hdsheena
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Best Answer
There is a great protocol by Steve Benjamin at http://www.clickingwithcanines.com/id56.html that explains how to do this. I've pasted it below. If you're unfamiliar with clicker training, you can check out www.clickertraining.com for some great info.
THE PROTOCOL:
1) Start indoors and teach the dog to target a flag (a white strip of cloth on a dowel rod will work). Dog gets a click/treat (C/T) for touching its nose to the flag. Dog goes to flag, click, then returns to owner for its treat. Have this completely fluent with as much distance that can be accomplished inside the home. I recommend at least a week or more of practice.
2) Place the flags at intervals of 8-10 feet around the yard/boundary.
3) Now, practice walking the dog on a 15 ft. lead (even longer is ok) around the boundary/yard. The dog should run up to the flags to target them for a C/T. Dog should already be conditioned, from the inside training, to return to the owner for a treat (use higher value treats outside...I recommend real MEAT (Roast Beef, Turkey, Chicken, etc.) or whatever the dog simply goes crazy over and only gets for this boundary training).
The dog will learn to associate the flags as cues to come back from the boundary. You are reinforcing the RETURN from the boundary. Dogs are, by nature, territorial and you are also heavily reinforcing the dog to be and remain in its territory, defined by the position of the flags.
Practice, practice, practice. I recommend a minimum of two boundary walks a day (the more the better) over a period of at least 8 weeks. You want the act of coming back from the boundary classically conditioned so that it is an involuntary response (presence of the flags become the cue to return).
Do NOT punish the dog if he goes over the boundary. If he does (you walked him to close to the boundary and/or there was a high level distraction on the other side, simply reward his RETURN.
4) Practice this as often as you can until your dog routinely comes back from the boundary on a long lead. Increase the lead as you practice. A 50 ft. 3/8 in. nylon rope tied to the lead is a good option. If possible, begin introducing low level distractions on the other side of the boundary. Reinforce for returning from the boundary when distractions are in sight. Over time, increase the level of the distractions.
6) Begin allowing the dog off leash in the yard. NEVER, ever, leave the dog alone in the yard. Have lots of fun and interesting interactions with the dog WELL WITHIN the boundary area. If distractions (on the other side of the boundary) occur, reinforce your dog with a JACKPOT if he goes to the boundary and returns to you.
7) Continue staging distractions and significantly reward successful returns. If the dog goes over the boundary, simply lower the level and/or distance of the distraction.
Also, when the dog successfully responds by turning away after seeing a really big distraction, consider RUNNING back to the house (porch or deck) and when your dog reaches you, feed really good stuff for at least 30 seconds. This will help to condition an additional response that seeing something extra enticing means “run quick to the house” to receive even better stuff.
8) Continue to monitor and recognize that there will be something, someday that can and probably will overcome your dog. This would happen even with the shock fences. Sooner or later there will be a distraction that you haven’t trained for, and your dog will, well…”be a dog,” irrespective of whether you have fence or not. However, by training a boundary without resorting to shock, your dog will not be afraid to come home.
Keep the flags up for an extended period of time (6 months or more) so your dog will continue to have a visual cue of where his boundary is.
9) DON’T FORGET to also train for a reliable recall. For those times when a distraction occurs, which your dog simply cannot ignore (because you haven’t trained for it), a good recall will get your dog back across the boundary.
10) To get a little fancy…if you practice providing reinforcement in the same location, say up on the porch/deck, that will be the default position for you dog to return to, especially if you reinforce there when distractions are present.
Positively training a boundary, coupled with a reliable recall, can be just as effective, maybe even more, in keeping your dog in your yard without all the cost, not to mention the potential for serious inappropriate behavior issues that can develop with shock based containment systems.
 Posted 307 days ago
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