Serious question.... How do you train a dog to stay out of the road?

[G-Mac]

My neighbors across the street have a big Boxer named Charlie. My Pit mix Maya loves Charlie. They love to play together....No amount of training would stop my girl from running across the road to see Charlie if he's outside. I keep her on a line when she's outside.

 

[G-Mac]

The New York state dog laws make interesting reading.

New York Consolidated Dog Laws

For example, if your neighbor or one of your neighbor's dogs or other domestic animals is bitten by your dog running loose, your neighbor is authorized to immediately kill your dog, and you will not be able to take any legal action against them.

How much liability insurance are you planning on getting?

Funny, most people in New York aren't aware of that law.

In fact, a friend of mine that lives a bit North of Syracuse shot a pit-bull that was in his yard menacing his little dog and kids. The pit went off his property into the road and died. Owners said he shot the dog in the road. The law was called. Guess who got all their guns taken away and had to get a lawyer? In New York State, you have to be a certain distance from a house to even discharge a firearm. So, you can't just shoot a wild dog, or even a coyote, that walks across your property.

 

[ChuckS1]

Regarding the "invisible fence" option, I found this to be the best option. But, knowing the expense, let me provide a suggestion. First of all, the system is made by the same company and rebranded, so you can get the least expensive. Second, the biggest cost is the wire, and the good news you can buy it by the roll at Lowe's or Home Depot for a ton of savings, as well as the waterproof splices. And forget the flags they tell you to use. After three different dogs, the current one being a husky, I can guarantee you they don't need a flag to tell them where the wire is. Crank that puppy, pun intended, up to max and the dog won't go within 10 yards of the wire after it gets zapped a couple of times.

 

[Faulkner]

Getting any dog to do or not do certain things takes time. I like border collies because they are so smart and willing to learn, but the first thing I taught ours as a pup was the meaning of a firm "NO" no matter what she's doing. Among other things, she's a frisbie fetcher and I'm convinced that if I yelled "NO" while catching a frisbie she would try to stop in mid air.

The point I'm making is, even well trained dogs will sometimes do things you'd just as soon they not do when left unsupervised, but as long as they understand what "NO" means they don't always have to understand the "why".

 

[quneur]

Every dog trainer has different methods which every other trainer will consider flat out wrong. But most trainers follow some well thought out method already develop by some well known trainer, Bill Tarrant, Delmar Smith, Richard Wolters, etc.

Teaching a dog to avoid the street is not one of them.

If you are going to try to develop of a training method for some wanted or unwanted behavior, think about it, for a better term, from the dog's point of view. A mother will teach a young pup certain behavior by nipping and growling; the equivalent of saying 'No' from the owner. The mother is conditioning the pup earlly on so its only experience in that situation is what its conditioned to know or conditioned response.

Now, with the pavement issue. By stopping before reaching the pavement, its developing a conditioned response. But what's its really doing? Is the dog avoiding the pavement or is it being conditioned to sit before reaching the pavement? If you take the dog on a drive into the middle of a parking lot, does the dog refuse to come out of the car? If it does then the first case of avoiding pavement applies but if it jumps out without reservations then the second case applies; the dog sits when you stopped walking. Maybe it learned on that spot and only that spot. The training you did perhaps really didn't do what you intended; prevent the dog from going on pavement.

Len's suggestion is a good one, use recall (come) command for the dog. There are dozens of well thought out tried and true methods to make recall bulletproof. There is no ambiguity in what you are trying to accomplish. Its one of the basic commands every dog should know. I use it for fetching and heeling. When my dog goes to get the bird, I recall her. I use it on heel til I release her. It makes it simple for the dog to understand.

 

[rojodiablo]

Hey gang,

I thought I'd try to tap into the extensive dog knowledge here.
Like the title says - How do you train a dog to stay out of the road?

We can't afford an electric fence type barrier, and a fenced-in area is not an option.

