How can I train my dog to come back on a walk?

Question

i own a 2 year old black lab and when i let him off his lead on a walk he wont return he just wants to go and meet other dogs he can see =S

And he also wont heel whilst walking please help!!!

Answer 1

I recommend you take him to obedience school.  Heeling, recall, and many other skills will be worked on.  And most importantly they'll train YOU how to teach these skills, and better communicate your dog what you want of him.  

In the meantime I recommend keeping him on leash, lest he get lost or bother people and other dogs.

Answer 2

You need to get an area where he can't get away from you. Train with him in there, teach him who is the boss and that you mean business. Dogs are smart animals, especially black labs. So my advise is just to keep him in an enclosed area, and only let him off of his leash when he has no where to run. Work with him on sitting, laying down, and staying where he is. Use a firm voice, and give him something he likes when he does good. Like a bone. If that doesn't work, then I'm not sure what to say, except never to let him off of his leash when you're going on a walk. I hope this helps. Make sure not to yell at him, only when he does something really bad. Just don't give him a treat when he's not cooperating :)

Answer 3

use treats for a start.

Its a good idea to start training him in the garden.You make him sit and than walk away still facing him saying stay and with your hand out.Then after a few steps say come and show him the treat.Then reward him and give him a fuss.Do this as much as possible.Dont treat him untill he gets it right though

Answer 4

This is something that I have been working on in my clicker training class.  You need to do a little preliminary obedience training first and he needs to know that you are the alpha.  

First of all, get yourself a clicker from a pet store.  The first "trick" isn't a trick at all but starts to teach the dog that he'll get a treat when you click.  Hold a cup in your hand and if the dog touches it with his nose (which chances are he will), click and give him a treat.  If he doesn't touch it, you touch his nose to it and click and give him a treat.  Do this many times and then put it on the floor.  He'll sniff it, (if he doesn't sniff it on his own, put a piece of chicken on top of it) then you give him a treat.  Over and over while he gets the idea.  BTW, the treat should be chicken or beef cut into dime-sized cubes or buy some cooked chicken in the grocery store and cut it up.  Teach him to sit and when he does, click and treat.  Teach him to stay, walk to his side, if he stays, click and treat.  Move further away, call him and if he comes, click and treat.  If he doesn't come, go to him happily clapping your hands and say, come Fido, come.  When he comes, click and treat.  

I hope you get the picture by this time that he should figure out that when he does something you like, he'll get a treat.  Take treats with you on your walks and when he walks properly, give him a treat.  

Finally, when you call him "off-leash" and he doesn't come to you, ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS, go and get him and leash him up.  But give him the chance to come to you and get a treat.  When you get close to him, do the happy clapping and calling him.  This will set him up for success and not failure.  Make sure when you finally get him in control, hopefully it will have been because he wanted to come to you.  

I hope this sounds as easy as it is.  Although until you start doing it, it will seem a little daunting.  Don't forget that the treats need to be in bite-sized pieces because you don't want to stop your training waiting for him to finish chewing up a bone, or "cookie".  Just something that is really tantalizing and aromatic and gets his attention.

Good luck and if you follow through on some of these, you'll love your newly trained dog.