[Alan]

My dog is just over a year old and is obedient to a fault and usually very receptive to any training I give him. I am an outdoor instructor and avid rock climber/tramper/mountain biker, and I usually bring the dog along whenever I am working/playing outdoors, which is most days.

Lately though, he has started wandering further and further away from me. At work he has vanished for hours at a time, and the other day while mountain biking, he ran off into the woods about half an hour into a two hour ride and turned up in the car park an hour later.

I'm not worried about him getting lost. He always finds his way back to my car or me, but if he keeps wandering, then I won't be able to take him to do all this cool stuff and will have to tie him up at work.

How can I train him to stick by me, and avoid having to leave him home?

[Todd]

Here is a response as well as a link to a past thread where there was a very similar question...

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!

Entire Thread: Rylie Runs from Us

[Alan]

Thanks Todd, that's not quite the problem I am having though. I didn't write it out very well in my first post. My dog WILL come when called. And he will stay if i tell him to, but If I'm out mountain biking or working in the outdoors with a group, I need him to be able to stay near me. I can't be calling him back and telling him to stay every two minutes.

Basically I want to find a way to train him to be free to move around, but not go so far away that I lose sight of him. Am I just expecting too much from a young dog? Or is this something that can be trained?

[Todd]

Originally Posted by Alan

Thanks Todd, that's not quite the problem I am having though. I didn't write it out very well in my first post. My dog WILL come when called. And he will stay if i tell him to, but If I'm out mountain biking or working in the outdoors with a group, I need him to be able to stay near me. I can't be calling him back and telling him to stay every two minutes.

Basically I want to find a way to train him to be free to move around, but not go so far away that I lose sight of him. Am I just expecting too much from a young dog? Or is this something that can be trained?

What I would do is when he goes past a point you don't want him to pass tell him to "stay". Not neccessarily to come everytime (do so once in a while to reinforce the behavior) but to meraly stay and not go any further. If he passes this point don't act like it's a punishment, because this could mix him up with positive/negative recall feelings, but give him a not too firm but serious "No" command. Teach him a "back command" or something to that effect to keep him in the area. You could also just try to call him to you when he passes a certain point like you would with recall practice. He should eventually realize he's doing no good going across that point unless he figures he gets a treat each time he does and is called for a recall Just try different things and see what works best. Good luck.

[cigwyllt]

I guess what you want is to teach him to focus on you so that he has the freedom to wander to the side but stay aware of your position as you ride. I would think though you need to put some time into training him away from work so that you can just concentrate on him without worrying about the people you have with you.