Dog on a property

Question
Hi there, I have a 10 yr old poodle cross terrier female dog who loves wandering. We are soon going to be moving to a farm, so I would love to know of some training tips on how to train her not to run away and wander. Unforunatly, I can't put a proper fence or get an electric collar thing, and I would not like to put her in a kennel, since she is a real family dog and I'd hate her to be locked up away from the house.
Thanks!

Answer
Obedience training teaches the dog to come when called. You can also perimmiter walk, training the dog to stay on your side of the line. Animals by nature explore their territory for various reasons. Growing up on a farm as a kid, the farm dogs all roamed loose and in the rural area, we all knew to watch out for dogs on the roads. THe dogs often went farm to farm with their friends and it wasn't unusual to have 4-5 neighbor dogs hanging around until it was dinner time and they all knew where to go to get fed. There is a big difference in attitudes between city pet owners and rural pet owners. City owners are constantly worried about risks, rural areas dogs ride int he back of open pick-up trucks, go hunting, and are more on their own.

You could put a tracker transmitter or a video camera on the collar and see where the dog is, these are available from farm catalogs and most farm/feed stores or hunting supply stores.

Being a ham raido operator, I made my own doggy cam that worked up to 2 miles.  The biggest issue today is dog stealing.

regards,

Henry Ruhwiedel
www.dogkennel.org