Why Do Dogs Escape?

[Jefe's owners]

This is comming from a different tread on the lost and found forums.

Maybe I was out of line and was too harsh on the owners, but I honestly believe that if a dog runs away is because there is a training problem, and that is that the dog does not have enough reasons to stay at home and/or its drives are not being satisfied.

*** moved from Lost and Found *****

First and foremost you must remember that you are living with an animal, and although is not a wild animal, all its behaviour its dictated by thousands of years of evolution.

If your dog barks to other people or other dogs while you are walking it, you have a training problem. If your dog is territorial with its toys, you have a training problem. If the dog runs away, you have a training problem.

The way I see it, If I don't mind another dog or person when walking my dog, why would he? the toys are MY toys, and I allow him play with me and my toys when I want and I say so, not before, not after... and the dog will not leave the house if I don't say so.

Just my thoughts. You might think this is offensive to you, or that this is a lot of shit, fair enough, I'm entitled to have my own ideas, and so are you... and so is the dog (not according to me though).

*** end moved from Lost and Found *****

What do you guys and girls think? Why do dogs try to escape? (other explanation than because dogs are dogs, that is not good enough). Why after all the escape proof fencing, etc, etc do they keep trying to go away?

Edit: some spelling (thanks terrorbull)

Edit 2: Move content

Edited September 30, 2006 by Jefe's owners

[Teebs]

Scape?

[jesomil]

Do you have a rotty? Is that the only experience of a breed you base your idea on?

My rott got out once and went and sat on the front mat. Wouldnt say every dog would do that, thats for sure.

[EVERYLABDESERVESAKID]

Because they can.......because there is a whole world out there full of rubbish bins to raid and light poles and other dogs bums to sniff and home is a place that never goes away and you can always come back.........................if you can find it again.

Why do people travel, if they have a nice life and home ?

[Jefe's owners]

No, I have a rotty now. before that I've had:

Rotty x Dobe

Dobe

Cocker spaniel

Cocker spaniel

German S x

German S

Dalmatian.

But I have made my opinion since I got Jefe. Not related to breed but based on dog reading (never read about dogs before).

The reason why I travel is way beyond my understanding... not enough debt maybe? LOL. And dogs are not people. The same reasoning I don't believe could be applied.

Edited September 30, 2006 by Jefe's owners

[Teebs]

I apologise if I offended anybody. And maybe I was too harsh on the owners. However, I do believe that the dog running away is poor training. There's A LOT more to dog training than "a fair share of sits and stays". There's a lot more to dog behaviour than having a dog that does not bark at night.

First and foremost you must remember that you are living with an animal, and although is not a wild animal, all its behaviour its dictated by thousands of years of evolution.

If your dog barks to other people or other dogs while you are walking it, you have a training problem. If your dog is territorial with its toys, you have a training problem. If the dog runs away, you have a training problem.

The way I see it, If I don't mind another dog or person when walking my dog, why would he? the toys are MY toys, and I allow him play with me and my toys when I want and I say so, not before, not after... and the dog will not leave the house if I don't say so.

Just my thoughts. You might think this is offensive to you, or that this is a lot of shit, fair enough, I'm entitled to have my own ideas, and so are you... and so is the dog (not according to me though).

I have opened another tread on the dog training section if you wish to continue discussing the training side of this story...

Anyway, I'm really happy the girl is safe. I'll let the vet and the ranger deal with the owners. And yes, I was very upset and angry about the whole thing.

I would like to teach the world to sing...

Thought i would post this over here - not in lost and found

you are more then welcome to come to my house and "train" my dogs. I have a fear aggressive bitch and a food guarding dog. They have both had training, and will have training for the rest of their lives.

I get sick of people who have a perfect dog get on here and say shit like the above. Until you own a problem dog, you have no idea how hard it is and the amount of training they do get.

Edited September 30, 2006 by Terrorbull

[Cheyenne_Fury]

I don't think that it is necessarily a "training" problem as such but from my experience dogs escaping from the yard are bored and do not have enough mentaand/or physical stimulation in other words plain boredom and in some cases more serious issues like separation anxiety.

Some breeds are supposed to be more proned to escaping than others and from my experience owning three very different breeds, I tend to agree, even if it is only in the case of my own dogs.

Some dogs will have the desire to wander no matter what we do, how many things they have to keep them occupied during the day, and how much company (both human and canine) that they have. It is up to us to ensure that they are safe and contained within the confines of our property when they are not with us.

[Trisven13]

I have owned a couple of JRT's and they have escaped every bloody chance they got. It wasn't until I concreted under the fence line that they stopped. My greyhound, on the other hand, would need a written invitation and a bloody big bone to entice him before he would ever leave.

[EVERYLABDESERVESAKID]

Trish. I have seen Poppy every day this week at Andrea and Ruth's. We have dressage lessons out there. She is well and happy.

[dasha]

I think some are just inclined to see the world.

I have had dogs for 20 years and we live on a rural property with no real fences. Up until now, i have never had a dog that wandered. When I go to work, they just sit at home and wait. They play and amuse themselves. I have one dog now that runs away at every opportunity.

Even when we are home. If you turn your back or go inside for a few mins, she is gone. She goes up to a house with 2 JRT that used to wander down here as pups and she followed them home once.

Now she is locked up in a pen or on a chain when I am not doing stuff with her

She has toys here and other dogs to play with and people but she still goes. So it isn't a training problem. She is just is adventurous.

