The Canine Escape Artist

Dog Behavior and Training >> The Canine Escape Artist

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Separation Anxiety

Your dog may be escaping due to separation anxiety if:

• He escapes as soon as, or shortly after, you leave.
• He displays other behaviors that reflect a strong attachment to you, such as following you around, frantic greetings or reacting anxiously to your preparations to leave.
• He remains near your home after he's escaped.

Factors that can precipitate a separation anxiety problem:

• There has recently been a change in your family's schedule that has resulted in your dog being left alone more often.
• Your family has recently moved to a new house.
• There's been a death or loss of a family member or another family pet.
• Your dog has recently spent time at an animal shelter or boarding kennel.

Recommendations:

Separation anxiety can be resolved using counter-conditioning and desensitization techniques (see our handout: "Separation Anxiety").

How Dogs Escape

Some dogs jump fences, but most actually climb them, using some part of the fence to push off from. A dog may also dig under the fence, chew through the fence, learn to open a gate or use any combination of these methods to get out of the yard. Knowing how your dog gets out will help you to modify your yard. However, until you know why your dog wants to escape, and you can decrease his motivation for doing so, you won't be able to successfully resolve the problem.

Recommendations For Preventing Escape

For climbing/jumping dogs: Add an extension to your fence that tilts in toward the yard. The extension doesn't necessarily need to make the fence much higher, as long as it tilts inward at about a 45-degree angle.

For digging dogs: Bury chicken wire at the base of your fence (with the sharp edges rolled inward), place large rocks at the base, or lay chain-link fencing on the ground.

Punishment

• Never punish your dog after he's already out of the yard. Dogs associate punishment with what they're doing at the time they're punished. Punishing your dog after the fact won't eliminate the escaping behavior, but will only make him afraid to come to you.
• Never punish your dog if the escaping is a fear-related problem or is due to separation anxiety. Punishing fear-motivated behaviors will only make your dog more afraid, and thus make the problem worse.
• Punishment is only effective if administered at the moment your dog is escaping and if he doesn't associate the correction with you. If you can squirt him with a hose or make a loud noise as he is going over, under or through the fence, it might be unpleasant enough that he won't want to do it again. However, if he realizes that you made the noise or squirted the water, he'll simply refrain from escaping when you're around. This type of correction is difficult to administer effectively, and won't resolve the problem if used by itself. You must also give your dog less reason to escape and make it more difficult to do.
• Chaining your dog should only be used as a last resort, and then only as a temporary measure until a more permanent solution can be found. Chaining your dog doesn't give him sufficient opportunity for exercise and can be dangerous if done improperly (see our handout: "Keeping Your Dog Confined To your Property").

Copyright Denver Dumb Friends League and Humane Society of the United States. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

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