Naughty Pomeranian!

Question
Hi Labman,
We have a 18 month old male pomeranian. He's very mischievous, but we've managed to stop most of his bad behaviour.
There's one trait we're having a problem with, though, and that's getting him in from the garden.
We'll let him out in the garden, and after around 5 minutes, he'll bark at the door to come in. When you go to let him in, he runs away. The only way to get him inside is to chase him around the garden and catch him!
Do you know why he does this, or how we can stop it?

Answer
It sounds like he has found a way to get some attention out of you.  Dogs favorite game is chase.  This is a game we always lose.  Since you always lose, refuse to play any more.  When he dances away, close the door and go back in.  When he barks again go and open the door, and when he dances away, close the door.  Repeat until he realizes you aren't coming out to play chase and comes in.  Since it always worked before, it may take a while before he gives up.  

Once he finally does come in, play with him, fetch or something.  Another thing would be to work on obedience.  The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts.  Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog.  Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones.  You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/  For more on being top dog, see http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm