Introduction

If left to their own resources, most dogs will wander away from home. Dogs instinctively do so whether in search of perceived prey or simply to explore their environment. Unfortunately, nothing can be done to guarantee that your dog will never wander off your property. However, there are a number of things you can do to minimize the chances that it will wander off.

Keeping Your Dog from Getting Lost

Neutering your pet will greatly reduce the incidence of roaming. This is especially true of male dogs, who tend to wander and roam more than female dogs. Obedience training is also absolutely critical to ensuring that your dog will remain on your property. An obedient dog will listen to you when you order it to come back. An untrained dog will only listen when it wants to and you may end up chasing it all over the neighborhood.

To get your dog to listen, first try commands like "come" while your dog is on a long retractable-type leash, then eventually try it with the dog off the leash. If it does not listen, you can try the following: go to a corner of a building and command your dog to "sit" and "stay" while you are on one side of the corner. With your dog still on the leash, go around the corner so that your dog does not see you, then yell "come" and gently pull the dog towards you. Your dog will think that you have control over it even when it cannot see you. Do this repeatedly until you feel your dog has the idea, then try it without a leash. Remember to reward good behavior.

In some situations, even neutering and rigorous training will not prevent a dog from leaving the property. In these cases, you can build a fenced-in run for them or keep them tied for short periods of time with adequate supervision. If all else fails, consider using invisible fencing. This method uses an electronic collar which gives off an unpleasant buzz whenever a dog wanders beyond a buried cable. Your veterinarian can tell you more about this system. Be sure to have your pet microchipped with an identification microchip just in case he or she does get away on you.