help our Lab pup has escaped!

[clare]

Well the latest on Chester is I caught him twice trying to make an exit over the fence so gave him a good telling off!!I hope catching him at it will give me the chance to rectify the problem.We have been in the garden all day, all weekend,gardening,moving chicken runs and throwing balls and he has had the time of his life.Then when we popped to the shop(in the car)he came too.Now we are all inside cooking dinner etc he is on the doorstep as usual just waiting for us and dinner!We still take him for walks because even with all the land he doesn't always run around on his own not like on his walks and when he gets back he is worn out and up for a snooze,I am also trying to vary where I take him as the field around us are too familiar which is maybe why he feels he can go on his own so the forest near school will be our new haunt, after dropping the girls he can sniff the forest smells for a change.We aren't going to dog training with him as it is too far from home(petrol prices!)and too expensive for us.........When I speak he acts so I think I've done a good job so far it's just when he's alone it's a problem.

[eccentric_emma]

Hi

I have had many problems with my dogs running off (but we didnt have a fence to keep them in but are building one now as we are near an area with tons of stray dogs so i dont want them forming a pack with the strays), anyway I found walking them twice a day at least, and making sure it was a good fast power walk really helped. It helps dogs to show them that you are the leader, as in nature, walking is what dogs do for a lot of the day and in the pack, they follow the leader! Also, most dogs, in my experience, despite having the run of a good amount of land, do not push themselves to exercise hard so don't tire themselves out enough.

It is entirely possible that your dog just doesn't 'know' that he isn't supposed to jump the fence! So hopefully telling him will help. I will be interested to hear if that has worked for you.

I found Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer very interesting. I don't agree with all of his methods (actually I prefer to use clicker training to train things like sitting etc), however in his books he explains the theory of dog psychology and how a pack works and what your dog assumes and it is a bit of an eye opener!