Re: Boundaries no longer being respected (ie. garden fence!)

[quote author=widget link=topic=14106.msg265839#msg265839 date=1239870094]
Hi – kind of don’t want to post this as am ashamed – but need help to sort it – so am asking  🙁

Loki is 2 1/2 now – he has been spending most weekends of his life at my parents place in Suffolk – with Dottie the border collie who is now 12. The garden is sort of open in alot of ways – there is a hedge on one edge of the garden, the side that goes onto the road – dogs can easily go through as is young hedge – but they never have done and have always respected it as a boundary.

So in the past… Loki will run up to hedge if someone walks past with a dog – but he won’t go through.  Dottie is not interested in other dogs – so never bothers – but she can spend hours out in the garden – she knows the boundaries (there are other open bits) and never leaves the grounds.

Recently – Loki has decided to leave the gardens and say hello to any dog that passes  🙁  So I now only let him in garden if I am out there – and if I see a dog – I tell him , leave – which he listens to if I get in quick enough (ie. If I see dog first). So – the latest development is this (yesterday)…  Loki is trying to avoid me saying ‘leave’ by trying to spot dogs before they walk by – as a result – he is getting it wrong and yesterday ran out onto road because he saw a bicycle… which wasn’t what he wanted – but he followed the movement.

The main issues are these:

1) Once he runs off after something he won’t listen to me until he has gone to see what it is – then he will come back to normal recall command. So recall doesn’t work until he has been to greet dog. So my recall comand has ‘conditions’ and is not therefore fluent in every situation.

2) Leave only works if I get in fast enough – he tries to avoid me saying it.

3) There is no greater reward than greeting the dog. No toy/ food or game or anything wins over greeting the dog.

4) Stop comand does not work either in this situation.

5) Loki could get run over/ cause accident etc etc and is dangerous.

Should add that recall/ stop etc usually work in other situations – but have broken down here.

I have now only been leeting him in garden either on lead or when I am playing a game that has his full attention on me.

Help  🙁

Fencing garden is not option.
[/quote]if your dog can get out of the garden some bodys eles dog can get in