How do you catch a Yorkie??
 

Bo is now almost 4 months old and the biggest training problem we're having (other than housetraining, which could have it's own separate forum JUST FOR BO!!) is :( I can't catch him! :( When I want to take him downstairs for awhile or to cuddle or if someone comes to the door he makes a complete FOOL out of me and I lose the game every time! Every time I need to take him out I get the leash and say "let's go out and potty" and he'll come toward me but if I lean down to attach the leash to his harness he makes it into a game and runs away. He's not afraid of me. My family calls him a "mamma's boy" cause he's always looking for me. And I love him to distraction of course!! ;) But this little game of catch me if you can is getting tiresome. Any suggestions?[list][/list]

Oh yes, Schatzie and I play "her game" on occasion. Seems to be the most times when I am in a hurry and her and I need to head out the door quickly of course. ;)

Other than a major training issue to teach "come" I have to go get a small treat and say "Schatzie come" and when she does I snag her up, LOL. :D

I can totally relate, it's totally a game, sometimes funny, :p sometimes not! :mad:

In this house a treat works best for me until she TOTALLY obeys the command to COME!

Good luck with Bo, her and Schatzie are definately twins in that area!

Ugh!!
 

Tilly does this too. I'll say "Wanna go for a car ride??" and she'll run up with her tail wagging and as soon as I bend down to pick her up she darts away. She does come for treats though. EXCEPT if she has gotten outside. Then she won't come for anything! She won't stop for treats or sweet voice or mad voice or a stern NO. Nothing!!

As far as her not running away when you want to leash your baby try going to the door you usually exit with your leash and call your baby, I just say "wanna go outside" and Gracie is right there.....she LOVES to go outside and I usually don't go to the door unless I"m going out and she knows this.
Works every time.

As far as trying to grab her while in the house for something,,,good luck. The game is on in Gracie's world, treats work sometimes but not always. The only thing I've found to work most of the time is to get on all my knees and elbows and call her....she loves to run under my torso...and give me kisses....I say good-girl, and GRAB her. I know that she should come on demand...........but not this girl

I totally agree with what you have all said. Even with treats though, Bo seems to have my number, edges up to snatch the snack (which I don't let him have of course) and darts away. How can he know that the treat is only to lure him to the leash?? I need a more stealthy method... :cool:

The game
 

My boys were the same, but a couple of weeks ago, I was babysitting at my daughters house when they escaped from the front door in a totally unfamilar neighborhood and scared the life out of me. Her house is less than 1/4 mile from one of the most heavily traveled freeways in Los Angeles. It stopped being funny, when I realized that their game could get them killed. The tore across her street, each in a different direction. The following week, I was relentless, I used treats at first and whenever I was away from them in another room, I would call them to COME. If they did not, I went and got them. I tried a strong tone of voice and would scold and ignore them when they did not listen. After about 10 days of this, they COME when I call, regardless of where or what they are doing. Tonight was the test, I live in a large apt complex, I have never let the boys off their leash. No one was around except their good buddy, Buster, whom they love to play with. I took off the leashes, let them go in the courtyard and play. But every so often I would yell "COME" and every time they did, I had treats in my pocket. This command is SO IMPORTANT. Learning to obey this one is number one, it can save their life. I am glad I worked so hard for that ten days and I work at it each and every day, this is one of the most important things they have to learn. I consider it even more important than housebreaking them.

Two suggestions
 

1) Make teaching the "come" command your first priority (I know easier said than done especially with such a baby). Here's a game you can play with him and members of the family (I can't take credit for this, it's totally Karen Pryor). Sit in a small, enclosed room on the floor in a circle with the puppy in the middle. Each person should have a clicker in hand and a bag of soft/moist food ready and able. Take turns calling your puppy, and as soons as the puppy turns to the caller, click and give him a goodie (immeditly after). Take turns, going back and forth around this circle of people. Your puppy is going to pick up on this came quickly -especially the part that when he comes, there's food waiting.
2) put him on a "shark line," light lead" or at the very least, halit with a "tab" in the house at ALL times until he learns to come when he is called. The cool thing about a shark line is that they are very light and clear so the dog can forget that he is on a lead but if he forgets to come when he is called, you have something that you can easily get a grap on. Max200 sells one. Here's the link:http://www.max200.com/litelines.htm

Magic our four month old has recently started doing this game as well...she use to be really good about sitting to have her leash put on her and waited by the door to go outside...but ever since we broght our newest yorkie baby home she thinks it is a total game...she runs off or back away any time you try to come near her...we have tried the come command and the treats but she will just come and sit for a min. and then run as soon as she gets the treat..not enough time to grab her...it has gotten really bad lately...and I don't want to chase her, it seems to only make her worse....we have already started the come command and treat with our littest one and it seems to work on her, but Magic just doesn't want to listen anymore...any help/ suggestion!!!

