How do I teach Riven to stay in our yard?

[smileyzookie]

.........But the second I turn my back, she's off running. I'll explain. Today I was messing with sprinklers outside. Riven has been getting a lot of off leash privelidges (sp). She is doing awesome, comes when called ect. Today I was sidetracked and asked my neighbors 8 yr old daughter Ashlee to keep an eye on her since her mom and I were not paying close attention. The neighbor and I were still in about 4 yards range of Riven and could see her and Ashlee. Next thing I know I look up and they're both gone. Riven had ran to the park and Ashlee followed without a word. So I need to obviously teach Riven to stay in the yard. Ideas?

 

Oh and when Ashlee caught her they both came back (I was about to get into the car to go find them) and Ashlee had Riven on a leash. I didnt quite know what Rivens punishment should be if any, so I didnt do anything. Next time what should I do

[Laurae]

I think it's asking a lot of Riven to be expected to stay on your yard on her own. Didn't you let her off lead for the very first time on a hike only a few days ago? I have been hiking with my dogs off leash all their lives, and I still wouldn't expect them to stay on my unfenced front lawn without my direct supervision. If you don't want to have to watch her while she's outside, can you put up a physical fence? Other than that, I'd expect boundary training to take a deliberate, incremental approach, where you'd build a solid recall in an area of no distractions and slowly work up to being off leash in your yard and then show her exactly where she is permitted to go and no further by calling her back each time she wandered close to the property line. Even then, I'm not sure every dog can be trusted to stay on their property. Some dogs are just more willing to stay in their yards. Sophie is seven and has been hiking off leash all her life. Her recall is fine in the woods, but her prey drive is such that I will never be able to trust her off leash in my front yard without direct supervision. <shrug> She's just not that kind of dog. Not saying that you can't eventually teach Riven to stay in your yard, but it may take a fair bit of effort...

[OurBoys]

Laurae makes a good point. If I could add, never, ever punish a dog when they 'come' for any reason. Dogs think different than we do. You don't want Riven to associate the 'come' command with punishment. When she comes under any circumstance, praise. That will help reinforcing her recall. A new command I had to teach Jake is "Stay in the yard". Granted, he doesn't always listen. He's becoming a teenage so anytime he wants to do something he knows he's not suppose to, he'll look around to see if anyone is watching him. If not, off he goes!

[Maralynn]

How big is your yard?

 

I'm with Laurae. That is alot to ask of her. Picture it this way - there are sooo many interesting things going on outside of your yard, and she's a young dog who is looking for fun. What would you do in her place?

 

I think I'd get a trolley line and harness and just hook her up to that when you're out with her but can't be directly supervising.

[gypsy84]

Ever considered an invisible fence? I don't know anything about them but it could be something for you to look into.

[Allie Oop]

I perimeter train all of my dogs, as I live right in the city. I have never had an electric fence and each dog is a little bit different as to how much they try the limits of the training, but for the most part it is very successful. My previous dog, Kamp, would come to a screeching halt when at the "boundary" of our property (front is open, back yard is completely fenced in) and never crossed over the "line". It is actually not as difficult as it seems.

 

The best thing to do is to "paint" (by whatever method you are comfortable -- be it spray paint, tape, or whatever) a line on the boundary of your yard -even the part that accesses the street. You will also need to be willing to let your dog spend a fair amount of time, unleashed and untethered, in your yard, with you present. When you are in the front yard and the dog steps over the physical line (it needs to be very visible), they are called back (or physically moved back within the area) and told "stay in the yard". No infractions are ever tolerated, even a toe. (This part is HARD, but you have to be firm.) A scolding is sometimes in order if they go into the street, even if tempted by other dogs or the mailman.) A release command from you is the only permission the dogs have to leave the property.

 

We usually practice every day for weeks. My dogs do not leave the front yard. Even if the gate blows open and they are unintentionally released into the front yard while we are not home. They stay in my yard - settling down on the front lawn until we get home. We have found this out by experience, unfortunately when the electric meter reader left the gate ajar and the wind blew the gate open.

 

Allie tests the waters occasionally and tries to go visit the neighbor dogs, but we don't allow her to leave the yard if we are not with her. A scold is usually punishment for leaving the yard. I will add, that we don't usually allow the dogs in the front yard without one of us being present (primarily because it is against the law and we don't want the dogs to be picked up), but they are both extremely good at staying within our property boundaries, even when they are being coaxed by well-intentioned, but uninformed folks across the street .

 

Good luck, Donna.

[RaisingRiver]

I have invisible fence. But before I did, I trained Jaida to stay in the yard using the same method. Put up caution tape wrapped around stakes to make a 'fence' (like the little flags) and walked perimeter on leash, allowed her to wander to the edge and pulled her back saying 'yard'. Eventually, left just the stakes, then nothing. She would stay in the yard unless someone or some car came down the road and then it was just too enticing and I couldn't call her off. That's when I got invisible fence. That way she would get zapped if I wasn't watching her.

 

When I added River, there was no longer a visual barrier, so I just walked the perimeter with her on leash. She was little and she has NEVER left the yard on foot (only via car) - which helps since her scent doesn't go anywhere. It worked. I will say that I purposely threw a ball across the perimeter to proof her, she went for it, I yelled 'yard', she got zapped, and came back. She has never tried to cross any part of the 5 acres since. Even if I throw a toy. She also NEVER EVER leaves the yard on foot. Even if we are going across the street to the neighbors to play, I drive there. She only wore the collar for a month after her first shock and hasn't needed it since.

 

At this point, you HAVE to keep your eye on her at all times. Escape once starts a very bad pattern - esp when there is no recourse. You also HAVE to have a recall to call her off ANYTHING. I can call Diesel off chasing my horse when he is hot pursuit. That's what you need. I don't have that with Jaida.

[vickim]

Ditto on what everyone else has said...I would never be able to trust Whisper off leash if there is something to chase; she knows she's not to chase animals, but it is just too irresistable for her, and when she is in the moment, there is no calling her back. At that point, I just have to wait for her to come back. The only time I was able to call her off anything was from chasing the UPS truck (and I sure wish I knew what I did right that time, because she has never offered to chase the UPS truck again).

[Guest WoobiesMom]

I think Ashlee needs another explanation of "keep her in the yard". If she ran off chasing her, Riven probably thought it was a great game! Explain to Ashlee what you do if Riven starts to leave and practice with her a bit so Riven knows to obey her like she does you.

 

 

Or just use a tie out if you can't watch her constantly.

[Bo Peep]

I don't trust Usher outside off leash. When I lived in the country all my dogs were boundary trained. It's actually pretty easy once you have the first one or two trained. LOL. I never left them out when I wasn't home, though. They had a very large area to run that was fenced. Usher has his back yard, but never goes out in front without his leash or there would be trouble especially if a near-by sprinkler was running. He's just a different dog. I think a lot of it really does have to do with the prey drive. He is full of it. My others had a lot, but I could turn them off like a light switch with a simple "That'll do".