5months collie/rott wanders to other houses

[Tommy]

She's a female, 5months, collie/rottweiler puppy that keeps going to other houses that have dogs! I live in the countryside so I let her go free. But when I am not looking or when I am doing something, she goes to my neighbour or other houses that have dogs.

So everytime I retrieve her back, I smack her (not hard) on the head, and chain her to the wall for an hour. Then I let her go. But after one or two days, she wanders off again!

I am so frustrated, what is a good way of dealing with this?

[tl_ashmore]

Tommy, I am sorry, but I do not feel the same way that Serena does. There is nothing wrong with letting your dog roam free. They need it every once in a while. Since your dog keeps going to where there are other dogs, maybe she just needs someone to play with. If you don't have any other dogs, maybe you should consider getting her a playmate.

[Renee750il]

Well, we do let ours out somewhat unsupervised, but they have 60+ acres, and they're only out when we are home . . . and we check on them and call them in often. It helps that we have the three, as well, and that Bimmer, the alpha, is good about staying close. About the only place the girls go without him is to Stanley's house next door, and we can see them from here and Herbie, Stanley's "dad," likes them. Stanley comes over here to play as well.

But those are the only circumstances they're out in, and we've tried to be very careful about teaching them not to take food from other people, as someone poisoned Buffy, our first Fila, even though she did stay home.

It does sound like your dog just wants company, so you might really want to consider it.

Another thing you've got to remember is that since your dog is part Rottie, if anything is even remotely amiss in the neighborhood, garbage turned over, kid scared, etc., she's going to get the blame for it. Every single time. It won't matter that she's home when it happens. If she's been seen out loose in the neighborhood at any time, she's going to be blamed and the consequences for that can be fatal.

[MEG126]

my dog doesn't come very well and after chatting in these forums some, i figured out why. coming wasn't fun for her. like if she got out in the neighborhood, she'd run around and it'd take us forever to catch her because she was just playing a game, but whenever we got a hold of her again, we'd do the same thing you do, smack her (not hard) on the head and tell her what she did was wrong. now i realize that's why she doesn't come, because it ends the fun running around outside and if she does come to us, she gets brought inside.

Renee750il helped me with this i believe, and told me that i just need to make coming fun for my dog. that if she gets out, no matter how frustrated i get trying to get her to come back, still pet her and praise her whenever she does come back. and then don't just march her right back inside, let her continue to play. does this make sense? so i think what you should do is retrieve her as you have been, and when you get back home and she's on her territory again, praise her, so she knows that's where she's supposed to be.

i suppose you could consider an electric fence? so she can have the freedom of being outside, but still be limited to where she can wander off to and you don't have the distinct barrier of a fence to close off your open space.

hope this was of some help...keep us posted!! i think you should try and fix this, verses just keeping her inside or on a leash all the time. after all if she has some collie in her, she's a herding dog and they like having that open space. i've gotten pretty opinionated feedback off a horse forum before and you just have to realize that whenever you put yourself out there, you're gonna hear all kinds of opinions. anyways, good luck!!

[DarthVadersMum]

My sister & brother in law live in the country also. My brother in law dug & installed one of the invisible fences. It works wonderful for them. There neighbors let their beagles run free & one of them just ventured up to the highway & was hit & killed. I would either look into one of these fences or stop letting him/her roam free. This same poor dog that was hit was also shot by someone before loosing his life. You have to think about that as well. As some people don't like the dog messing in there yard. And if he/she is free you just don't know.

[Tommy]

I don't think it's possible at all for me to install a fence. But Meg, I will for sure try your idea.
And for Serena, I just can't keep my dog on a leash or keep her inside the house. She looks sad when I do that. Which is why I try to let her go free a lot.
Too bad I can't get another dog, I soooo want to. But my parents think one is enough to deal with. T_T

[Renee750il]

Tommy, do your best to stay outside with your dog when she's off the leash. There shouldn't be a problem if she's supervised, and you can use this time to get in some training. Make it fun for her and you'll both profit from the time spent. She'll have fun and you'll have a well-behaved, exercised dog and won't have to worry so much. Your neighbors will also see that you are taking the time and responsibility to make sure she's not a nuisance and it should help to keep good relations with them.

[Tommy]

thanks, I think I wanna get her a personal trainer when she becomes 6 months old. I heard they are really good.

[Renee750il]

There's a good chance that you will be able to train her to recognize her boundaries when she's older. Collies and Rotties are both breeds that territory is very important too, so you should have a good shot at it.

My first German Shepherd, Purdue, could be trusted to stay within boundaries after being walked around the perimeter of the yard once on his leash. It was a great relief to know he would stay within bounds until we got the fence put up - more to keep the neighbor's evil-tempered dog out than to keep ours in. Their dog, Angel (?) didn't mess with Purdue; she stayed out of his way, but she kept attacking our aging Toy Fox Terrier, Mickey (that I think was actually a Jack Russell, but that's another story). That was a real mistake on Angel's part! Mickey would wait for Angel to come over into our yard to do her business, and when Angel was squatted down in the middle of her endeavor, Mickey would grab her and bite her. The real danger came one day when Angel actually got a chance to bite Mickey. When Mickey yelped, Purdue came flying, bowled Angel over and held her down by the throat, snarling and growling. He never bit Angel, but he scared her so badly that she never set foot in the yard again. When her owners were outside, she would still stand near our yard and bark, but as long as she stayed in her own yard, Purdue just ignored her.

The neighbors made a big deal out of telling everyone they were afraid of Purdue, but they looked pretty foolish after their 9 month old baby crawled out into the road and Purdue went berserk telling us, then went out in the road - which he never, ever did - and started herding the baby out of danger. Everyone saw it, and needless to say, none of the neighbors was interested in hearing them complain about our "dangerous" German Shepherd.

I guess the point of this story is to underscore the importance of not only teaching your dog its boundaries and good manners, but making sure your dog is perceived as an asset to your neighbors instead of a nuisance. Your dog, with the mix she has, shouldn't be very difficult to train as long as you have her respect.

[pitbulliest]

First of all, responsible owners do not let their dogs roam free without supervision..no matter where you live...you should always be aware of where your dog is...

second of all, smacking her..no matter how hard (hitting a dog is the wrong way to train), is the absolute worst way to train her to stay nearby..by smacking her when she comes home, you are confusing the dog into thinking that when she comes home she's gonna be punished... instead, you actually want to praise a dog when they come to you...not vice versa..if she comes home, you should let her know that this is where she belongs and that she is a good girl for coming back..do not smack your dog...unless you want to confuse them and end up with a dog that has some behavioural/psychological problems later on.

I used to work at a humane society training dogs and if you want great results, consider positive training (no hitting, yelling, smacking)..instead use treats and praise when the dog does something good..when she does something bad...don't reward her by letting her run around outside..keep her in the house for a few hours or the day...and when she comes, don't punish her... praise her.

However, keep her nearby..if I were your neighbours I probably wouldn't be happy about a strange dog running around my property especially if I have my own dogs to worry about.