Running away!?!?

[twistr]

Everytime a door opens in my house, my yorkie wants to run outside. I let him go out and exercise often, but it just doesn't seem like enough for him. If he goes out the garage door and the main garage door is open, he will run and there's no catching him. It take me, my two kids, and many times neighbors to corner and catch him. I've ran after him as far as a mile. He gets in the road and one day I know will get run over. I have trained him as a young pup to do many tricks like sit, lay, roll over, shake hands, stand, speak, and he still does all these tricks for treats. He is house trained to go on the pad. Sometimes he doesn't use the pad at all. I think that's an indication that he's mad at me for maybe leaving him home alone while I'm at work. He's usually home alone from 8 am until 3pm when the kids come home from school. He's generally loyal to me and follows me around the house and at bedtime, usually will come to my room and sleep in my room. He used to sleep on my bed but I move about alot in my sleep so he's learnt best to sleep in his bed on the floor in my room at night. Many nights he will sit in my lap and we fall alseep together. He's a very loving dog and I can't imagine why he wants to run away from me. He will NOT stop when his name is called, by any of us. And here lately, he has gotten to where he won't come to me when I call him, when he used to come running all the time. I'm worried that he doesn't see me as the pack leader anymore and doesn't respect me. When he gets something he shouldn't have, I can usually say no, or leave it and he will leave it alone, but if it's something he really wants, he runs away with it behind the couch or somewhere like that I can't get to him.

Sorry to ramble on like this. My most serious issue is him running away. Anyone have this problem and how do you fix it? Ultimately, I have to get him to where he will stop and come to me on command. This should solve that issue but it's like something he's grown into. He was born March of 2006, I've had him since 12 weeks old.

Any suggestions anyone?

Here's a picture of my Spencer taking an afternoon nap in his favorite nap spot (the clean socks) :LOL:

[Amber_lv]

I feel for you Peeka will wait for me to open the door and walk out first but once we are outside he has his days where he runs from me and i have to chase him down as well. i don't have a fenced front yard where he does his business but most the time he is good and comes in when i call him but like today it took me 20 min to corral his little butt! I have no advise but would love to see answers posted.

[twistr]

I think it's going to be back to basics, training him to stay and re-establish the fact that I'm the leader of the pack again. I'm just curious to see how some others have handled this behavior. And curious as to why he's reverted back to disobedient ways after being trained to be otherwise.

[troubletb]

I had this problem with my Bell, actually still do... They need to run!! I fenced in my yard and it got better, but Bell still isn't trained.. She will run.. SO I have to watch her often, its nerve racking, she could get hit by a car and be killed.. Try practicing her staying back at a certain point when you open the door. Have some one ring the bell and have them sit and stay..
Good Luck, this is probably the most important thing you can teach him..

[Katys mom]

We had this problem when Katy was a puppy. Puppy school helped us with the basic and setting the boundries. My DH spends a lot of time in the garage. Katy always wants to be with him. Every time she ran, she was put back in the house and not allowed out with him for the rest of the day. She soon learned that she had to stay no matter who walked by (dog, kids or adults.)

I can tell you one thing for sure, when they run, don't chase them. They think its a game then. Go at an angle and make sure that you can see them and they can see you. Then try to turn the other way. Your baby will usually she you change course and chase after you!

All I can say is consistancy and treat, treat, treat for good behavior.

[mojo]

I have this problem with both my dogs. I cannot open the door with them in the vicinity. If somebody comes over or if we even need to go out front, we have to lock them in the kitchen first because they will take off! It is very hard having to deal with this everyday, cant even open your own front door with your dogs around. Especially when you see other people and their dogs; hanging out in the front yard, unleashed, behaving.
I need to get my front yard fenced so I dont have to obsess so much over it.

[GracieLou]

I have this problem too! Cant even walk outside without her runnin through the door w/ me! We dont have a fenced in yard so it makes it worse b/c she only lets me catch her sometimes we have a big yard though ! we have 2 other dogs that only walk out when we let them and that stay in the yard without worry but for some reason she is different!

[suzoo]

I would start over with basic commands.. practice 'sit/stay'.. and never open the door without having your dog in that position. Or put up baby gates at both doors until you can trust him. Get a tasty treat that they cannot resist, something you only use for training and practise calling your dog to you.. do it over & over until you have a reliable recall.
The treat I use is Benny Bully training pellets.. When my yorkie (as well as my other dog) are off-leash at the dogpark.. all I have to do if they get too far away from me is shake the container (it's like a TicTac noise) and they immediately come running back to me and sit at my feet... it didn't take all that long to teach them, you just need to find the right motivation.
Never scold them for coming to you and whenever they do come back.. praise them BIGTIME! As stated before, never chase the dog.. it is all a game to them and you have to change the rules now before the dog gets hit by a car.. good luck!

