Information – The Follow Instinct
You’re probably familiar with much of this, but hopefully you’ll find at least some of it useful. If these notes seem overwhelming simply start with the more important items that you can handle today (and what you can do will probably be enough!) and in time you’ll add more and more as you grow in the skills of dog ownership!
The Follow Instinct
Gayle Watkins describes a trait that is common across all breeds and can be used to develop your dog to stay near you off-leash.
From about 5 weeks to 16 weeks puppies have a “follow instinct”. They follow their mother or their owner closely. They want to stay by your side. If you run they will follow and run to you. You can use this to develop a dog that off-leash stays close and returns to you.
Starting at about 16 weeks they begin to exercise their independence and they begin exploring on their own. They are developing and becoming adolescents. They begin to stray.
To build that trait of staying close and returning to us, take your puppy on hikes or to an empty park and when they are distracted, perhaps by a scent, hide. When the puppy looks and realizes they’re alone they’ll start looking for you and maybe panic a little.
Of course you’ll be peeking at them from behind your bush, but make them go through a period of believing they’re lost and may never see you again. Wait to see if they head in the right direction. If not, help them out with a small noise or motion.
This “game” can become increasingly advanced, and more difficult as they start to always keep an eye on you, which is what you want. Repeat the game as much as you can to strengthen this trait.
This trains them to keep track of you and take on the responsibility of staying near you and moving when you move, instead of wandering off and not even thinking about you. Things learned deeply at this age are likely to be permanent.
Don’t treat them for coming back to you when training “Follow” – their reward is the feeling of safety they have from finding and staying close to you, their source of protection.
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