If I can, i would like to stop her doing it but have no idea how or if I can

[Guest Tess32]

IMO it just comes down to temperament. The dogs don't necessarily think they are "running away" remember. Over the fence just clearly smells and sounds more exciting.

I have one dog who would definitely leave the property if the gate was open. I have another who I could leave the door open all day and she'd never leave. Same breed, same environment. Neither of them would actually try and find a way out though by jumping or digging.

[Jefe's owners]

Note, I don't have the perfect dog.

And I'm sick of people that have a problem dog and believe nobody knows what they are going through. We do know how hard it is, either because of dealing with your dog, or because of our own problem dog... not Jefe though

This is not about my dog. its just about why do you think dogs run away. No right or wrong answer.

Edited September 30, 2006 by Jefe's owners

[jaybeece]

IMO it just comes down to temperament. The dogs don't necessarily think they are "running away" remember. Over the fence just clearly smells and sounds more exciting.

I agree. Dogs get caught up in the moment sometimes and will just follow their nose.

Also I think that some dogs may consider their territory to be larger than their own backgarden so they're not technically runnning away if they're still on their "turf".

My dog has escaped twice when he was at my parent's house...well, actually my dad most likely locked him out by accident First time he sat at the front door and looked Very Sad until I noticed and let him in, second time I found him having a sniff-fest in the drive way. This is a dog that tears apart his dog mat at home and digs holes for something to do, yet he's not interested in roaming. He seems secure and content in his backgarden and is happy to leave exploration until I take him for a walk.

On the other hand my parents have a deerhound who only ever seemed interested in sleeping all day, until they found out she had timed escapes every day. She'd scale the fence when we'd all left for work/school and then be back in the garden before we all came home. It wasn't until the neighbours commented that we found out. In her case I think that she was just overwhelmingly curious about the world and incredibly independant so happy to explore on her own.

No dog is perfect and I don't think escaping is about poor training. It's about individual temperaments and dog proofing fences over and over and over each time the buggers find a new way to get over/under/through them :cool:

[Muttaburra]

Some dogs escape from backyards when owners are not at home, Terrier type dogs are earth dogs and it is in their instincts to dig, and dig they will. Also terriers are bred for their tenacity and determination, which means they often won't give up. So an unsupecting owner may have made their fences dig proof only to fine the dog has climbed out somehow. So that would be more of a containment issue than a training issue.

Younger dogs too, may not be fully trained and will run off in a moment of excitement or distraction. My niece let my JRT (Gracie) out once, she was completely day dreaming and just opened the door. Gracie had an espape problem when I got her and still needs more training. In short, accidents happen, and it takes time to fully train dogs, plus they often do things people don't expect.

This is one of the reasons I would not let anyone else look after my dogs, they are smart, fast, agile and sneaky, mostly well behaved but prone to occassional silliness.

[Runter'n'Puby]

one word for you

BEAGLE

as far as my beagle is concerned, going under/around/over/through a fence is not running away, it's staying on a scent.

Edited September 30, 2006 by Runter'n'Puby

[MrsD]

I think some are just inclined to see the world.

I have had dogs for 20 years and we live on a rural property with no real fences. Up until now, i have never had a dog that wandered. When I go to work, they just sit at home and wait. They play and amuse themselves. I have one dog now that runs away at every opportunity.

Even when we are home. If you turn your back or go inside for a few mins, she is gone. She goes up to a house with 2 JRT that used to wander down here as pups and she followed them home once.

Now she is locked up in a pen or on a chain when I am not doing stuff with her

She has toys here and other dogs to play with and people but she still goes. So it isn't a training problem. She is just is adventurous.

I agree with this - in our household Ebony's nickname is Houdini. Doesnt matter what you do, she will try to find a way out & she's done so since she was about 4 months old (in 2 different houses). Even when you are outside playing with her or doing stuff with her, if you turn your back on her, shes over at the fence trying it out. She has got better as she's got older (she's 3 now) & she has a run where she has to be kept while we are out or if we cant watch her all the time. We have a large yard (3 acres at the last house, 2.5 acres at this one), so its not because she needs more space - just that she wants to get out & see the world - there's always something "better" out there .

In comparison, Jonty wont stray more than 10 or 15 metres from the house, he has certain places he likes to go to explore (around the back of the shed & up near the chook pen) but that's as far as he goes. Maybe that might change when he's older, but for now Im happy he hasnt picked up the wander-bug :cool: .

[raz]

Why do people travel, if they have a nice life and home ?

:cool: Damn good question. Obviously because I wasnt trained properly. I'm territorial with my toys as well and I say hello to dogs and their owners when I'm out walking. MAJOR discipline problems for me.

[Miranda]

Why do people travel, if they have a nice life and home ?

:cool: :D Damn good question. Obviously because I wasnt trained properly. I'm territorial with my toys as well and I say hello to dogs and their owners when I'm out walking. MAJOR discipline problems for me.

:cool: I agree with raz and Tess 32

[SueM]

They escape because they want to go and explore new smells etc,do you never leave your own property???Many breeds are know for their determination to escape , Bassets,Beagles,Staffies,Huskies, JRTs,Foxies the list goes on and on,IF i left my front door open I am sure my Chihuahua would take off, my older one wouldnt but my younger one would I must be a very bad owner Care to come and train him....

[KOE]

I have never had a dog wander so I must be a very clever astute owner :cool:

Get real mate any dog given the opportunity will go walkies, I have no dobt that mine would if they could get out but because I am a responsible dog owner I ensure that they can't get out.

Males go hunting bitches in season