[SONYSW]

I will tell him a basic command like "sit and treat" or "off and treat". It works will my chelsea that everytime I do not like her to do something I told her "off" and say take it (click and treat). She loves to steal my sock and eventually she understand if I say "off" and she stops; she will get a treat. The same thing with open the door I say stay and treat if she stay. Off couse in the beginning you should have some one try to catch her before you practice this command. Good luck.

[bradyem]

Twistr---Wow, my husband and I were reading it and it's like someone has posted a story about our dog. I thought I was the only one running after my dog with a piece of sandwich meat hoping he will see it from far away! I don't chase him per say now--it's more of "how do I trick him to come to me". Therefore, sometimes I call him and start running the other direction (he thinks I'm going to pick up the kids at the bus and will run with me so I can catch him). Other times, I will open the car door and he thinks he is going for a ride--that, of course, entails letting him sit int he car for awhile so that I don't feel that horrible for tricking him (and hoping it will work again). What I have learned is that I have trained Rockie to stop at the door to the garage with the command "back". If I am opening the door and the kids have to go out I will tell him "back" (like you have trained all of your other wonderful tricks that I can't get mine to do) and he has to wait for the kids to leave but won't go out. However, if the kids open that door he is like a missile and that's where the trickery comes in. I too have had the neighbor try to help and do not send my kids because he really thinks it's a game and it's much harder. I'm with you--I am very fearful of the street with him so little and the cars going sooo fast! I do have a fenced in backyard with plenty of room, however, in my postings when Rockie was a puppy, the consensus from most was that this is a quirk of the yorkie--they love to do this! Good luck--I know exactly how you feel!!!

[Breezeaway]

I trained Bird dogs for about 12 years and if you know birddogs they are extremely hard headed about coming to you when you call. But I used the same approach on my yorkies that I did on the birddogs and my yokries come to me when I ask them to.
Put a leash on your yorkie in the house and let them drag it, nothing heavy but kinda long. Every now and then step on or get ahold of the leash and say here or come, then give it a little jerk, all the while saying the command come. a few jerks and they should run to you. praise them and let them go . IF you do this for about a week over and over they will start to come as soon as you say Come.

[twistr]

Wow, I thought I would get an email telling me I had replies, I just checked back for replies and I'm overwhelmed with all the wonderful replies.

Bradyem, Sounds like we have the same dog :LOL: I haven't thought about not chasing because he thinks it's a game. I have always known that, but if I don't go after him, I fear I will loose him and he won't find his way back because buddy, he's a trucking it 100 MPH! This week we have started with his food. I make him sit and stay before I put his food down to feed him. I do not let him up from his stay to eat until I tell him "free dog". This was not successfull at first but seems to be taking effect now. I also have been opening the back door to the garage and making him sit/stay as I continue to open the door wider and move away from the door, I continue to have to encourage him to sit/stay. At first, it was dart dart dart out the door, but now, he will sit and stay, but boy, the urge is killing him and he lets you know about it to by back talking me.

But that's all well and good but the biggest problem is the front door. He goes absolutley NUTS if I even go near it. It takes him at least 5 minutes to calm down if he sees me go near the front door, barking, and circling wanting to go out. He won't sit/stay for the front door at all, he just circles, barks and back talks me, and the more I say sit or stay, the louder he gets with me.

And as with you, he will sit/stay at the back door for me, but he won't listen to my kids at all. And they are teenagers, so they don't really have much interest in what I'm trying to teach him.

Breezeway, I like the idea about the leash, I'm going to try that. My dad and I used to have birddogs but my dad always trained them. He used to pull their ears to train them ! I don't think I'll be doing any of that :LOL:! I'll keep everyone updated.

Thanks everyone for the encouraging responses!

[bradyem]

Twistr==wow, sounds like you have made great progress. I forgot to mention that when I trained Rockie to sit at the garage door I too had the door open but unlike you, I was too afraid to walk away and trust him not to run out. I don't really have the issue of the front door because we never go out that way--I do have a huge issue of him going ballistic if anyone (especially dogs) pass by on the sidewalk (I've even tried spraying him with a water bottle as someone suggested but that only got me a very wet and still barking pooch--LOL).

Breezeway--I also like your idea about the leash--I'm going to try that as well. Lately we haven't had as much trouble getting him back when he runs out (when the kids let him out) as we've had a ton of snow dumped here in Colorado and I think he figures it's too cold out for his little toes so he runs back in and gets rewarded at the same time.