Let Your Dog Recognize His Boundaries

Unless you have a fenced yard, never leave your dog outdoors alone when you're not at home. But if you are home, it's reasonable to expect your trained dog to stay near the house no matter how temptingly a distraction may appeal to him from the outside. Begin by letting him know what his boundaries are. Take a mason's twine made from cotton so that over a period of time it will rot away and he will have that duration to generalize the lesson to the area defined. Allow a zone around the house of about 100 to 200 feet. Lay the twine out around the house at nose height, about six inches off the ground.

It is very important for the dog to not associate his owner with the shock he's going to receive when he violates the boundary. Also, only shock the dog when he is high in drive toward a powerful distraction, such as another dog going by, a jogger, or cars.

Take your dog out on a short lead and walk him around the boundaries. Let him go up to the line and smell it. If necessary, smear parts of it with bacon grease to attract his attention to it. When he investigates, get close to him and praise and touch him so that he gets excited, and then run with him toward the house. Once there, give him a treat or a ball game, depending on what he likes to do the most. Repeat this in a number of places around the entire perimeter so he is aware of the boundary and his association of the boundary with his owner is a pleasant one. There are absolutely no shocks to be made in this phase.

Next, put the dog on a long lead and pinch collar and prearrange for a helper to hold a sociable dog on the outer side of the boundary. Let your dog go full bore to make contact; right before he gets to the white string, give the dog a strong jolt, then run away. When your dog catches up give him a play session. Meanwhile, your helper has run up to you with the distracting dog. Now within the boundary, the dog gets to make contact and play with this dog. On following days repeat this exercise at other points around the boundary so that he generalizes the lesson to the overall perimeter.

After several weeks, let the dog outdoors while you stay indoors watching him. Once again your helper jogs by, preferably with another dog if possible, and if your dog tries to leave, storm outside and say “Down.” But if the dog shows restraint, step outside, praise, and then have the helper come into the boundary so the dogs can play. As they're playing, pick up your dog's long lead and have the helper start to lead his dog back outside the boundary. If your dog bumps into or goes over the string, shock him and run back toward the house. Again praise and let him play. Repeat the exercise until he shows restraint on his own.

The final step is to watch the dog carefully when a jogger or another dog goes by when your dog is outside on his long lead. If he starts to show an interest to chasing the distraction, step outside and yell “Down.” However, by now the dog should display a calm focus without any drive activity, in which case, step outside and play with him. Then when the dog is outside, and eventually when he's progressed to being off lead, step out and play with him every five minutes. Gradually lengthen this to ten minutes, twenty minutes, and so on to expand his threshold. Review the firs phases every two months on the long lead.