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A year ago, I adopted a rescue girl: she is Boxer cross with Pointer in her, very lean and long-legged. We have 3/4 acres of fenced-in garden, but this girl is intent on escaping. She even climbs trees to get up high and jump over the fence! Nothing I have done stops her. Although she never strays far and always comes back, I do fear for her safety as well as our liability! Unfortunately, she never, ever comes when called when we are outside and I have tried with all sorts of tasty morsels. Indoors she is a sweetie-pie ,but outdoors her basic hunting instincts take over and her nose is constantly to the ground: sniffing for anyone she can track down.
Can anyone advise me what to do? I also took her to obedience classes when I first had her and she was quite good at them. Every morning I take her out for a walk (on a lead) and once or twice a week we go on a longer walk with her on a 30ft lead. I am hesitating re getting a radio fence, as I fear that won’t stop her either, but at this stage I am at a loss what to do. Any advice would be much appreciated!Hi opal,
Sorry i have no advice for you at all apart from i had a pointer x dobie that sadly died last year, but i failed in every attempt to keep her in.. The minute i opened the back door to let her out in the morning she was gone straight over the wall.
I tried tie downs with a 15 ft lead (couldnt get it any longer as i was afraid she would make the wall and hang herself..) My last option was to build a 8 ft high dog run just for when the weather was nice that i could let her out but in saying that if she hadnt died sortly after we built it she would have figered it out.. She never went far either and came when i called her but didnt like my neighbour so i had to make sure she never got out cos she would bark at him…I would recommend lots of extra exercise and also lots of games in the garden, hiding treats for her to find so she likes the garden. The other thing i have gotten my dogs into is dryland mushing where a with proper equipment (ie harness and long lead very important not to use colars as the dog could choke) the dog pulls a scooter or rig and its a great way of exercising them or you could invest in a back pack that would make her walks tougher. Doubling the work load for them which makes them tired more than a normal walk… I wouldnt go for the radio fence as i know of people that there dogs got shocked by one and then thought it was something another dog did and attacked him and someone else that there dog got a shock and wont drink from a bowl now cos every time his colar touches it, it reminds him of the shock….
Hope some of this helps but it wont work straight away i found it was all trial and error..
You can either pm me or google dryland mushing if you want more info on equipment and stuff..Clever Girl!
But I would also not recommend the radio fence. Dogluver mentioned one of the reasons and by the way are banned in a good few countries in Europe as cruel to animals. Goes along with bark/training-colars.
The only advice is really to keep her busy and leave the 30ft lead on her when she is in the garden. That way you can catch her easier by just stepping on the lead.
Train with her on the long lead more, call her every now and then and give her a treat when she comes. If she does that you can dropp the lead so she drags it behind and then keep calling her. This takes time and does not solve the problem with escaping but she will come back eventually.
Good luck you 2, it seems you have a lovely bundel of energy.
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