Husband Out In The Backyard Trying To Catch The Dog? What To Do

[Snowball]

OK our golden retriever seems to have lost some of her manners lately.

We just let her out in the backyard for a wee break and when my husband called her inside she refused to come. This has been increasing lately, where in the past she came.

He is not in the backyard standing/chasing her around trying to get her, she is doing zoomies around him. What is the best method / what should he do , chase her, tire her out, ignore her, ?????

This is getting really bad, how do we get her to come and what do we do when she does zoomies and tries to escape.

Snowball

[Parkeyre]

It sounds like she wants to play. If your husband leaves the door open and walks back in side does she follow?

Is the dog getting walked etc?

[poodlefan]

1. Video it for "Funniest Home Videos".

2. Tell husband to come inside and close door. Hard for a dog to make it a game of "catch me" if she's the only one playing.

[darlingdog]

Regardless of why the dog won't come, if you want it to come NOW...use food ! It's a golden retriever after all and all the ones I have known have run on their stomachs LOL !! It's the one thing I ALWAYS use food for when training, a pork chop in the pocket ( so to speak) almost always works.

[Bullbreedlover]

1. Video it for "Funniest Home Videos".

2. Tell husband to come inside and close door. Hard for a dog to make it a game of "catch me" if she's the only one playing.

I would try food

Husbands AND dogs love food

[mita]

Tell your husband to try crouching down low & call the Goldie with his arms out at the side. Then a big 'Good dog!' & cuddle when she comes. Height spells dominance to a dog, so by crouching down that 'threat' is lessened.

I'm not suggesting this in your OH's case, but friend's JRT slipped the lead when he was walking it beside a busy road. He took off to grab the JRT, but it kept bouncing away, getting closer to the passing traffic. Friend remembered the 'get down low' trick....& lay on the ground with his head in his hands making high pitched squeally noises. JRT bounced straight over & sniffed under his head. Got caught.

Friend said he tried the extreme 'get low' because it was such a dangerous situation. Passing motorists must have thought he was insane.

[Polecatty]

This may sound counter productive...but run away from the dog. Turns the tables of the 'keep away' game right around and you become the chased, not the chaser. Then you can let the dog 'catch' you.

[Golden Rules]

This may sound counter productive...but run away from the dog. Turns the tables of the 'keep away' game right around and you become the chased, not the chaser. Then you can let the dog 'catch' you.

Yep, that's what I do too, usually works

[SkySoaringMagpie]

Don't chase, that makes it a fun game or in the case of timid dogs, freaks them out.

Shut the door and ignore her if you haven't tried that already. If she comes reward her with a piece of food and praise.

If you have tried shutting the door and she entertains herself with dog business in the yard that means that the yard is more rewarding than coming to you. Get yourself a copy of a booklet called "really reliable recall" and start training her. It's an easy training program.

In the meantime a few things to do:

- Don't call her to do unpleasant things like give her medicine, brush knots out of her ears, leave her when you go out, etc etc. Go and get her for unpleasant stuff instead.

- Always reward (not bribe) her for coming until her recall is more solid. Don't wave the food at her first, give it to her after she comes.

- Play recall games, call her, reward her, then release her again and throw a ball for her or play with her - this shows her that calling her doesn't mean "fun is over"

- NEVER punish her if she comes to you after mucking around. Dogs don't understand your frustration and will associate coming to you with bad stuff so they'll avoid doing it.

[spottychick]

She clearly sees this as a fun game.

Can you leave her out there???? Not for ages, just long enough for her to think it would be a good idea to go in when she's asked to? Dylan did something similar today when he'd followed me into the laundry and wouldn't leave when I was trying to close the door to the laundry. No matter how many times I tried to call him he started playing silly buggers and darting around in the laundry.

So I shut the door on him and left him in there for about 15 minutes. LMAO

Seems to have worked

[OSoSwift]

All of what has been suggested, but also make sure you recall, reward, then touch collar reward. I have seen many dogs who comeup to people but they cannot get their hands on them. Never shoot your hands out and grab, train for touching her collar every day. Call her (inside or out) reward then let her go.

[OSoSwift]

Oh and leave her out there. If she gets cold enough she will want to come in.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I say "shutting the door now" and shut the door.

I might open it again in 10 minutes to see if she's changed her mind.

I have a dog that adores the game of chase me and no amount of food or exciting toys will get her to give it up. And even if I get her to chase me - she still stops - just out of reach.

I find the fastest way to get her is to put my hand on the door knob and say "in or out?" or "Shutting the door now", and she usually comes straight in. Even if she knows I'm just going to put the lead on her so we can go out, or I'm going out without her - neither of which are as much fun as "chase me" games. If she doesn't come in. I shut the door and do something else for five to ten minutes. It does mean planning ahead when the times she MUST come in.

[Sunnyflower]

1. Video it for "Funniest Home Videos".

2. Tell husband to come inside and close door. Hard for a dog to make it a game of "catch me" if she's the only one playing.

!!!

Oscar is a pain in the butt and sometimes stands at the back of the yard on his cement path and stares at me.. I call him with a cute voice... No response.. I get down low and hold my arms out and give a - "Come on monster, you know you want a cuddle"... Still staring.. "FINE STUFF YA THEN".. Inside and shut the door . I love my boy but I'm not his slave so I'll leave him for 10 minutes and come back to a goof balls nose on the door.

[Souff]

Tried standing there with the car keys in one hand, and the lead in the other?

[spottychick]

lol I do exactly that too Mrs Rusty - "Come on. In or out. Make up your mind. Right! Out it is! Bye then" Shut door! heehee

[Hairy Maclary]

Lie down and play dead. (Husband, not dog)

Dog will come straight over.

[*Avanti*]

I'm probably no help except to say if it was twilight time, which it looks it may have been; I find that's when my dogs get very energised and really love their zoomies.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Tried standing there with the car keys in one hand, and the lead in the other?

LoL

That's the look that usually triggers the game. Ie it's her signal I must catch her cos I want to go somewhere like agility training, so I will chase her. I had to learn not to - the hard way. She does the same when I put on my dog walking accessories (bum bag with dog treats and poo bags, shoes, hat, coat etc).

[Jenni87]

Ella went through a stage of this. Our main part of the yard has windows along the side so she can see in and we leave the blinds over and just potter about. As soon as she sees us move inside, she wants in to come and see what we're doing.

My Goldie is food motivated but also stubborn and sometimes even the promise of treats dont work. I think its def. about making you more appealing than what ever is going on out there. So like others have said, play dead (laying down on her level always gets her to us, or on us, depending how quick we can prep for her to come over) run the other way, go inside and ignore etc etc.....

It is very frustrating, so many times i've stood there sounding/acting like an idiot trying to get to over - she even looks at me like one but you learn these things in time!