Don't let this happen to you

[lvoss]

With many people bringing home new puppies at this time of year, I think it is important to share this really fundamental training technique that could save your dog's life some day.

The most important thing you can teach your puppy/dog is Name Response. This is really easy to teach and can become the foundation for so many other really important behaviors including recall. This can also be a great way to introduce a clicker. To teach name response, get a nice little pile of treats, something really yummy like cheese, chicken, something they think is really good and is easy to eat. Say your pup's name, if it starts to even turn its head in your direction then click/treat or a Yay!/treat. If you pup doesn't respond wait 10 seconds and say its name again. After rewarding wait several seconds so the pup has a chance to eat and start moving around again and then say the name again, as they start to turn towards you click/treat. As they start to get the idea hold off on the click until they are actually moving towards you or half towards you. Pretty soon you will have a dog that will start staring at you waiting for its name and its treat. That is when you can start to work on Attention. If you frequently reward their responding to their name and are careful not to use their name when you are mad you will make their name a very powerful tool.

Name response has come in handy in those situations where they find themselves on the wrong side of a door or gate or the lead gets dropped. The more we put in our toolbox the better prepared we will be if something happens.

[Tayda_Lenny]

Wow! What a scare! Good job with making a scene and running toward home. Its totally counter-intuitive to run in the other direction but it works!

I guess thats one good thing about living in an apartment on the 2nd floor… my front door opens into a hallway so they couldn't get very far.

[tanza]

As Vanessa has seen when she visited our home, we have a gate between the family room and the foyer. No one comes in or out if that gate is not shut… and it is a perm gate attached to the wall... we never wanted to take chances with a free standing gate.

And Vanessa did the exact right thing... make it a game of the Basenji "chases" you.... not the other way around!!! good job!!! Now, just wait till you have that "sneaky" little Tri bundle of trouble!!!!

[BasenjiDiva]

I had a similar thing happen with Cory and Jayden a couple of weeks ago. Jayden froze but Cory kept on going. I called her name and when I had her attention I turned and started walking home. Fortunately, she followed me. Now I do what Sharron Hurlbut does…I go out through the laundry room and through the garage. That gives me multiple doors. Unfortunately, my foyer doesn't lend itself to being closed off with a gate. We refer to Cory and Jayden as the stealth dogs. One minute they aren't there and the next minute...without having made a sound, they are at our side! Scary.

Pat

[Vanessa]

You really need to think on your toes with a Basenji. It has been engraved in my head to never chase a Basenji. They will just run faster thinking you are playing with them.
Baby gates are key. We havn't even been our house for 3 days and already had a scare. In our previous house we had a gate and used it quite often to keep Chance away from an open door.
I needed to purchase an extender for our 41 inch baby gate which I purchased from Petsmart a year ago. I just ordered it today and received a phone call telling me that its on backorder and they don't know when it will be delivered. GGGGGRRRRRRR!
I hate when you place an order and they don't tell you that its on backorder!

[MacPack]

We train all ours to come to a whistle, which I keep on a hook by the door. On a wild rush they may not stop on a dime, but it does slow them down while they consider the advantages of returning. We also built a fence with a self-closing gate around our front stoop. Doesn't look wonderful, but the dogs learned early on that there was no need to rush the front door, you only get to go 3 feet!
I am so very glad you had a happy ending to your scare. I read years ago about a woman who knelt in someone's yard and pretended to vomit, it brought her escapee right over and she grabbed him. First, you have to be smarter than the dog!

Anne

[gbroxon]

@Vanessa:

…I remembered to make a HUGE scene and thats what I did. I fell to my knees and slapped my hands on the pavement and he looked right at me. Then I stood up and ran towards my house....

Good thinking! I did the same sort of thing with Magnum awhile back when he was out the door like a shot and headed down the driveway for the horses across the road ('cept I screamed and bawled and clapped to get his attention), and he just had to come back to see what in the heck was the matter with me. 'Course I felt like a fool at the time, but not so much after he was back in my arms.

Along with all the other B safeguards, it's a good tactic to have in your bag of tricks, and a good thing that most Bs are sooooo curious.

Glad he's back safe and sound!

[JazzysMom]

@lvoss:

With many people bringing home new puppies at this time of year, I think it is important to share this really fundamental training technique that could save your dog's life some day.

