Carol, I need some doggy advice because I am a dummy.
We got a scent hound. Everything we read said you can never, ever, EVER trust a scent hound off leash. We do not have a fenced yard. You can see where this is going. We did a lot of training with him and he was very eager to please. He LOVES other dogs, and we are saps who felt cruel never letting him run free despite knowing we couldn’t when we adopted him. So, we started letting him offleash at Shubie where he could play with other dogs on the beach and near which no rabbit with even half a wee rabbit brain would dare to tread. We practiced recall with him at the park, and he was often happy to come bounding back, ears flapping merrily in the breeze. Often. Not always. I made a habit of fussing him up when he did and telling him to go have fun again. I was concious not to use the “come” command when I was going to put his leash on. There I ran into problems. You cannot sneak-attack a dog moving that quickly, and if you do, it just teaches him to avoid you when having fun. Using a command and then lots of praise and fussing and treats and THEN leash just taught him to come happily to sit and then be on guard for the moment to slip out of my grasp. SOMEtimes he will let me get the leash on without trying to escape. But not ALWAYS. I tried letting him run again after the leash was on. That doesn’t work at the dog park because someone will get tangled and hurt. It doesn’t work elsewhere because he now knows exactly how far away to stay to keep me from stepping on the leash. Regardless, we went ahead and continued to let him off leash when in wide open areas away from traffic and bunnies, such as at deserted beaches. He continues to be perfectly behaved MOST of the time. With the lake newly frozen, we went I decided it was the perfect opportunity to let Darwin run around right outside our door. I made sure we were far from shore before unhooking him, so there would be fewer distractions. He did find some smells and run into some shrubbery, but was doing beautifully with checking in and coming when called so I was pleased. Then he realized we were heading home. He made a beeline for the other side of the cove, still checking in making sure I was around but not letting me get within 100 feet of him. I tried calling him. I tried getting excited like I was going to play a game with him. I tried commands in a loud and serious voice. I tried following him until he thought I’d given up on that whole going-home thing. He ran into some very dense underbrush on a point inaccessible by road. I tried outwaiting him. I stopped hearing even the most distant doggy noises. So, as I type, Sean is out looking for our puppy while I wait for him to get hungry and wander home. Oh, and I didn’t have his tags on him. At least he is wearing his harness instead of his collar, so when he gets snagged on something and stuck, he is unlikely to die by strangulation. I am confident he will come home when he’s tired as long as he is able to because, get this, he has slipped away twice before (albeit, not recently). Clearly, I am brilliant. At least he has his microchip, if anyone bothers to check.
I summation, I chose to overlook both reality and the advice of those who know far more than me, it bit me in the ass, and I come begging for more advice. Pretty please?
Oh no! I’m so sorry. I hope Sean finds your doggy quickly.
In the future I would go to the dollar store and buy a long line from their pet section. They are lightweight, cheap, and 20 feet long. Beloved Dog had one permanently attached to him for years before I would trust him off leash without one. He would drag it behind him.
If your dog is dragging a long line, then if he doesn’t come back when you call you just need to get close enough to step on the long line and stop him in his tracks.
My dog comes back to me because he doesn’t know there is another option. If he comes back, he gets praise and treats. If he doesn’t, he has always been magically stopped and dragged back to me anyway.
Darwin has already learned that there are options other than returning to you, so you may never be able to let him run totally free, but the long line should stop something like this from happening again.
And when all else fails – run in the opposite direction. Dogs run away from you if you chase them, but if you run away from them, they chase you. Prey drive, y’see?
Home, safe and sound! He wandered in about five minutes ago, after about five hours of running through the woods like a maniac. He still didn’t want to come in the door. Darwin only likes to chase humans if he’s feeling really playful. If I run away from Darwin once he’s decided he wants to be elsewhere, his usual reaction is to stand there and watch me, or obliviosity if he’s got a scent in his nose. My main concern with the long line has been him choking himself with it or getting tangled and trapped if he does get away from me with it on. I suppose it’s still a safer option. He also loves the dog beach more than just about anything else in life, and you can’t have a line on there. I guess that won’t be on the table anytime soon, sadly. I also have no idea how to discourage the running away, because obviously once I get him back is the wrong time for negativity.
We kind of skipped the “too bad” part of training, because it wasn’t part of the classes we went to and was therefore easier to put off. I much prefer doing the praise part and am scared of what this means for when I have children. There really has been no downside for Darwin in choosing freedom over pats and treats now and then.
Thank you for listening and resisting the urge to beat me over the head. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a physical copy of your book to do that with?
I will be doing much reading tonight.
