How to Keep a Dog at Home
I see that there is an increasing amount of people that seem to have trouble keeping their house pets from bolting into the street and getting run over. Would you believe me if I told you there was a way to keep your dog at home without needing to keep them locked in the house, on a leash, or put in a fenced yard? I do realize there are laws to keep a dog on a leash or in a kennel, and I’m not asking you to break any laws, but this method also helps to keep dogs content to stay on the leash and in their kennel. However, the method I use to make my dog choose to stay home is no quick fix-it pill and it takes more dedication than just remembering to take your dog for a walk everyday. Are you up for it?
My practice ring is my home in the country, but location is not important in order to use this method because even country dogs have a tendency to disappear on their owners when let out of the kennel. My dogs don’t have a kennel and yet they stay home. Here’s the trick-you must bond with your dog. You may already know what this means, but let me explain the type of bonding I mean.
Your dog needs leadership, lines of right and wrong. Dogs are sensitive to different types of punishment and reward. My dogs have always been very sensitive to verbal commands. Say, for example, they won’t come to me. I lower my voice and let my anger come through. My dog instantly will stop what he is doing and creep over to me with his head and tail down, and after he comes to me I let him sit and think about it. Then I still refuse to pet him as I tell him to follow. After a little bit I will call him to me again and if he comes promptly, I praise him and pet him in all his favorite spots as if all is forgiven. Thus, he learns the punishment for not coming when I call and the reward for coming. Play around with your dog. Do their favorite things for their reward, make them feel guilty as punishment. Don’t ever get soft-hearted and let them get away, just once, for disobeying you; it could mean the difference between calling them away from a moving car and getting them run over.
The next and last part of my method for making your dog want to stay home is simply-attention. It’s great to take your dog for a walk once a day. It gives them and you exercise and that may be all you can manage. But in order to make them want to stay home all the time you must take time to be with them. If you see here, you will realize the importance of spending some time with your dog. Surely, he or she will appreciate a walk in the afternoon. You should make time to plate with your pet. My dogs have no fences but love to stay home because they never know when I will come out to give them treats, play with them, or just come out to check on them. It doesn’t take much, only five minutes every few hours, but they want to be sure they are there when I come out. I have a full-time job, so I only see my dogs two hours in the mornings and four hours in the evenings, but I make it up to them on the weekends by giving them as much attention as I can. They are content, feel loved, and make a choice not to leave home.