Instilling the fear of losing you in a puppy.
I could not bump the teaching come thread, sorry.
I use this also with great success. I call it the fear of losing me.
This is my setup. I take the puppy from day 1 out back and down a certain path in the woods. It is maybe 100 yards to a small creek. We walk down the same path off leash every day, several times a day. This gets the puppy used to the path and they are familiar with it and KNOW which way we always go. After a week or two they start to feel pretty confident and bold. They will start running ahead. When they get out of sight I JUMP off the path and hide. They will know their name by then and I call them while hiding.
As pointed out, they will realize you are suddenly not around and come RUNNING back up the path looking for you. Since I have never strayed from the designated route, they will stick to it, nose to the ground. I let them run up and down once or twice then when they are out of sight again I JUMP back on the path and continue walking. When they finally find me I do not make a huge deal of, because it wasn’t me who lost them, THEY lost me. I will pet them and state ‘where have you been? I have been looking for you!’
It only takes a couple times and they will continually stop and check around to make sure I am in sight. This lesson carries with them all their lives. No matter where we are, off leash, they will continually look back to check and make sure I am within sight. I never have to go looking for my Lab, she is always looking for ME. But, I have found it needs to be done very early in the relationship. Others have tried it with older puppies and did not have the success as when they are still bonding. If they are at the Teenager stage where they really don’t think they need you or to listen to you, it may too late for this.
This has worked for three black gals. Perfectly. One became a Velcro dog, but I think she was destine to be one anyway.