Recently, a neighbor’s dog escaped from their house. Fortunately, a good person who found him took him to the municipal pound because, otherwise, he could have been run over or stolen since he also did not have the mandatory chip.
This dog’s problem is the problem of many other escape dogs : he lives confined in a garden all his life. He is a dog who is never taken for a walk, who sees life passing on the other side of the fence and who has a total inability to relate to his surroundings.
Why the dog runs away
A dog does not have to run away from home if he is a balanced dog.
A balanced dog is a dog that does not suffer stress, that engages in constant physical activity , that interacts with other dogs and people, that regularly discovers new environments, new smells, and that, in short, does not feel the need to escape from home because their adopters cover those needs.
Another reason that leads a dog to escape is heat . A dog in heat can escape to mate, and a dog can escape to look for the female in heat, even if she is miles away.
A noise that causes a terrifying fear in the dog can cause the dog to flee without any direction, just trying to avoid that sound that scared it. It happens a lot when there are fireworks, a strong storm, etc.
Another reason is lack of education and is, for example, when your dog escapes and no matter how much you call him, he turns a deaf ear: he has definitely not been taught the command to respond to the call .
How to prevent the dog from escaping
Uma, for example, is a dog who never escapes from the house, even with the gate door open. And he doesn’t escape because we cover his physical and social needs daily: we go for walks daily, we usually walk through different areas so he discovers new smells, we vary the places where there are dogs (dog beach, dog park, etc.) so that he interacts with other dogs, etc.
In this sense, it is as easy as putting yourself in the dog’s place: would we like to live our entire lives in prison?
She is also sterilized, so the call of nature will not push her to escape to mate and reproduce.
When she is afraid due to an unexpected noise, like when a firecracker is thrown right in front of the house, she already has her place to feel protected: the bed in the guest room, right on the pillow. There we let her go so she can relax and we don’t bother her in the slightest to avoid reinforcing that anxious and fearful state.
Uma always comes to our call at the first whistle, because since she was little, we have rewarded her with treats every time she came to us. Now in any other situation, if we don’t have treats, we tell her how well she does it and she always gets a pet, so the reinforcement is not lost.
As you can see, preventing the dog from escaping is very simple . By simply knowing the reason that leads the dog to escape and solving it, you can avoid major disappointments.
Has your dog ever escaped and you had a terrible time? Tell me your experience!
