Chat
12-30-2019, 10:31 AM
Shock collar training worked wonders for our roaming dog, Pluto. He got the urge to roam before he was neutered and then after he got fixed the wanderlust remained. I ended up having to chain him in our yard during the daytime for three years (he was penned with the goats at night) until we finally broke down and bought a shock collar last year. We got one of the fancy Garmin tracking collars that alerts me when he leaves the area. It was very expensive but it's proven its worth, and I look on it as an investment that will be good for training many more dogs in the future. We trained Pluto to come when I hit the beep alert. If he doesn't listen to the beep I give him a quick, low zap. If he continues to leave, he gets a good solid shock. He tried to ignore the hard shock when we first started using it, but eventually he realized that his expeditions weren't worth it. Pluto rarely leaves the property any more, but when he does, all I have to do is tap the beep button and he heads straight home immediately.
You can buy much cheaper shock collars without the GPS tracker, but then you have to be alert so you catch her in the act of leaving the area. If she sneaks away even one time without getting zapped she'll keep trying. Another option is to do what I did and stretch a runner chain out in the pasture in a central location. Make sure there's shelter and water there. Pluto had a little doghouse and two big shade trees. It was in an area where the goats hang out a lot and even though he couldn't go around the property with them as he should, he could still keep an eye on them and if something seemed wrong or if he saw a predator his loud bark was enough to scare the predator and warn the goats to run to him (which they nearly always did). When we chained Pluto we made sure he got at least one walk every day, plus our goat pen is very large so he was able to run as much as he wanted when he went in there at night. I've heard that females are generally less prone to continue wandering once they reach maturity. It could be that chaining her during the day for a year would get you over the hump. It's not ideal, but having her roam the countryside is a lot worse.
You can buy much cheaper shock collars without the GPS tracker, but then you have to be alert so you catch her in the act of leaving the area. If she sneaks away even one time without getting zapped she'll keep trying. Another option is to do what I did and stretch a runner chain out in the pasture in a central location. Make sure there's shelter and water there. Pluto had a little doghouse and two big shade trees. It was in an area where the goats hang out a lot and even though he couldn't go around the property with them as he should, he could still keep an eye on them and if something seemed wrong or if he saw a predator his loud bark was enough to scare the predator and warn the goats to run to him (which they nearly always did). When we chained Pluto we made sure he got at least one walk every day, plus our goat pen is very large so he was able to run as much as he wanted when he went in there at night. I've heard that females are generally less prone to continue wandering once they reach maturity. It could be that chaining her during the day for a year would get you over the hump. It's not ideal, but having her roam the countryside is a lot worse.