Dog Refuses to Come inside

If dogs had their own way, they would stay outside and play forever. Imagine when you were a youngster, when days were fun running around your backgarden pretending you were a plane, an astronaut or god knows what, the worst part of the day was when your mum or dad called you in as a signal that playtime is over.

Theres a gate between my road and the park, as soon as my dog sees me walking to the gate, he knows its hometime. Your dog will also know all the signs that playtime is coming to an end and very reluctantly, will want it to finish. Even if he is completely worn out.

You need to make sure that you don’t call him to come to you, when the lead needs going on, or when it’s time to leave. Otherwise you’ll see that toddler running away from his mum when it time to go in. It’ll also harm your recall if the dog is not 100% sure that going back to you is a good thing. End of playtime is not a good thing, for your dog. Neither is bathtime or nail clipping time.

When it’s time to leave, just casually walk up to your dog and clip the lead on his collar and tell him that he is a good boy, give him a treat so that he can associate the lead as a good thing also. If your dog is on a lead, I fail to see how going home is something he can refuse, after all, at that point, you are the one who should have control.

If I have missed something, please let me know and help fill in the blanks as the initial message was a bit non-descriptive.

Best of luck all the same.