# Won't come back inside!



## Mssjnnfer (Aug 9, 2009)

When he gets up to the doorway, turn around and walk inside, holding the door open. He might just follow you. 

Sometimes when mine won't come in I'll shut the back door to the garage (we have a fenced yard) and "pretend" to leave them out there. They come running in super fast.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

I believe the young animals go through stages and the less made of them the faster they forget and move on.

I agree you shouldn't turn it into a game. When it's time to come in, walk out away from the door. Take the leash and treats with you. When he comes for a treat, leash him up. Then, don't hustle right back in. Go for a little stroll around the yard.

This should help because it totally eliminates allowing Riley making any decisions. Rather it plays on his curiosity to find out why you are in the back yard and his desire to get a treat. Going for a little walk with you makes it fun.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

Hmm, my guys always come for "Cookies!" My Tervuren was not treat motivated though, and what worked best for him was to ignore him and to go inside. It didn't usually take long for him to be at the door wanting in.

You should work on his recall though, until he has a reliable one-a good recall is invaluable. Have you been through an obedience class yet? I think that would be really helpful.

Also, 18 months old is basically the teen-age stage for Goldens  Nuff said


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## RileyDog6 (Apr 26, 2009)

I've tried leaving the door open before but he still won't come in. I have tried opening the doors as well as garage doors on the other side of the house. He will come inside but once he gets to where he can see me, he will run back outside. I've also tried to go around through the fence gate to catch him from behind but his hearing is so good that he knows when the gate opens even from inside the house and he beat me to the door. I don't think he is a "bad" dog, he just doesn't listen sometimes and thinks everything is a game. Are there any good ways of disciplining a golden so that he doesn't become afraid of you? I'd rather have a stubborn dog than one who is afraid of me from giving him negative feedback for not obeying.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Sounds like he is loving his yard and freedom. And he already thinks it a game.If he doesn't come in when you want him to- get a leash and bring him in, give him a treat, remove the leash and let him back outside. Do this to teach him that he must come when called and that once he is inside he will not always have to stay in. Can also try surprising him with a real high value treat -cheese or hot dog - whatever makes him drool -when he does come in on his own.


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## RileyDog6 (Apr 26, 2009)

Penny's Mom said:


> I believe the young animals go through stages and the less made of them the faster they forget and move on.
> 
> I agree you shouldn't turn it into a game. When it's time to come in, walk out away from the door. Take the leash and treats with you. When he comes for a treat, leash him up. Then, don't hustle right back in. Go for a little stroll around the yard.
> 
> This should help because it totally eliminates allowing Riley making any decisions. Rather it plays on his curiosity to find out why you are in the back yard and his desire to get a treat. Going for a little walk with you makes it fun.


I might have to try the leash in the back yard. That is how we used to take him outside before the fence was put up.


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## RileyDog6 (Apr 26, 2009)

Charliethree said:


> Sounds like he is loving his yard and freedom. And he already thinks it a game.If he doesn't come in when you want him to- get a leash and bring him in, give him a treat, remove the leash and let him back outside. Do this to teach him that he must come when called and that once he is inside he will not always have to stay in. Can also try surprising him with a real high value treat -cheese or hot dog - whatever makes him drool -when he does come in on his own.


He LOVES being outside. We have lived in Louisiana for about a year and it is starting to get cool outside again so he doesn't mind being out. During the summer he would come inside because he was hot.

I think the main issue is that he doesn't come to us every time we call his name.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

Deleted-weird stuff with this message.


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## RileyDog6 (Apr 26, 2009)

Tahnee GR said:


> Hmm, my guys always come for "Cookies!" My Tervuren was not treat motivated though, and what worked best for him was to ignore him and to go inside. It didn't usually take long for him to be at the door wanting in.
> 
> You should work on his recall though, until he has a reliable one-a good recall is invaluable. Have you been through an obedience class yet? I think that would be really helpful.
> 
> Also, 18 months old is basically the teen-age stage for Goldens  Nuff said


He hasn't been to any obedience classes. We have had crate training problems with him as well. He hates his crate. We have been leaving him out while we go to work for the past few months. Before that, we would have to double team him so that he wouldn't run away just to get him to go in his crate. He doesn't chew on anything but his toys so leaving him out isn't a problem. I've fed him in his crate. Put treats in his kong. Played music while we were gone and put him in it. A few obedience classes would probably work wonders for him. 