Our puppy (1 1/2 yrs old) can't get it through his thick head to stay out of the road.
The good news is that he is smart and a fast learner - he has learned several tricks with very minimal training. He picks up things pretty quick, so I'm hoping that "stay away from the road" will penetrate his thick skull.

Does anybody have any suggestions for training methods?

We like the big knucklehead, and don't want anything bad to happen to him.

Thanks for any help.

The strongest shock collar you can find. Let the dog run amok, and do not say anything to him. As soon as he gets to the road, let him have it!
He will get it that the road means business. After this, you can work on commands to him. Simple 'No. or, Road NO.' The second he makes for the road.....let 'er rip. He won't dig it, and will learn.

 

[bgrone]

Chasing cars

Living in the country we have had a variety of dogs, usually several at a time. The worst was a golden retriever/basset that got too big for son #2's dorm room. She would howl at any thing at night and not only chased cars but taught the other dogs to do the same. Neighbors would see us in town and tell us they had almost hit that yellow dog, after a while I just told them better luck next time. My FIL called her knucklehead, MIL cussed her but fed her scrambled eggs and hot dogs even after she knocked MIL over one day in the barnyard right into a cow pie. Can't remember how old she lived to be but a car didn't do her in; found her dead in the bean field one day. All out of dogs at the moment down to one orange cat, Garfield, who actually comes when you call him. But that's a story for another thread.
Hillbilly, good luck ,as a diesel mechanic you'll understand this comparison: what's the difference between a truck driver and a puppy? ......after awhile a puppy will quit whining.

(disclaimer: I would never seriously encourage anyone to harm a dog)

Jim in Iowa

 

[Hack]

An expert can tell you the dog has been trained to 'never' do what this or that and always obey.

Still got a scar from a dog that 'never bites'....

 

[jaykwish]

Shock collar shock collar shock collar. We had a boxer that liked the neighbors horses put a shock collar on him and 2 zaps is all it took he never even went into their yard again.


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[JJEH]

Does anybody have any suggestions for training methods?

You'll put him/her on a leash and every time you cross the road you make him/her sit down for 5 - 10 seconds.

Do that every day for a couple of months and you'll see that the dog will do it on his/her own.

 

[Smoke]

You'll put him/her on a leash and every time you cross the road you make him/her sit down for 5 - 10 seconds.

Do that every day for a couple of months and you'll see that the dog will do it on his/her own.

How is that going to stop the dog? If I'm reading your post right the dog will walk up to the road, sit for a few seconds , then get up and cross the road.

 

[E Z MUNNY]

I used to have a Cocker Spaniel that hung around on the road specifically to chase trucks in our small NE Iowa town. He tried to bite the left front tire on a small milk delivery truck one day, got clipped by the front bumper and went BUMPITY BUMPITY BUMP all the way underneath clear to the back end. Sat in his doghouse for about 3 days feeling sorry for himself and recovering. The following winter he switched to the local snowplow until he got caught by the plows blade and thrown about 30 feet into a snowbank. THAT is when he figured he should stay out of the road. All of my attempts at training had just been a waste of my time and the dogs.

 

[Ghlover]

Fence

I can't help you coz I have a greyhound. They will ignore anything and anyone if they spot something to chase. ALWAYS has to on a leash. I don't mind as I need the exercise and I am retired as is my dog.
Easier to pay someone to walk him if I can't than to take the chance he will cross the road.

 

[labworm]

Tell that to him....

He sure acts like one.

The milk bone doesn't fall far from the tree.

Haven't you any new photos of the rascal?

 

[JJEH]

How is that going to stop the dog? If I'm reading your post right the dog will walk up to the road, sit for a few seconds , then get up and cross the road.

The dog will sit down until he's getting the command from you to "go" and finally cross the road.

If there's no command the dog will sit and don't get up!

It takes time but it will pay off.

It works, we did it this way back in the day. We used to train our own dogs as well as for others.