how to teach a yorkie not to runaway?
 

hi,
my 11 months yorkie keeps running away. Every time someone opens the front door, she dashes out immediately. When I call her name she runs faster, the more I chase her the more she runs. She comes back when I stop chasing her and get back inside the house. How can I stop this behavior?

We always secure Gidget before we open the front door, just as a precaution. She has never darted out, but we have been warned this breed can be "darters". I would make sure she is secured either leashed or in your arms before you open the door, especially as little as your pup is. They can easily get hit by a car running out and not paying attention to what is around them.

I would start to teach her to sit when the door opens. Unless invited out. Lots of patience and good treats should get the job done. I bet you will be surprised if your consistent how fast she will learn... They love good treats. Good luck

Maybe first off try going to a puppy class where they will teach her sit, stay, and come. Then make her sit and stay when the door is open. That is what worked for us. But until she learns it your probably going to have to pick her up when the door gets opened.

Thank u so much for ur replies. Starting tomorrow I will try to teach her "come" and "sit" command. Wish me luck :D

Yes, teaching her every time that door opens, she needs to be back away or SIT. A way you can do this is by placing her in a sit (once she learns this) and slightly opening the door. Reward her for sitting in place while door is beginning to open. If she gets up, you could say 'uh-uh' or something else, and close the door quickly, and withhold a reward. Eventually she will learn that she gets an award for waiting while the door is opening!

I also have this problem with Abby. Riley will listen but Abby looks to bolt.
I am terrified something will happen to her. I am thinking about hiring a trainer to work with her. She listens to nothing. nothing. nothing.
Riley needs some time with him but he is responsive

Moses will sit at the door for me, but he has a hard time learning stay, because I think it will take two people to train him...one to hold him and one to give the command. He can come, sit, shake and speak...but the wait, or stay command has been the hardest for us!

My Pom will bolt out the door but my Yorkie doesn't. So I used half of a play yard (3 sections) to make a barrier at my front door. I can open the door and let whoever is there in but the dogs cannot get near the door. It is such a stress reliever while I am trying to train them. I know that it will take longer this way but I also know that my dogs are safe and won't get out and into trouble.

Luckily mine don't run out the door. 2 of mine are runners. Cozy and Roxy are runners.

Mine don't run out the door. 2 of mine are runners- Zoey and Lucy. Cozy and Roxy are NOT runners. Lucy will stop running and drops to the ground if you get in front of her. My golden, Lucky, would go after them all as puppies if they tried to run off and push him down onto the ground. He would also bark at them while holding them down. Cozy and Roxy decided it was better to come when called than eat dirt. Zoey won't stop running for anything. She is the only one that could escape from him. She makes very sharp and quick turns something poor Lucky's hips could not allow him to do anymore. He was 10 when I got Cozy and 13 when he passed away. If you chase Zoey she keeps running so I just sit on the porch until she decides to come back- I keep a visual on her the entire time though.

I'm a believer that no matter how well any dog is trained you should always be careful. Especially yorkies/terriers and other high prey driven breeds. You may be able to train her not to bolt out the door or to stay at your side during walks, or to "down!" on command, but if she looks out the door and there is a person across the street, a bird in someone's yard, something interesting out there that triggers her instincts... just expect her to run to it! No one wants to see their beloved pet pummled by a vehicle or attacked by another loose dog.

With smaller dogs I have always picked them up when I have to open the door, or in cases of some dogs just clipped their leash on. But def. training her to "sit", "stay" and "down!" are a must :D it will help a lot and a good owner and dog bond will help too, if she is truly bonded with you and trusts you with those commands just about anything is possible especially during bolting away or getting loose.

