4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[kerrie]

Hello, my gorgeous cavalier king charles puppy Oscar has decided that walks and the back garden are not enough for him and tries to escape on a regular basis!

He is trained to sit but I had a flare up of my crohns and arthritis so we didn't get to stay, he walks at heel, can fetch but i really need to train him to stay. Any advice gratefully appreciated! Also, he hasn't been off lead for a run as I'm worried he won't come back (and with my flare running after him was a no go)-again advice on this apprecited.

Thanks K x

[Tessa the Duchess]

If your puppy is trained to sit, you can move on to stay. I always use hand and voice commands when I have trained my dogs, when I say 'sit' I just use my index finger in a downward movement, when I say 'stay' I use the flat of my hand in a downward movement.

So after you have got the dog to sit, say 'and stay' then turn around and walk away, at first the dog will follow you, but if you repeat it again say 10 times a session the dog will gradually get the idea and when they do it right instantly reward the dog with a small treat.

After a while you will find you can walk quite far away from the dog without it following you.

 

I wouldn't let the puppy off the lead until you are absolutely positive it will 100% come back to you on command, you can practice doing this in the garden, maybe you could graduate to letting him off the lead in a very enclosed outdoor environment and when you do feel ready to do this, take someone else with you who could run after the dog if he legs it.

 

Good luck, it's so worthwhile having a beautifully trained dog

 

Tessa

[bellekatz]

When we took our CKC Jack to training classes we started off with him sitting at the side of us and then as Tessa says use the flat of your hand when you say stay. Don't make eye contact with him when he is doing his stay-just watch him out of the corner of your eye. Start with just a few seconds before you reward him and gradually stretch it out but dont let him see his treat before you give him the command. Use something that he really likes and that smells a lot, like sausage or cheese. Once he will do it next to you then you can start taking a step away and then two etc, and making the stay last longer and longer. Just be aware that CKC are notoriously friendly but stubborn little things and are somewhere in the middle of the dog intelligence league! it may take 40 times for him to learn a command and even then he may only obey it 50% of the time on the first time . Having said that jack is pretty good off his lead as along as there is no one else around - he is just such a happy chap that he wants to go walkies with everyone we see , and everyone is a new friend he hasnt met yet!!!

 

Good luck!