by AtlasHyperion » Thu Nov 30, 2017 2:55 pm
My Nina is a real sweetheart, and she loves us and we love her, but if she gets off leash, she's gone. The first time she ran, I wasn't there, but the leash was dropped for barely a second and she ran off, and she's really fast (collie/heeler mix) so she was chased for a good four hours before she was lost in a park. Eventually she came back to the neighborhood, and with a lot of running and chasing, she was corralled back to the house, where no one caught her but she ran up the front steps, where there's a bed of thorny plants on one side and a railing on the other, in front of the house, so she was finally caught there. The second time, she was in the garage, and no one knew I was coming home right then, and I didn't think she'd be in the garage because we don't usually let her in there, but the moment I opened it she ran off. I sprinted after her, but on a sprained ankle I was slower, and though I'm not fast enough I could probably have trapped her or maneuvered her into some area she couldn't escape. I know the area well.
Unfortunately, she jumped a fence (a low one, more for show than anything else; it was only about three feet tall - she can't jump regular fences) and me and my sprained ankle had to run around it the long way because I couldn't climb over it, and I lost her over the other side of it behind a house. That was about five minutes in, and within another five she ran through the backyard, where I'd returned after losing her, and I chased her over to the front steps again, where she lay down and waited when she realized the chase was ending.
The problem is, the moment she's off the leash outside, she's gone. She'll come when called on leash, and while in the house, but not outside, and that's problematic. If she gets off leash in a crowded place, or when there's a dog nearby (thankfully there's never been a dog walking by either time she escaped; she's pretty aggressive), what are we going to do to catch her? She's not always going to be close to home, and we don't have a fenced yard for her to run around in so we can train her to come even with distractions. We can't lose her, and she already has a bit of a track record with local animal control for running off.
How do I train her out of her habit of running?
atlas // they/them
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