off the lead??.....

[Nicky]

Hi,

My dood is 6 months old at the moment and has been off the lead in a contained field with no other dogs, his recall is good and he will come back for a treat when I blow the whistle..

I let him off the lead at the beach the other day, and he saw another dog and I called him and he didn;t bat an eyelid! he just chased the dog and I walked off hoping he would come back to the whistle like always but no! he just went off with the other dog following him instead

This worries me especially when we let him off at the woods as if he follows another dog and we can;t get him he may get lost.......... this is my main concern what do I do about this situation??

Do you let your doods off the lead? and what age will he improve with his recall?? I practise this all the time... thanks

[iwantadog]

Sorry, but this post made me giggle, then made me feel much better as Murphy (who is just a little bit younger than your dog Nicky) does exactly the same!!! If its just us and him he will come back perfectly, but if he see's another dog he is gone, he totally ignores me and just runs after them. I will wait with interest to see other people's answers.

Wendy x

[Nicky]

Does he Wendy, glad I'm not the only one!

must be a doodle trait yes me too looking forward to seeing the views of others with older doods

[Dexter_Mir]

Hi Nicky,

Firstly, I'm not sure doddles recall ever improves

Only kidding, have you tried hiding from him ? we were told when they are pups to let them off as soon as you can and when they wonder off to hide (whilst watching them of course) as pups they like the safty of being close and when they cant see or hear you they panic a bit and come looking... helps them remember they need to stay close....

When they do run off, its also suggested you dont keep on shouting or whistling, as all the time they can hear you they know your there, feel safe so dont have to come back..... I do that with Dexter the one of my 2 doods that wanders off the second he spots another dog. I call him once only then nothing, he soon turns and comes back..(but only after he has said hello to another dog)

My shih tzu was the worst off all of them he would trot off with anyone and its only been the last 6 months he comes back as soon as he is called, with the bribe of sausage or cheese however i sent him into a panic a few times by asking people with dogs if they would mind seeing how far he would go with them before coming back, he would trot off with them for ages but suddenly panic knowing he had lost us (but we hadnt lost him) he soon stopped that !!!!

Try the hiding whilst training, if you havent all ready of course and give him a wee panic every now and then...

Good luck with dooddy recall

Dee xx

[eileenandmolly]

Molly is 3 years old, and her recall is pretty good these days Until she was 18 months-ish, she would hare off after everyone and every dog, and was deaf to my calls! I did a lot of work with her on a long-line, which paid dividends. She is better with a whistle, which I use as a "I really mean this!" signal! I genuinely think that she does go deaf if there is something more interesting than me! Saffie's recall has always been good - she's a Mummy's girl!

Both came back to my recall and whistle yesterday when unexpected sheep appeared in the next (accessible) field. My friend's poodle went sheep-chasing, and we were desperate to get her back. Fortunately, she also responded to my whistle - it seems that she has learned whistle recall from her time walking with my 2.

[dave.bradley]

Teddy is just as bad great when he is off the lead over the woods or fields but if he sees another dog or person the cloth eared syndrome takes over and off he goes We have chased after him and tried to get him back on the lead , he always manages to out dodge us until HE is ready to come back we have tried ignoring him , running away , hiding , offering treats but nothing will get him to come back until he's had enough ! Teddy is approx 16 months old and we love him to bits but are worried that something may happen to him (or be attacked by the dog he wants to see) one of these times he clears off .

[KateW]

Molly is 3 years old, and her recall is pretty good these days Until she was 18 months-ish, she would hare off after everyone and every dog, and was deaf to my calls! I did a lot of work with her on a long-line, which paid dividends. She is better with a whistle, which I use as a "I really mean this!" signal! I genuinely think that she does go deaf if there is something more interesting than me! Saffie's recall has always been good - she's a Mummy's girl!

Both came back to my recall and whistle yesterday when unexpected sheep appeared in the next (accessible) field. My friend's poodle went sheep-chasing, and we were desperate to get her back. Fortunately, she also responded to my whistle - it seems that she has learned whistle recall from her time walking with my 2.

Well done, Molly and Saffie (and your friend's poodle), Ei I am so grateful that we are not in sheep country here as I would not trust Rufus anywhere near them off lead.

