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  1. #1
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Encounter in the Park

    I've been away from my dog for 6 weeks since I was in another city helping my 92 y.o. mom who cracked her hip. (No surgery required, thank the good Lord.) So back here in Reno, it's colder than all get out and there's been enough snow that it's all iced over and crusty.

    Prior to making the journey to help mom, I'd been working really, really, really hard on getting Ram Jet Rocket Dog to stay in perfect heel position (which for her is her paws behind the heel of my boot.) I'm happy to say we threw a few bumpers in the park and she seems to have remembered what she was supposed to do.

    BUT... unfortunately, there was another man walking a black lab around on the path that encircled the snowy area in which we were working. That dog saw my dog take out after a bumper (she was sent for it... she didn't break) and he went hell-for-leather after Rocket Dog. The dog hit the end of the leash and pulled the old fella over hard into the snow. And he could not get up. It was just the two of us in the park. It was the kind of fall that could have broken something. He was a big guy. But together we were able to get him back on his feet.

    Turns out his dog is a rescue he's had for 3 months. (So, it's not like the man had raised an out of control dog.) We chatted and I suggested he could try a prong collar. I also told him about the place I took Rocket Dog to for help with dog aggression. I really hope he gets some help. Now that I'm thinking about it... I should have told him about the dog-training club here in town that puts on classes for dogs of all ages.

    Take home message... get a good recall on your dog ASAP. Probably nothing is more important than that. AND... hooray, Rocket Dog did not get all bowed up on this intrusive, out of control lab who was totally in her space.

  2. #2
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
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    aw man that's awful. Hopefully he does get training help and a walking tool to avoid falling over again. Bad timing, I know no matter how savy you are with dogs that if your attention is distracted at the second a dog suddenly just TAKES OFF you are in for a fall (no time to brace yourself) though regardless of walking tool. Rocket Dog fetching a toy is gonna be very very very high level distractions for many dogs especially if the owner didn't know it was coming (not that this was your fault in any way just reality that if a high level distraction pop up and you are unprepared it's going to require TONS of training to get a dog that would stop on vocal command alone - if you can even get a word out before they are gone!)

    Good job Rocket Dog!

  3. #3
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Lucky you were there to help and it would have been so much worse if he'd broken a hip or something.
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    Oct. 15, 2007 - June 13, 2021
    Oxtongue Rapids Park. Oct. 2019 Hidden Content

  4. #4
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    So glad he did not get injured. Thanks for giving him some helping him. KUDOS to Rocket Dog for being a good boy.

    All of our labs needed work on their recall. They got distracted so easily; a ball, squirrel, whatever. Archie, younger with more pep in the pup, joined us with an amazing recall. It really opened my eyes to how important a solid recall is. Heck, I've called him off a skunk and if that's not the perfect recall, nothing is, LOL.
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    Kissing Bandit

  5. #5
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Wow... a skunk. Gotta put that on my list of reasons to work toward a rock-solid-recall. That and trains and cars and thickets and potentially noxious stuff they want to eat and on and on and on.

  6. #6
    Senior Dog CraftHer's Avatar
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    I took Mocha and Latte out the other night. It was just for the last quick pee so I didn't leash up Mocha. I usually do after dark just because I'm paranoid and overprotective. No sooner than I opened the door, Mocha took off in the "something's in my yard and I will protect the ladies" run and bark. I screamed "MOCHA COME HERE! COME HERE NOW!" I had Latte's leash in my hand and I couldn't see Mocha at all (brown dog after dark). But I heard those tags tingled and he came right back. He was very puffed up but he came back when I called. I'm so proud of my boy.

  7. #7
    Senior Dog
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    Yup. Recall is the one command we work on from the time they arrive her until the time we say goodbye.
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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  8. #8
    Senior Dog TuMicks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CraftHer View Post
    I took Mocha and Latte out the other night. It was just for the last quick pee so I didn't leash up Mocha. I usually do after dark just because I'm paranoid and overprotective. No sooner than I opened the door, Mocha took off in the "something's in my yard and I will protect the ladies" run and bark. I screamed "MOCHA COME HERE! COME HERE NOW!" I had Latte's leash in my hand and I couldn't see Mocha at all (brown dog after dark). But I heard those tags tingled and he came right back. He was very puffed up but he came back when I called. I'm so proud of my boy.
    That is excellent. We have a fenced back yard, so I don't worry about them running away during their last-after-dark-before-bedtime-pee. The two black girls usually just pee and come right back. But the big doofus choco-lab likes to linger (and probably eat poopcicles, ugh.) He'll come if I call but sorta reluctantly. So what I do is make a big fuss of giving a treat to the girls and he zips right to us.

 



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