[kmachen]

I have a two year old corgi mix, VERY smart dog. I have been very fortunate and not had a lot of problems training him.. until now. At the beginning of this year my boyfriend and were attempting to train our dogs to walk off the leash. My dog has some previous exposure to this and didn't have too much of a problem staying near by, doing his business and then coming back with me to the house... my boyfriends lab on the other hand did. Needless to say we have cut back on walking with out a leash.

My dog is very unhappy with this, and if he does not want to come in or wants to go in another direction he will lay down and pull against me. This happens OFTEN. I have tried bringing treats with me to get him to come, didn't work. I tried speaking to him nicely.. doesn't work. My alternatives have been just scooping him up and walking back in... I know this isn't the correct way to fix the situation. PLEASE HELP!

[cigwyllt]

Can you not go out on your own with your dog and let him have some off leash time? When you are out with him encourage lots and lots of recalls and some of the time put his lead back on and walk a hundred yards or so then let him off again so that he can not be sure that when the lead goes on the walk is over.

I have often resorted to scooping my dog up in the past. Manny does the whole submissive "If I lie down and roll over she won't make me" thing so I just pick him up and put him where ever it is he is supposed to be. He has learnt now, as a child would do, that he can do what I say or I will make him do it and so he generally does get down, go to his bed or whatever. But I refuse to take part in a battle of wills with a dog. My house, my will rules LOL!

[Todd]

The first bit of advice I'll give you is advice that I give quite a bit when dogs do not respond to their owners. You need to establish yourself as the alpha leader in your relationship with your dog so it will respect you and your commands to come to you off leash for example.

Here's a helpful link on becoming the alpha pack leader;

Establishing Yourself as Pack Leader

Being The Alpha Dog - Dogs & Dog Training

While and after establishing this state, you need to make it clear that your dog must come when you say so. Start simple. Start on leah. Have her sit and stay then call her name. When she comes, reward her with a yummy treat, toy, praise, or all of the above. Whatever flaots her boat By the way, if you ever say her name in a negative tone she may associate it with something negative so whenever calling her make it all positive no matter how frustrated you may get. Positive reinforcement is the key in this situation. Outside, a much better method may be a whistle (specifically for dogs or just a standard whistle is fine) or maybe even a clicker, however a whistle is probably beter outside because the sound travels further. Take it one step at a time. As I said earlier, start on leash, have her sit, them maybe blow the whistle and gentle pull her toward you so she comes then reward her. Eventually have the leash tension allow her to go further and further doing this exercise until she can do it off lead. Maybe use an extendable leash or long rope. I sazw this method used on It's Me Or The Dog with Victoria Stilwell. It was with a labrador who didn't come so they used the whistle and yummy pieces of chicken as a reward. It worked wonders! Good Luck!

Although if done correctly and diligantly this method should be very successful, my trainer from puppy school a few years ago said that they used a long elastic rope on their dogs in the house at all time whil,e teaching them to come on command (recall). They would gentle pull on it to have the dog come. Sounds a little extreme to me but I guess it's something to try if all else fails.

Again, Good Luck!