Can you help me with this dog training question?

Hire a professional dog trainer.

We have a dog trainer as a member. I’ll send this to her.

I was a dog trainer for many years, so I can probably help you.

How old is Kevin, and how much exercise does he get per day? Do you play with him – and if so, what games? When he is off leash, what does he do? Where does he go, how far, what for?

I’m asking because all those things are important. There’s things you can do to teach a dog that his humans are more interesting than the environment, but I’d need to know more to give you good advice.

First, How old is the dog? Dogs inherently want to please their masters. Do not give him the chance to fail. Second person required. When taken off leash they must be immediately stopped. Try several times and praise him when he stays. Is he leash trained to heel when you walk him? Maybe start with that first.

I’m not a dog expert. I think that the basic problem that you have is that your dog thinks he’s the leader of the pack (Alpha dog) not you. You best straight out that relationship first in your training process.

It’s true that building a healthy relationship should always come first. However, the alpha wolf/dominance stuff is based on a debunked study that’s about thirty years old. It’s not a real thing. It was first proposed in 1944, propagated in ‘81, falsified by the same scientist (David Mech) and a bunch of others in the nineties. Since then, the poor guy has been trying to get the public to listen. He regrets spreading those myths, but can’t do much now. Unfortunately, there is a lot of violence and intimidation that’s being justified with the idea of pack hierachy.

Here are some articles.

A good way to build a respectful, safe, and loving relationship with a dog is to play cooperative games and adopt a calm and quiet tone. To create boundaries, it’s helpful to incorporate many little rituals in your day. Dog wants to go outside? Fine, please sit calmly while I open the door. Little things like that ensure that your dog is not rewarded for pushy and impatient behaviour – always helpful.

At the same time, make sure to read up on calming signals so you know what your dog’s trying to tell you. A relationship goes both ways, and dogs are not just cue and treat receptacles. Dogs try to communicate with their humans all day long, and may end up avoiding interaction if their signals are consistently misunderstood.