My daughter needed me to care for her dog for one year. Boxer hound mix... it's a very nice dog in the house and on a leash. But loose in the yard she runs. She doesn't adhere to any boundaries even though think she knows somewhat what they are. So I'm considering a shock collar. But even when she comes home she is skiddish. Kind of frustrating, they didn't think it was a big deal to have their dog running all over creation. She's a year and a half so will be tough but I think doable. Any advice? I'm all about praise and not about putting dogs down. Shock on collar will hurt me as much as her. If you get my drift. She will NOT go in canoe country with me at least at this time. Is this even doable? I've been spoiled with awesome dogs all my life.

When I got my current dog she was about 1 year old. She responds very well to positive reinforcement and not well at all to negative (losing temper). Any time you'd call it was like you'd made her day and she couldn't wait to come to you.

But she roamed a bit and started getting out into the road. I was having a really hard time making her realize that was a bad thing because if I caught her out by the road and yelled she'd come running over all happy to see me. She didn't know I was mad and once she came to me I didn't feel I could discipline her because she did what I wanted.

When we'd go for walks she was always really good unless she'd scare up a deer or a rabbit and then she'd ignore me and go tearing off after them. That really pisses me off but of course after she was done she'd come trotting back to me as happy as ever not realizing what she'd done was bad.

I got a shock collar and it worked great. You can adjust the level of the shock so that it's not overly severe. My collar had two "shock" buttons. One was to the level you programmed and the other was one level higher (if they don't respond to the "normal" one). I think I only had to shock her twice. They also have a "beep" button on the remote. If she didn't listen to a verbal command I'd follow it with a beep from the collar. If she still didn't respond I'd shock her. After getting shocked a couple times she knew exactly what that beep meant. If she didn't listen to a verbal all I had to do was beep her and she'd stop in her tracks and come back to me.

For her wandering out by the road I quit using verbal commands because I knew she'd respond and not realize I was mad. Instead I'd watch her and give her a beep any time she got too close to the road. I tried to keep an eye on her all the time when we were outside so this would be consistent. Seemed to do the trick. I don't think I ever had to shock her to keep her away from the road; the beep was plenty.

We probably used the shock collar for a month or so and I haven't put it on her since (about 5 years). She can be 10' behind a rabbit in hot pursuit and if I yell she'll break off and come to me. Shocking her wasn't pleasant but it wasn't overly traumatic for her and, I believe, did much more good than harm.

Alan

I thinK Alan laid out pretty well how a shock collar can work wonders for a dog. The key is consistent and proper use. You'll need to be outside with the dog 100% of the time when its out in the yard to make sure you are correcting the dog each time it crosses whatever border you are trying to set.

The easier method would be to put in an invisible fence. It does the same thing but you don't have to be as present for it to work since the fence does the work for you. The down side is the costs for what is only a 1 year dog sitting assignment.

Its always easier to set boundaries when the dog is a pup but it can be done as an older dog, it just takes more time and diligence on your part.

I had to laugh the other day. I mow the township grass and had her with. And because she runs I have to tie her up. So on the piece I was cutting there was a tree with good shade so I tied her to it. When I would be going away from her she would bark crazy like and would ignore anything I said to stop. Some people bought ice cream and parked across the road from her in the shade there. They had a big st Bernard in there... he let out one big woof and Lady never uttered another peep.