If By Yes 
🙂
Me thinks there may be some Dummies writing that series…
Carol, I need some doggy advice because I am a dummy.
We got a scent hound. Everything we read said you can never, ever, EVER trust a scent hound off leash. We do not have a fenced yard. You can see where this is going. We did a lot of training with him and he was very eager to please. He LOVES other dogs, and we are saps who felt cruel never letting him run free despite knowing we couldn’t when we adopted him. So, we started letting him offleash at Shubie where he could play with other dogs on the beach and near which no rabbit with even half a wee rabbit brain would dare to tread. We practiced recall with him at the park, and he was often happy to come bounding back, ears flapping merrily in the breeze. Often. Not always. I made a habit of fussing him up when he did and telling him to go have fun again. I was concious not to use the “come” command when I was going to put his leash on. There I ran into problems. You cannot sneak-attack a dog moving that quickly, and if you do, it just teaches him to avoid you when having fun. Using a command and then lots of praise and fussing and treats and THEN leash just taught him to come happily to sit and then be on guard for the moment to slip out of my grasp. SOMEtimes he will let me get the leash on without trying to escape. But not ALWAYS. I tried letting him run again after the leash was on. That doesn’t work at the dog park because someone will get tangled and hurt. It doesn’t work elsewhere because he now knows exactly how far away to stay to keep me from stepping on the leash. Regardless, we went ahead and continued to let him off leash when in wide open areas away from traffic and bunnies, such as at deserted beaches. He continues to be perfectly behaved MOST of the time. With the lake newly frozen, we went I decided it was the perfect opportunity to let Darwin run around right outside our door. I made sure we were far from shore before unhooking him, so there would be fewer distractions. He did find some smells and run into some shrubbery, but was doing beautifully with checking in and coming when called so I was pleased. Then he realized we were heading home. He made a beeline for the other side of the cove, still checking in making sure I was around but not letting me get within 100 feet of him. I tried calling him. I tried getting excited like I was going to play a game with him. I tried commands in a loud and serious voice. I tried following him until he thought I’d given up on that whole going-home thing. He ran into some very dense underbrush on a point inaccessible by road. I tried outwaiting him. I stopped hearing even the most distant doggy noises. So, as I type, Sean is out looking for our puppy while I wait for him to get hungry and wander home. Oh, and I didn’t have his tags on him. At least he is wearing his harness instead of his collar, so when he gets snagged on something and stuck, he is unlikely to die by strangulation. I am confident he will come home when he’s tired as long as he is able to because, get this, he has slipped away twice before (albeit, not recently). Clearly, I am brilliant. At least he has his microchip, if anyone bothers to check.
I summation, I chose to overlook both reality and the advice of those who know far more than me, it bit me in the ass, and I come begging for more advice. Pretty please?
Oh no! I’m so sorry. I hope Sean finds your doggy quickly.
In the future I would go to the dollar store and buy a long line from their pet section. They are lightweight, cheap, and 20 feet long. Beloved Dog had one permanently attached to him for years before I would trust him off leash without one. He would drag it behind him.
If your dog is dragging a long line, then if he doesn’t come back when you call you just need to get close enough to step on the long line and stop him in his tracks.
My dog comes back to me because he doesn’t know there is another option. If he comes back, he gets praise and treats. If he doesn’t, he has always been magically stopped and dragged back to me anyway.
Darwin has already learned that there are options other than returning to you, so you may never be able to let him run totally free, but the long line should stop something like this from happening again.
And when all else fails – run in the opposite direction. Dogs run away from you if you chase them, but if you run away from them, they chase you. Prey drive, y’see?
Home, safe and sound! He wandered in about five minutes ago, after about five hours of running through the woods like a maniac. He still didn’t want to come in the door. Darwin only likes to chase humans if he’s feeling really playful. If I run away from Darwin once he’s decided he wants to be elsewhere, his usual reaction is to stand there and watch me, or obliviosity if he’s got a scent in his nose. My main concern with the long line has been him choking himself with it or getting tangled and trapped if he does get away from me with it on. I suppose it’s still a safer option. He also loves the dog beach more than just about anything else in life, and you can’t have a line on there. I guess that won’t be on the table anytime soon, sadly. I also have no idea how to discourage the running away, because obviously once I get him back is the wrong time for negativity.
We kind of skipped the “too bad” part of training, because it wasn’t part of the classes we went to and was therefore easier to put off. I much prefer doing the praise part and am scared of what this means for when I have children. There really has been no downside for Darwin in choosing freedom over pats and treats now and then.
Thank you for listening and resisting the urge to beat me over the head. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a physical copy of your book to do that with?
I will be doing much reading tonight.