Won't readily come into the house

[OsaBarbosa]

Osa is almost 1 year old (we penned her bday at April 9th but who knows when she was born) and it starting to form a very annoying habit. She loves to play out in the backyard. We will let her out to play and she will come back onto the deck and look in the door. When we go to let her in, she just stands there. We call her to no avail, she just stands there looking in. If we try to grab her collar, she jumps back; if we try to go out and get her, she runs back in the yard. I know she wants us to come and play but it may be at dinner or in the morning when we are getting ready for work. We have been bribing her with either throwing a treat and doing a "find it" or acting like someone is at the front door and she has to see who it is. I don't want to treat this habit. How should we handle this?

 

[wcladymacbeth]

Ha, my cat does that. He'll paw at the door to be let in, and then when we open the door, he just stands there. I don't know if this'll work for your dog, but what we do for the cat is we open the door when he paws at it, and if he doesn't come in the door within like 10-15 seconds, we close the door and walk away. Then we do the same thing until he learns that he better come in right away or he has to stay outside another half hour or so. Dogs are smarter than cats (in my experience) so maybe your dog will learn faster than our stupid cat

 

[Paige]

My only suggestion is to put a leash on the dog so she's easier to catch. Wait for someone with some g ood advice to come along. This forum is bursting with some smart brains.

 

[Dekka]

Treat the habit. In a way. You need to call her, throw treats if you need to in the beginning then let her run back out immediately. You have been 'punishing' her for coming in when called. Every time she does that, she looses the fun of being outside. So you need to work at making coming when called into the house very postitive. And if she wants to go out more than anything, let her go back out. That way she will run in for the cookie, not knowing if she will be able to run back out again.

A side note, rewarding her for coming in is a great idea. But you quickly want to get to the part where she can't see the treat, or be told she is getting one. (that is bribing)

 

[Barb04]

A few of mine have done this and my youngest does this all the time. He will come back in for a treat but I don't always use treats sometimes praise after he comes in.

 

[DaVinci]

When you are outside with your dog call her to you when she comes give her lots of praise, sometime when you do this go inside when she come other times stay outside and play. This will help with her re-call. I don't use treats I use lots of praise. Does Osa have a play time with you like you just take 15 min and play fetch or tug or anything? If you don't I would start doing this. She will then learn when her play time is and be ready to listen to when it isn't. Good luck!!!!!

 

[Storee's Mom]

Try putting a treat in her bowl when she's outside, before she comes in. I'd also put a long line with no loops or knots to get tangled like a leash on her before she goes out of the house. Then when it's time to come in, it's easier to catch her by stepping on the line. Walk down the line until you can get her collar (she might correct herself if she tries to run, just ignore it), then take her inside to her bowl to get her treat (which should be something GOOD, like a bit of cheese or hot dog, not boring dry cookies - something she only gets for coming inside). Put her right back outside again for a while. Do this for a few hours and she'll start to get into the habit of just coming in and going to her bowl.

Lana

 

[gymangel812]

my husky does that. he will not come for food either. and when you go outside to get him he runs more and starts playing, eventually he can be "corralled" inside. though i don't think i'd recommend this method, lol.

 

[Romy]

I would follow Dekka's suggestions. When you bring her in, play with her for five minutes or so. Also, when she is outside playing go get her, bring her inside the house, and make a happy fuss. I don't mean just give her a pat. Really give her some good rubs, have her sit and give her a treat, then let her right out to play again. Make it very brief and positive. If she likes fetch, you could start using the back door as base so she gets used to thinking of coming to the back door as part of her games. That way she knows coming in doesn't mean the fun is going to end and she should start coming inside better when you call her.

 

[OsaBarbosa]

We ended up doing the open the door and if she doesn't come in, ignore and then repeat a couple minutes later. When she did come in we would treat and praise and after only about a day, she readily comes in.

She gets plenty of outside and inside play time with us. We will play with her for an hour or so and then have to come in to make dinner. She wants to be with us but not necessarily inside (she LOVES the outside, especially now that it is warm).

She still does it every now and then and we just have to shut the door once and she will come in the next time.

Thanks for all the advice.