It is a scary moment, seeing your dog take off like a bat out of *ahem* and not paying one iota of attention to you, running and yelling behind them. BTDT. I'm glad you got Duke back safely. OK, Duke, more practice on recall, starting now!
Yesterday, I decided to get the boys some good exercise, so we loaded up some toys and I took them to a park nestled between a swollen Red River and a parkway. As we pulled up I saw that the park was fairly flooded and was a little disappointed. Then I looked at Chief and Duke in the back seat and I thought, "Awesome, the park's flooded!" We parked the truck and unloaded; let the games begin. There were a few geese near the first landing I had to coax the dogs away from, but other than that we were running through the mud and splashing through the water.
Fast Forward>>>
There was a gadwall hen making some ruckus in the flooded (possibly wounded or putting on a heck of a distraction) pond that got the dogs' attention. They took off after the hen as it went skipping down the water. There was no use in yelling Duke's name; that duck was the only thing on his mind. I started calling after Chief. They were four hundred yards away by now. Chief heeled immediately. I got him back on his lead and continued chasing after Duke. He was now a quarter mile away and out of sight. Where he was running was getting narrow between the parkway and the actual river, neither was a good option. Chief was confused because I was yelling at Duke and trying to catch up so I let his lead go. Finally, I catch sight of Duke. I get him to start coming back. At first he heads up to the road, but he stays down in the water and makes his way back. I wanted to kill that damn dog, but I was too happy to get him back safely. Needless to say, playtime was over.
It was such a helpless feeling watching Duke just run away like that to an area where nothing good could've happened. I can't really blame the guy; it's not every day he gets to chase a wounded duck. But the fact that he never even turned his head or hesitated at the call of my voice makes me wonder how well he listens or how well his training actually stuck.
It is a scary moment, seeing your dog take off like a bat out of *ahem* and not paying one iota of attention to you, running and yelling behind them. BTDT. I'm glad you got Duke back safely. OK, Duke, more practice on recall, starting now!
Five weeks of training with a pro is not going to do much. I mean, maybe you'll have the basics, but...anything beyond that is pure luck if it's not reinforced every day for another, I don't know, year? Of course, that depends on how old and how many unwanted behaviors the dog already had as a habit.
Ask anyone here who does obedience or field work. We start training our dogs the minute they are home and continue, daily, for years before we expect them to be able to perform (which means consistently listening and being able to what we ask the first time, every time, in new places and with distractions). We go to class, take lessons with trainers, read books, take more classes and lessons. It's a lifestyle. With any luck, they do not develop unwanted behaviors and we're even luckier if we have not reinforced those unwanted behaviors in our training in some way.
With my younger dog, we've got 2 1/2 years of training and, for the most part, not reinforcing unwanted behavior and he isn't perfect. You've got years of reinforced unwanted behavior plus five weeks (and change, counting the training you have done afterward) of training. In the scheme of things, that is really nothing.
And, if the dog was trained using an e-collar in five weeks, you'll probably have to depend on that thing now. I don't think five weeks is long enough to condition and train a dog for long term success with that tool. The dogs come with personalities and in your case, pasts, and these things can take years of consistent training to undo, if they can be undone at all.
Lower your expectations and set the dogs up for success, would be my advice. There is no magic bullet in dog training (same goes for people training!).
Lower what expectations? That I can take my dogs to a park and have a good safe time? No off-lead time unless I'm way back on the farm where I can take them once a month? I'm not looking for a magic bullet. I know one of the biggest problems is consistency at home between my wife and I. Duke is good most of the time. It's just when he misbehaves a possible outcome is death not a scolding.
Well, yeah! If you know your dog cannot be trusted off leash 100%, then you don't take him off leash in a place where he could get injured, lost or killed. You work on it. You use a long-line. You take him to fenced locations. Or you take him off-leash only in places where the risk is minimal, if that is a possibility. It takes a ton of time and effort to get consistent behavior, when contending with something the dog likes more than what you have to offer or is out of his mind with prey drive (impulse control). Lots of people are unable to call their dogs off of birds or other animals, even when they do have a solid recall in many cases, especially if that dog has a high prey drive.
Maxx&Emma (04-28-2016), MontananDakota (04-27-2016)
Sophie is 4 1/2 and has decent recall, however, when she doesn't want to listen, she ain't coming. I keep her on a very lightweight 100' lead at all times when we aren't in a confined space, just in case.
MontananDakota (04-27-2016)
Yeah, I guess I was a little optimistic. We've been to the same park off leash several times before without any problems. Just because something bad didn't happen doesn't mean I wasn't flirting with disaster the whole time...
I consider Archie having a very good recall. However, let him see a squirrel and all bets are off. I'm the same here, a long lead when I know something might happen and I won't be able to control the situation. We all want our dogs to have freedom, know what you mean. But, safety comes first.
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MontananDakota (04-27-2016)
The leads are just a safety net, so to speak, you don't walk them around that way. When I'm in a large open space and want Bubba to have off leash time (he's probably 75% trustworthy), I click off his regular leash and click on on the long lead and he just drags it around. But if he ever did take off, the chances of me catching him are SIGNIFICANTLY higher because i can step on the long lead. Otherwise you would somehow have to catch up AND grab your dogs collar, which is really hard because for a lot of dogs once you chase them they start playing a game of chase with you.
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