Otherwise Rufus has pretty good recall now although I remember only too well the racing off to join other dogs and the reluctance to return.....The only way to overcome this is with constant training; we found lots of recalls, putting back on the lead for a short time several times on a walk and Rufus reaching maturity helped a lot

Katherine

[Kittypickle]

Cloth ear syndrome has now hit Dotty (5.5months). Absolutely fine if no one around but if she spots another dog before I do she is off like a shot and all the whistling/calling in the world makes no difference. I do try to call her back before going round corners/over hills etc, anywhere where I can't get a good view of what is coming. And I call her back frequently, sometimes put her back on a lead and sometimes not. And it all worked perfectly until about 2 weeks ago when I got cocky, called her back to walk to heel instead of sticking the lead on, got round the corner, she saw another dog and was off like a shot. Since then she's done it another couple of times.

I'm going to do some hiding, I was thinking the other day I should do some of this and will do the only whistle/call once thing as I can see the logic in that. Plus carry on working on Leave it in the hope that one day she will actually do as told again ! Unfortunately she's just gone down with kennel cough so she can't mix with other dogs now and has to miss classes so our training will be going backwards a step.

[Daisy(mini)Doodle]

Daisy has been of the lead from day one as soon as she was allowed out. We havent lost her yet. Went though a short time when she was a bit reluctant to return but now at 19-20 months she will return when called leaving other dogs etc. She will still run to other dogs and I have difficulty stopping her when she runs off however in dog training I can stop her on the spot whether coming towards me or going away, I just need to transfer this to the park. Shes passed the kennel club gold award and I have continued with training classes each week and also started agility training as well, most of which is off lead so really the only time shes on a lead is when we are near a road etc

[Bid]

THat is just like my Daisy If I tell we we are doing Daisy-training, then she is a little angel, prancing by my side to see what fun game (training exercise) we are going to play next, and has even taken part in obedience demonstrations, but in the real world then everything is on her terms Trainers have variously called her "self employed", "very independant", "strong minded" and "clown". One things for sure - she has a good brain in there

Things which help with Daze on a walk ..

Hiding as already mentioned,

Lots of retrieve games with a named toy - then as a last resort I can bellow out the name of the toy when she is playing up and not coming back.

Different value treats - High value treat (liver cake or similar) for recall to the whistle and recall from distractions, and a low value treat for just checking in - I say "Hello Daisy" in a surprised voice and give her a low value treat as she passes close by - eventually she started checking in with me every few minutes as a matter or course. I use a puppy complete for this because they are teeny tiny pieces so she can have lots of them without gaining weight.

Treat her as soon as she recalls - don't wait for a sit, because you want the treat to be for the recall itself.

After a long an annoying wait for her to respond to a recall, when she finally does come back, then obviously I have to be all nice and happy-voiced to her and give her a treat, but I can swear and curse her in my nice happy voice so I feel better about it

[Rhonk]

I can be no help to the original post at all - but i am still waiting for Bonzo to get better at coming back... his recall is pretty perfect until another dog is in sight.

I was wondering if anyone has used a spray collar - just for those moments of complete deafness when the awareness of anything apart from the target has gone. It's something i've avoided but he is so headstrong i'm wondering whether to explore it.....

[Bid]

I used a spray collar to try & stop Daisy's poo eating. Daisy being Daisy she got de-sensitised to it very quickly. It worked well with one of her sisters though. I tried it with Poppy to see if it would help with her deer chasing, but once she was in chase mode, it just didn't get through to her at all.

[stidds]

Frodo is exactly the same, he is excellent when we are out on our own, but also suffers from cloth ear syndrome whenever another dog is around. He is worse with chasing Crows though, he loves chasing them as they wind him up by flying very slowly just in front and above him.

[taffyjack]

Olga was the same, good when we're on our own, but then tearing off after any dog she saw and completely deaf!
I'd try to walk off in the opposite direction, as long as I could still see her, but found this really scary
as I thought she'd never come back.
Often, when she was younger, this didn't work and I'd have to go after her, usually asking the other
dog's owner to catch hold of her collar for me
She was soon well known in the local park and woods
Suddenly, over the last couple of months, she's improved dramatically, even comes back (mostly!) when
I call, even when on her way to say hello to another dog.
So, don't despair, it'll get better.
Eventually

Sue

[Rodney]

Rodney does the same, his desire to play is even greater than his desire for food, which can become a bit embarrassing when he inevitably trips someone over. That said, once he's worked out another dog may be agressive towards him he will usually (sometimes?) give up.

Maybe he'll get better when he gets the snip?