
This is not going to end well.
Your dog is not the only one in danger when she crosses that busy highway. What if someone swerves to miss her and causes a crash? You are risking not only your dog's life, but the lives of others, not to mention a potential legal headache for yourself if she harms your neighbor's livestock.
When she showed up, did you try to locate her owners?
I understand that you have a small home, which is probably why you didn't plan on having a dog in the first place. The kindest thing you could do would be to either locate her rightful owners, or find her a home where she will be properly contained when outdoors, and allowed in the house with her family.
I have a slightly different outlook than many on this forum. The circumstances you describe are how most dogs in this country lived until the mid-20th century. Very few got "walked" or exercised - they took care of that themselves. When I was a kid and my mother was breeding, the indoor dog was still the exception, not the rule. Funny how things change, and sometimes so rapidly. Which all goes to say I have no issues with the dog sleeping outside, so long as you provide adequate shelter from the weather. Nor with being allowed to be off-leash and have the run of the property.
The only solutions that will work to teach the dog where NOT to roam will require your time, and consistency. If you install an underground fence, you will still have to spend time pre-teaching the dog where the boundary is, before you even turn it on. Especially before you turn it on - since once a dog runs OVER the underground (or "invisible") fence they will know they CAN run over it. And that is the end of that for many dogs.
The first thing you SHOULD do is to walk the road boundary with the dog on a daily basis, starting with the dog on leash. Don't worry about having the dog heel. Let him wander a bit, but every time he goes in the road, you should let him know that the road is not a good place. I'm just talking about calmly expressing disapproval when he goes in the road - no yelling or screaming or punishment. Just gentle disapproval. Dogs who have strong boundary instincts, like some herding dogs, may understand this after one walk. Dogs who have strong prey and pursuit instincts, like hounds, may have a very difficult time recognizing a boundary. Their instinct is to follow their focus - be it rabbit, coon, or bear - until they run it down - and then they are supposed to stay there and wait for their human. Much different than the rubber band to a human that herding (and many other) dogs have.
You've got a big attraction and distraction - the cows - right across the street. In order to use positive methods and make them work, your positive has to be a bigger attraction than the cows. That may be a hard sell. Doable, but a hard sell.
Using an e-collar could work. I've used them in similar situations - but that requires you to pay attention to the dog. Some of the models will do a boundary, but that boundary will be a circle, which doesn't work so well if your house is close to the road. On the other hand, if you've got a half-mile setback from the road, I would think that might be a good solution. With the boundary setups, though, you should, once again, start teaching the dog where the boundary is before you ever turn it on.
With the e-collar units where you control the collar through a transmitter unit, you need to be paying attention. With one dog I had, it took one pulse. And another pulse 2 years later as a reminder when she started back to her bad old ways. With another it took a few, but not many. With my current two (farm collies), I hesitate to use the unit at all, because when they get focused, you could get close to knocking them down with a shock before they quit whatever they are doing. On the other hand, they will also hear me even when they are focused on something, which my old hounds would not do. Different dogs, different learning styles.
When I use the e-collars, I regularly check the unit strength of the e-collars on my calf or forearm, so that I know it is working, and that it is working properly. And I never use more than the minimum jolt necessary to get the dog's attention. Another thing, if you go with an e-collar, you should get one that has more theoretical range than you think you need. A LOT of times the transmission range is much smaller than what the manufacturer claims. If they say "a mile", count it good for 1/4 to maybe 1/2 mile.
Personally, I would think your best probability for success in this situation is to get an e-collar that you set off with a transmitter. You aren't going to use the dog for herding, so I would focus on getting the dog to realize the road is "bad", and that cows are "bad". If you are consistent, you should be able to see a complete improvement inside a couple of months, and maybe much faster, but I'd say plan on spending a little time on the training for a couple of months.