Think some are just more stuborn then others. Maddie has alway mind, she comes and won't run out the door she stays till you tell her to. She stays right by you in the front yard. I did the same things I did with Maddie with Rudy and he is a whole different story. He will some times come when you say treat. He got out in the front a couple of time and I felt very lucky he didn't get hit by a car. Now I have in my arms or the gate is up before the garage door is opened. When I take them to Petmart or Petco I have to keep hold of his leash when he is in the basket or he will jump out and you call him and he stops an looks at you and then keeps running, that only happened once for me to learn. Maddie just sits and looks around. don't know what I would do with two little toots. Rudy does make me count to ten alot. He is 14 months old now and I just love both to death even with there bad behavior.lol.........Cindy

Everyone, thanks so much for your input. I just read Ringo's thread on clicker training and checked out the web site. I think I'll give that a try. I agree that teaching a dog to come and stay are not only convenient but could also save their life in a situation where they get away from us. I looked up clickers on Petsmart's web site and they have them for as low as $1.49 I believe. We'll see how it goes. If this fails I'm ready to sign Bo up some discipline classes! Again, thanks everyone!!! :)

It sounds like Bo is trying to play with you, and when you try and go after him, he's getting just what he wants. My suggestion is to do nothing. Call him and when he comes by himself, give him a treat. They, try distracting him and do what you need to do. If you chase him around, he's winning.

I think I'm joining the "lickthestar" fan club. Great advice and very true. When I started out in agility training with Bun, one of our biggest problems was that he'd go bonkers on me when confronted with this big open doggie play ground that hundreds of other doggies had visited and all those wonderful outdoor animal smells. He'd get what we call the "zoomies" but it wasn't brought on by stress, so much as it was a matter of more freedom and distractions than he was ready to handle. I might as well not have existed. MY efforts to catch him in these sort of situations were futal. Like Likethestar said, trying to catch him, and his running away just became part of the game.

A very good trainer I worked with a few times in Huntington gave me the solution to the problem which may work for you (and it was hinted at by lickthestar). When my pup tuned me out, I went and hid behind an A-Frame. A very large agility obsticale that looks like what it sounds like - an A. I stayed between the two sides out of my dogs view. He continued to run around for a few minutes (we were outside but in a fenced area and my trainer kept an additional watchful eye) until he suddenly noticed that mommy wasn't there. There was a momentary panic and then he began to look for me. When he found me, I asked him to do a small recall - by that I mean - my staniding just a foot away from him. WHen he came to me this time, we had a big "party" and I gave him a "jackpot" of cookies and huggies. In the following weeks, we did this again, going to local ball fields that were fenced in. If he decided to take off, I'd go and hide and wait for him to realize that mommey wasn't there. Soon he caught on that if he didn't pay attntion to me and come when he was called, he might loose track o me.

Something to consider, if your dog decides to play this game, maybe you shoud "disappear" or at the very least tune him out until he realizes you are not going to chase him? Jelousy can also help here by making a fuss over another pet or person who DOES come when he or she is called.

"Cookie"
 

We had an incident with Bailey, our Yorkie, when he was about 10 months he took off around the side of the house and we were working and left the gate opened. I was in front and it took 3 of us to finally corner and catch him.

Since I am no match for an athletic Yorkie, we decided that "Cookie" would be our magic word, not "come". Every time we give him a treat, and I mean every time, we attach the word Cookie to it. When he is outside at night and for his own reasons delays coming in, Cookie always works. We are sure to reward him each time.

We haven't had to test it in a real "run-away" situation so I am also thinking about getting a big net.

Samc, LOVE the net idea!!! And I can't tell you how bizarre this is but I was outside with Bo this morning and had just decided to call everything a "cookie" too and possibly attach it to the come command. So it's funny that you mention that. Thanks to everyone for sharing your training strategies! I loved all this advice so much I printed them out! Yorkipower, I'm definately intrigued by the "hiding" trick. I'll try it on Bo. Thanks!! Any and all other suggestions will certainly be welcome as well. Above all I want Bo to be a happy healthy member of our family who respects his little spot in the hierarchy. :)

I think it's jealousy that works with Higgins. If he delays even a moment in coming, I call out "Pogo, come!" and Higgins is there in a flash! He doesn't want Pogo to get one little bit more attention than he does! LOL Good ol' Pogo has been invaluable in training Higgy. Pogo was never "trained" but just did it all right from the beginning. The perfect dog! God bless him! It's hard to see him getting old (going on 14), going blind, and slowing down. He's been sooooo happy in our new home, so that makes me feel we have done the right thing.