"Is she a bolter?" the sitter that I was interviewing asked. I probably turned my head much like Elsa does at the question, what? "Will she take off out an open door?" she asked, rephrasing her question. "Oh no, no" I replied. "But you'd want to be careful anyway," I said. The whole idea of dogs that run away is so strange to me. I've never had one that would, just take off. Jessie was probably the closest thing to a runaway but it was just her terrier trigger that got the best of her sometimes.
My dogs have always seemed to have a magnetic pull to our home. Let out of the car and the door is where they head. I remember a very long time ago someone left a gate open at the side of the house. Luke was a youngster at the time so he went out and around to the front door. My neighbor saw him standing at the front door and rang the bell for him. I opened it up and there he was, wagging to come in. What a guy.
There are things that will draw a dog away, a distraction, something interesting to go see; but taking off and running away is entirely different. Why do dogs run away? There are many reasons that a dog will runaway. Being scared is a big one; they are often not even in a normal state of mind when this happens, they are just running. A lack of exercise. It feels good to run free and let out all your ya ya's. A positive reinforcement can fuel your dog to run. If they get out, have a great run around, maybe meet someone else or find some food along the way, presto...you have the desire to run.
A lack of bonding can also cause a runaway. Is everything out there better than you? Does your dog think that the grass is greener elsewhere? Maybe it is, you need to look at your relationship if you have a runaway. You should be the most important thing in your dog's life. This takes time, commitment, trust building and fun. Even if you have a couple or more dogs; you should still be the most important thing to all of them individually.
How do you become the most important thing in your dog's life? Bonding. Time spent together, training, feeding, grooming and trust building. All of these things make you important. In the beginning it is food, treat rewards that are worth hanging around you for. Then with time comes the connection that grows. You need to be present in your dog's life to become that special someone. The one that your dog turns to for everything.
Runaway dogs are no fun. If you have one you need to figure out why they are running and fix it.