The dog is BAD when off the leash.

I am the proud owner of a German Shepard/Collie mix. She's pretty well
behaved. I go through training rituals with her twice a day (morning and
night) with positive reinforcement (treats) and negative reinforcement
(pulling the leash if she doesn't quickly respond to a command, verbally
scolding, or making a scary noise of some sort). In the morning training
routine, I practice 'hold' with her, which is holding a ball until I take
it out. Also, we heavily practice a two week old command called 'room'.
Room means go into the bathroom and lay down until called. So, I
practice 'room' like this:
me: Room!
dog: runs into room and lays down, recieving a treat as soon as she lays
down.
me: Come!
dog: comes out of the bathroom, and to me, which is about 10 ft. away,
receiving a treat.
me: Room!
It continues on like that until we're finished.
At night, our training session is a little different. At night, we
practice off the leash "heel, sit/stay, down/stay, and come" with
positive and negative reinforcement. She performs flawlessly. We do
this for about 15-30 minutes outside without a leash, and she performs
wonderfully, but if I left the door open, she'd run away, and I'd have to
spend time trying to get her to come back. The ONLY way she comes back
from an escape is if I YELL a scolding word louder than I ever do in a
training session, and then calmly ask her to come again. She never
responds automatically, like in our sessions, though. No, she'll take
three of four steps toward me, and then veer to the left or right until I
LOUDLY scold again, followed by come.

I mostly started this very organized training schedule, because she doesn't EVER come when
called when she's off the leash and knows it. I don't know, but am I
making a training error? Some people's dogs naturally stay next to them
when outside.

Back to what I asked about a training error, though: I think I might be
doing something wrong, because she doesn't listen to anything I say when
she knows I can't catch her, and I'm starting to notice a different
pattern. Here's the pattern: When I'm in public with her (and sometimes
at home), she'll never listen to my commands unless I wait to see that
she's not listening and then say "No" either loudly or not. If not
waiting for "No," she waits for me to pull on the leash, and then she'll
do what I ask. The problem is doing what I ask the FIRST time, and to
avoid the scolding.

If someone here can offer some advice, I'd be so happy. Thanks in
advance.
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- Curtis N.
A cute, well developed signature, like the rest? I think not.
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