The most important thing you can teach your puppy/dog is Name Response. This is really easy to teach and can become the foundation for so many other really important behaviors including recall. This can also be a great way to introduce a clicker. To teach name response, get a nice little pile of treats, something really yummy like cheese, chicken, something they think is really good and is easy to eat. Say your pup's name, if it starts to even turn its head in your direction then click/treat or a Yay!/treat. If you pup doesn't respond wait 10 seconds and say its name again. After rewarding wait several seconds so the pup has a chance to eat and start moving around again and then say the name again, as they start to turn towards you click/treat. As they start to get the idea hold off on the click until they are actually moving towards you or half towards you. Pretty soon you will have a dog that will start staring at you waiting for its name and its treat. That is when you can start to work on Attention. If you frequently reward their responding to their name and are careful not to use their name when you are mad you will make their name a very powerful tool.

Name response has come in handy in those situations where they find themselves on the wrong side of a door or gate or the lead gets dropped. The more we put in our toolbox the better prepared we will be if something happens.

Screaming, "COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE" also works. LOL:D

[ChaseandZahrasmom]

Vannesa,

So glad to hear that you were able to catch him! That was probably so scary.

[hdolbow]

first day that my boyfriend gave me the key to his house.. i decided to take the dogs out because i got home before he did. There was a huge snow/ice storm the week before so it was FREEZING outside.. i took adrianne out (the other B we used to have) and walked her for litterally 15 minutes and she didnt go.. so i figured she didnt have to.. so i got rocky and opened the door and didnt have the leash tight enough apparently.. and he TOOK OFF down the road .. my heart sank.. i lost my boyfriends dog. lol luckily my boyfriends aunt lives about 200 yards away on the opposite side of the road and just HAPPENED to be pulling in the driveway to see him charging at her.. and she bent down and he came to her.. and i ran to the house and the first thing she said is "you must be heather" … awesome way to meet your boyfriends relatives.... hahahahaha thank GOD she was there..

so i got home finally.. and adrianne had both peed and pooed in the house..

horrible first day. hahahahah

[wizard]

Glad everyone got their beasties back - I had a similar experience with my previous beast - it is truly scary. I've been working with EL D so he responds to a dog whistle - never had to test it in a real escape though (hope never do).

[TuckerVA]

Just sharing a scare I had with Tucker on the FIRST day with him. I adopted him from BRAT and picked him up in Jersey. Spent the night with a friend in Philly prior to coming back to Virginia. My friend took Tuck into her apartment once we got to Philly as I was getting his crate and other stuff out of the car. There's about 5ft of sidewalk in front of her rowhouse and then a rather busy 2 lane street. I TOLD her to shut the door before loosing him. The next think I know I see this black flash run into the street and hear her screaming from inside the house. I freaked and remembered that the owners said if you shout his name, he'll freeze. I tried it and it didn't work, he was running full out and traffic from a recent light change was headed our way. The ONLY thing that saved him was he was still leashed on on a retractable. He ran in between parked cars and the handle lodged under a car tire. I was already in the middle of the street because I was going to get hit before I let him get hit, so traffic had already stopped, thank god.

Funny thing now, though, is that after extablishing myself as his daddy (Alpha), he doesn't bolt. I've come home after drinking on a few occasions and have let him off leash in my community at 3am while noone else (in their right mind) is up and about. He almost NEVER strays more than 50ft or so from me and always comes when called. I can circle the community and completely ignore him and whenever I look back, he's there in sight of me, doing his thing, but keeping up at his own pace. He never bolts out the door, even when someone arrives unannounced. He has gotten out only once (on a bolt) in our 18 months together and I was able to simply pick him up. He only went out because I was outside at my car and my friend opened the door of my condo. Tucker was watching me from the balcony and when he saw the door open, he bolted to come to me, not to 'escape'.

Strange dogs these B's, but I swear I have never known a more loyal dog who longs to be at his Alpha's side as much as Tucker does. Bolting or not, he's never bolting away from me, rather, only to not be left behind by me.

[Barklessdog]

Our neighbor's min pin was running loose down a busy street. The dog's owners got in their car and drove close to him screaming the dogs name & car ride. They stopped the car, opened the door, the dog jumped in and away they went. Very clever!

[Rivermoon]

I'm glad everything turned out alright. A long time ago I remember hearing that and used it once with Dakota. It's hard NOT to chase after them and run in the opposite direction but it really does work.
We put up a 4 foot wrought iron fence around the front yard. Mine are pretty good about staying in when the door is opened but I would never totally trust them. Hubby did once leave the door and the gate wide open and all three took off down the block. Luckily a neighbor had his dog out and used him as bait to get our three back.