[yorkietalkjilly]

As my sister's dog was run over and died 3 days later in doggie ICU because she bolted from my sister's yard, I trained Tibbe to obey and listen to me in the house, had him under good control and then decided to try to train him not to leave his front yard perimeter. If you have't taught your dog absolute impulse control and never-fail recall first and feel he is 100% trustworthy in controlling his impulses, coming every time he's called, never try the training I am about to describe!!!

I went outside, checked for any loose critters and if none, then we ventured outside with him on a triple lead and I would drop it in our front yard and essentially "herd" him with my outstretched hands, eyes, body and voice any time he made a move toward the perimeter of the property. Once he would veer away from the property boundary, he was tossed a high value treat, smiled at and praised in a low voice - no extra excitement in these circumstances. But any time he faced the perimeter of the property, I was between it and him, stepping in each direction he took, sightly crouched, hands outstretched, guiding him with my eyes and body, like a Border Collie does. I kept repeating this herding-away training month after month and after 4 1/2 years, he's yet to leave the perimeter I've set out for him to stay within. It takes in our yard and 1/3 of each neighbor's yard on either side, thus allowing him to intake smells where other people and animals walk without losing his composure and going nuts. But I stay between him and whatever direction he's going in to herd him back if need be. I use my voice to dial back his excitement if he's alerting, amping up and looking to move toward the boundary. When he relaxes, he's tossed a treat and gets a smile. If he bolts, I say "Stop!" and he does because he's already been taught that in the house and back yard.

I keep checking for any critters during the training and we go inside if I see ANY. Should he start off the property trailing the long leashes, unless he's positively bolting totally out of control as any dog always can, I might could step on one of those leashes and stop him but he's not done that yet. I also have one of his favorite squeaky toys in my pocket along with treats and he has that strong recall response well taught him before we ever ventured out front. We take breaks from the training, I take up the leash and we sit down in the yard & I hug, kiss, praise and laud him gently for his being so good, then back to training.

Little by little I've taught him to always check with me often when outside using the "Watch Me" command frequently and he does(he's ever so often tossed a treat when he looks my way so he loves looking at me). Other times I extend the "Watch Me" to prolonged periods so that it's just us two outside staring in each other's eyes. He gets a very generous praise and treats after those longer sessions every time - and so far, even with a cat walking down the other side of the road a month or so ago as he watched), he hasn't left his property. I saw the cat coming, decided it was time for a real test, moved my foot to next to the long lead and told him "Stay" and "Leave it" when he spied the cat. He remained calm, ears erect, and stood there in his yard, while very well aware I was focused on him, so he was expecting herding or "Watch Me", no doubt. He stayed put, even when the cat saw us and ran off, switching its tail enticingly. He was praised & treated!

Once teenage boys came along the front sidewalk, yucking it up with each other, pushing and playing and he started following them on the sidewalk so excited before I could decide whether to yell out or test him but when he got to his boundary line, he stopped and ran back to me! That was a 1 1/2 or 2 years ago and I still can't believe he did that!!! Loving praise & treat.

Twice now Tibbe has escaped the back yard fence and after frantic searching and no small amount of yelling and panic, I've found him both times on our property in the front yard - once on the porch and once beside the house back toward the back fence. Big praise and treats! (And I searched out his escape routes and blocked them.)


Tibbe's instinct to bolt has been tempered some with those years of training that there is a line he doesn't cross out front and that mom is always there, in spirit or in body, to herd him back, quietly praise and toss him a treat when he turns away and that she's watching at all times in some form or fashion. Still, his time off leash/drop leash in the front is brief.


I don't know if I would ever take him off lead in a field - I tend to think certainly not. Too many unknown and new smells there to possibly excite and entice a little terrier to venture into the great unknown.