He is really smart. He IS trainable. He knows "sit", "stay", "drop it", "crate", "get your bone", "come", "lay down", "bring it here", "down". I think that he's in his teenage rebellious stage and is just having fun testing us.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

If he's trustworthy in the house when you're gone, then I would leave him out of the crate. Penny has the run of the house at 4 months and wasn't crated after that. She wasn't fond of the crate either.

You should never punish a Golden. And generally they are not a stubborn or bull headed breed. You can't out run them so you have to out smart them. 

btw, does he get enough exercise? Just being in the back yard is not enough for a young Golden. He maybe 'having sport' with you because he has so much fresh energy. He needs some strenuous exercise twice a day for about 30 minutes.


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## goldengirl09 (Jul 23, 2009)

Sorry, you're going through that. It's such a pain in the neck. Mine actually went through a phase where he'd bark to come in and then run off and unfortunately my parents lured him with cookies which is not a good way to handle it. I didn't want to just let him bark and annoy the neighbors but nothing else was working so finally I followed my trainers advice and did this.

When he barked, I would get up and open the door. If he didn't come in right away, I was just turn around shut the door and walk away. If he barked again, I would repeat this. Sometimes, I would even close the blinds behind me so he couldn't see me. This worked VERY fast. The important thing is to act like you don't care and just not give him any attention (positive or negative) for doing this. But then do praise them when they do come in. Hope you find something that works for you too!


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## RileyDog6 (Apr 26, 2009)

I think I just need to spend some more QT training him. I spent about an hour outside with him this morning throwing a ball around. He hasn't really caught on to the concept of retrieving yet. He will go get the ball but he won't bring it back to me. I didn't have any treats though which made it somewhat tough to get the ball back. Instead, when I was able to get the ball back I would have him sit and then I would have him "stay" as I walked away. Once I got a decent distance away without him running to me, I would kneel down and tell him to "come here" and I would give him the ball when he came to me. I'd give him a scratch behind the ears or rub his belly and then take the ball back and repeat the process. It worked pretty well but once I let him have the ball and get away from me, it was like pulling teeth getting it back.

He is currently sprawled out on the tile trying to catch his breath from playing for an hour.


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## RileyDog6 (Apr 26, 2009)

Penny's Mom said:


> If he's trustworthy in the house when you're gone, then I would leave him out of the crate. Penny has the run of the house at 4 months and wasn't crated after that. She wasn't fond of the crate either.
> 
> You should never punish a Golden. And generally they are not a stubborn or bull headed breed. You can't out run them so you have to out smart them.
> 
> btw, does he get enough exercise? Just being in the back yard is not enough for a young Golden. He maybe 'having sport' with you because he has so much fresh energy. He needs some strenuous exercise twice a day for about 30 minutes.


He currently doesn't have access to his crate when we leave him out because we close the doors to all the rooms so he can just roam around the main area of the house which is completely tiled. I am thinking about moving his crate into the living room where he spends most of his time. Maybe he will learn to like it. His crate isn't very comfortable though because the last bed we gave him, he tore apart and tried to eat it. He doesn't eat the couch cushions or pillows on the couches so it may be time to see if a dog bed will work for him.


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## brandiwine (Nov 28, 2009)

I have the same problem with my little monster. We put up a privacy fence about 5 months ago and she loves it. The best way I have found to get her to come back in is to go inside and close the door and stand where she can't see me. It's usually less than a minute and she is at the door wanting to come in. She thinks it's great fun to ignore me but not fun for me to ignore her.


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