This is basically what we teach in puppy class. We call it Greeting. We encourage active learning. In other words get friends and family to help with the exercise lesson. It takes some effort to set this up but it is so worth it. Open your door to measure where it comes into the room. Make that your NO DOG Boundary you may mark this area off with a rug, a line of masking tape or what ever is handy and works. The idea is to give your dog a visual and verbal clue. He/ she must sit and stay behind the NO DOG Boundary. Have your helper knock, or ring the bell three times. If your dog is barking more than three times to alert you, give the Enough cue or Quiet. Don't rush to the door walk calmly. Puppy should be on leash. Chose a word you intended to use forever and every time, we use WAIT. (we also use Wait at curbs before crossing the street) When you get to the boundary, have the dog Sit. Now put your hand up like you are blocking traffic and say WAIT. At first you may have to keep facing the dog and back up to the door. Early on it is ok to repeat Wait and give the hand signal. Open the door a crack, if they bolt foreword, close the door. Walk them back to the Sit and Wait Spot. Give the cue Sit, Wait. Repeat this Greeting Exercise at least 10 times. Ideally it is most effective when repeated randomly over the period of two or three days. It take about 50 repetitions for the cues to be understood and obeyed. If you do not know what the Hand Sandwich Greeting is, let me know and I can explain for you.

I think you're brilliant - and you explain things so clearly and well :) Sally + Harry x

I believe in training a dog as described above, but last year I decided to put up gates after Teddy bolted out the door and chased the UPS truck down our driveway and into the street.

I thought my boys were trained not to bolt. We had not had any problems for months before this happened. My father is the one who opened the door and he is partially to blame because he doesn't give the dogs commands or handle them in that situation correctly.

ETA: If you can trust everyone in your home, including visitors, rely on training. If not, put up gates too. :)

Exactly my point in saying "always expect them to bolt" even if they don't, or even if they are 99% perfect most days. There will always be that one time their yorkie instincts see a target and run with it.

Could be your yorkies last time too. Why risk it! But the training is good for sure.

I just bought a gate to put on the front door. It fits good between the screen door and the front door. I will no longer have to worry about bringing bags in etc. She is sometimes good about and sometimes not. I can not trust her training as she will do as she pleases and if bolting out the door suits her thats what she will do. My husband thinks I am crazy for "wasting" 20 dollars on a gate. I told him it was cheaper than cremating her and he shut right up.

yes! a healthy live puppy is cheaper than a dead healthy puppy!
i cremated my dog when i was in 9th grade, ran out the door when my brother opened it for the mail man and got hit by a car :/
cost $400 to cremate him and they wouldn't give us a yern/ashes!

Nothing is Ever 100 %
 

I don't think any dog is perfectly trained. It is always a work in progress. One thing about training it gives you many tools to use. If a dog forgets and jumps you can say Sit, (or Down, Wait, or No !) If a dog bolts you can do a recall , MIlton COME. Training will also teach you, that chaseing him won't work as well, as throwing his ball at him to get his attention, Saying his name and running away from him. Or best of all recall, "Milton Come !" will probably work and bring him back to you. Because "Milton Come" is something he hears every single day. And every time he comes to you something good always happens. "Milton Come", may be a treat, a belly rub, it may mean time to play ball or a car ride etc.
Training is the best tool we can use to keep our dog as safe as possible. When training our dog, we learn to build each new lesson, on top of the lesson they learned before. Yorkies will always be like having a todler to take care of. I think screen doors and gates are wonderful tools too. Be as safe as you can.

lola did this yesterday, went right into our neighbors house (we live in a complex so our neighbor is across hall) and hung otu with her yorkie lol!.

we have to teach her sit, stay when we open door now. that will take some time

I agree with all of the training you described, and thankfully I was pulling up to the house when I saw Teddy sailing into the street. I jumped out of my car, knelt in the middle of street and called out, "Teddy, come." He ran into my arms. Granted, he was probably willing to obey because he was happy to see me. The way he put his head and ears down indicated that he knew he had done wrong.

Often training the other people in the house is just as challenging as training the dogs. The person who opened the door and tried to bring Teddy back in did everything wrong.