Other things you can do to help the situation? Spend regular time (a few times per week, but they can be 5-10 minutes each) training. Get the basics down until you can bet somebody $10 that your dog will obey your command promptly. Find some basic training classes to get methods down - so YOU are doing it right as your dog's teacher. As the dog's bond to you grows with time, and his ability to follow commands improves, you will likely see an overall improvement in other areas. People who don't have a chunk of land are usually advised to find a game to play with the dog daily, and /or provide an exercise opportunity. Since you have property where the dog can wander and do doggy things, this may be less important for your situation, but you should understand why this advice is given. I.e. a tired dog is a well-behaved dog.
With the kind of acreage you mentioned, I wouldn't be surprised if you have a dirt "road" through some of it. For something fun for you AND the dog, you could consider taking a mountain bike on that road and letting the dog run with you. You can go on youtube and see how other people trained their pups to be good trail dogs. In a couple of months you can let the dog off-leash, and you can have fun riding while the dog gets in a good run. I'm past retirement age - so I do this on flat roads, not trails. But I have a $175 craigslist used bike, and most days of the year, we are out on our circuit. I do about 3 miles, they do more. It gives them enough exercise so I don't need to worry about them when I have to leave the house.
I had to collect myself before responding. I do not want to be unkind, but I do want to be frank.
This is not going to end well.
Your dog is not the only one in danger when she crosses that busy highway. What if someone swerves to miss her and causes a crash? You are risking not only your dog's life, but the lives of others, not to mention a potential legal headache for yourself if she harms your neighbor's livestock.
This. I was that driver. Busy major interstate, a farm dog ran out onto the highway. I’m damn lucky to be alive.
This. I was that driver. Busy major interstate, a farm dog ran out onto the highway. I’m damn lucky to be alive.
This has never happened to me, but it is all too easy for me to imagine. I know with every brain cell I possess that I would swerve without thinking to miss any animal, and...yeah. You are lucky.
This has never happened to me, but it is all too easy for me to imagine. I know with every brain cell I possess that I would swerve without thinking to miss any animal, and...yeah. You are lucky.
It is difficult to not instinctively swerve to miss and animal, especially if you love them like we all do. I have pretty much trained myself to just break straight ahead to avoid killing myself, or other due to a swerve. It's a numbers game OP. The more your dog roams, crosses highways, and other roads, it is sadly just a matter of time.
It is difficult to not instinctively swerve to miss and animal, especially if you love them like we all do. I have pretty much trained myself to just break straight ahead to avoid killing myself, or other due to a swerve. It's a numbers game OP. The more your dog roams, crosses highways, and other roads, it is sadly just a matter of time.
Oh I didn't have time to swerve. Suddenly the dog was in front of me. I hit the brakes, hit the dog, which forced my car into a spin, and I was nearly killed in the process.
I had to collect myself before responding. I do not want to be unkind, but I do want to be frank.
This is not going to end well.
Your dog is not the only one in danger when she crosses that busy highway. What if someone swerves to miss her and causes a crash? You are risking not only your dog's life, but the lives of others, not to mention a potential legal headache for yourself if she harms your neighbor's livestock.
When she showed up, did you try to locate her owners?
I understand that you have a small home, which is probably why you didn't plan on having a dog in the first place. The kindest thing you could do would be to either locate her rightful owners, or find her a home where she will be properly contained when outdoors, and allowed in the house with her family.
The legal headache might not be only in the case of harming livestock as here in California if a dog runs out and causes a car accident you can be held financially responsible if the person decided to sue and you know how people sue for any little thing these days... So keeping a dog from roaming not only protects the dog, the cattle and any people that might have an accident trying to avoid your dog but it protects your financial well being.
Heiro2 I too grew up where dogs were allowed to wander but it was a different world then and most areas had a lot less traffic. I have also done a lot of traveling in third world countries where dogs still wander and back in the 8Os I would see few injured dogs as traffic was much less in those countries too but now a lot of them also have heavy traffic and the dogs are getting killed more frequently now while wandering.
OP Is the dog actually interested in the cows or is it the cow pies that he is interested in? I mean my dogs love walking where horses have been and grabbing a nugget or two
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