Squirrels!

[Sue and Rosie]

Jess is now 7 months old and until the past two weeks has been fantastic at coming back to the whistle and getting a treat.  However, the past few times we have been out she bolts as soon as she gets the squirrel scent.  So far she has always found me but it is sometimes upto 15mins and I am getting terrified that she will not find me.  I have been putting her on the extending lead and getting her to come back as this is the way we trained her.  But I really don't want to keep her on the lead as she just loves to run.  Does this pass the minute squirrels go into winter?  Any help would be much much appreciated so that our walks can be wonderful again.  Oh, it would be difficult to take her any other place for a walk as we are surrounded by trees!  

[Colin]

There are loads of squirrels around at the moment foraging about. Jimmy doesn't go looking for them but will give chase if he sees one running.Misty does go sniffing their scent though doesn't disappear for long, luckily. She seems disappointed that they don't want to hang about and play with her.  I'm not sure what you can do really but going missing for upto 15 mins must be worrying. Is Jess interested in playing retrieve with a ball ? If so you could try that to distract her. My two will ignore most things in favour of a bit of ball play but not all dogs are quite so obsessed. Maybe you could get a long line and leave that trailing so you can step on it if she is showing signs of doing her disappearing act.

[JoHarborne]

Squirrels, pigeons, cats, children, leaves ... hey, the list of things Woody will chase is endless!!   Road sense, recall, good manners - they all go out of the window if anything more interesting comes along!   Endless patience and a pocketful of treats seems to be working .... slowly!