I Forgot to tell you.....
 

my pekingese
 

she has got to when she goes out with her daddy she runs off down the driveway backyard to the neighbors and she will not come back you can call and call her she acts like she can not hear so i have to go find her and and she will not walk back i have to pick her up if i don't she would sit there all day she is making me crazy

Peaches, sounds like she has the same mentality as my pitbull.
yesterday a couple came to meet her and we took her to the ballpark, some dogs in a house nearby had dogs that would NOT stop barking for anything. I guess Izzy thought they wanted to play so she ran about 13 laps around the ball diamond full speed the ZOOM! up and over the fence! a good 6 or 7 ft fence [she more climbed it than anything] Never once even acted like she heard me calling her name, or calling out commands.

She is usually good with recall but I could not for the life of me get her to come on command it was like she zoned out and only had one thing in mind... which is a pitty trait. She ended up jumping the fence that the dogs were in and thank GOODNESS they were nice because they were all playing when I got there. It was the most embarrassing thing ever. I put her on her leash and we went back home with the couple, and she acted fine! Listened, sat for us, let them pet her etc. She is usually great at the ball diamond off leash, as that's the only place she's allowed off leash, but now that I know she can climb a 6-7 ft fence fast than I can run across the field... guess that's not an option!

Maybe try working on more commands with your Pek. Ones that require focus on you. Like Stay. Heel. Down. Use a more stern voice too. Izzy is still learning these.

she only is doing it with hubby i let her out this morning she did what she had to do told her to come to mama and she come right away i don't understand why it's only with him
he has got to where he won't even let her out

First of all, she needs to be taught door manners. If someone opens the door, she needs to have a boundary line that she can't cross and needs to know "Sit, Stay."

I had a very similar problem with one of my yorkies. It helped more once I taught him better recall. I got a dog whistle and 20 foot lead. I started small and when he was romping around the house, I'd randomly blow the whistle and say "Smokey, come." and he'd come immediately. I'd reward him with a treat. I repeated over and over again until I felt he understood what it meant then I went outside in our fenced in backyard. I would wait until he was zooming around the yard or completely distracted, then blow the whistle and do everything I did inside the house. He'd come right away and I'd give him a treat. Once I felt comfortable enough I took him to different parks with the 20 foot lead and do the whole process again. I would NEVER trust him off leash because I know him and I know that one siting of a squirrel, bunny, chipmunk, or another small animal and he'd be GONE but I feel better knowing that if we ever were in a situation where he was running around wild, he knows "Come" and if I have my whistle he will stop what he's doing and come back to me.

Another thing I always taught my dogs as a command was "Go home!" and they lead me right to the front door.

First of all, she needs to be taught door manners. If someone opens the door, she needs to have a boundary line that she can't cross and needs to know "Sit, Stay


she is not running out the door she does it when he lets her out to go potty
she never goes out side with out one of us but she has to where she is running off only if he lets her out she just will not listen when he calls her
yet she loves him like i said just can't understand

:thumbup::thumbup:
I do this with Jackson, too. He knows what "go inside" means.

Not with Harry, but with Rosie our labrador when she was tiny - my son made a 'line' out of masking tape near our dining-room table - she had to stay 'behind the line' when we were eating :) And she did.

After a few months, I got fed up of vaccuuming the line (!!) and took it away - but she never did over-step that mark while we were at the table God bless her :D Sally + Harry x

treats, treats, treats, and more treats! lol. the first MONTH i had Peppermint i ALWAYS had a treat bag on me. in the house, in the backyard, at the park...ALWAYS. whenever i called her to come to me, if she came, she got a piece of a treat. every time. all day. her recall is amazing now. she could be in mid squirrel chase and if i call her, she will come right to me.

Positive reinforcment works sooooooo well. you want your dog to WANT to come to you. if every time they run and you catch them, they get yelled at or punished, they will not want to come when you call. if every time they come to you they get treats and pet and praise, they wil always want to come when they are called :)

just like men, the way to get them to behave is usually through their stomach! ;-)