The worst walk EVER!

[Shirley]

Hi all

I'm hoping someone can help me but doubt that there's a solution to my problem  :cry:

When on the lead, Morgan is fine but although he gets plenty free running on the croft I still like to let him explore off lead when we are out and about other places.  The trouble is if we're near water he goes 'deaf' and heads straight for the sea/loch/river.  Where we live, it's pretty much impossible to go for a walk without passing some form of water.  Over the past couple of months his 'obsession' has been growing worse and today I had a really frightening experience :?

We have a kind of woodland area which is just across the harbour from the town - on the town side there is the pier and on the woodland side there is a wall and quite a drop to the water.  I have never let Morgan swim in the peir because of all the boats that come in and out so it looks quite oily.  Until today, I thought there was only one area (a slipway) where he could get to the water and have always put him on his lead when passing that bit.

Today the tide was out and he was so desperate to get to the water that he managed to jump the wall and get down onto the rocky shore  :x .  There was no way to get back up and with Cooper there too, I couldn't go over the wall.  So I decided to walk along beside the wall calling him so that he'd follow, as I knew that there were gates further along that I could open to get him off the shore.  The first gate was locked and we had to carry on to the next one.  

Anyway he ended up getting stuck in the very soft mud that is left behind when the tide goes out :shock: .  He was struggling and then just stood there, sinking deeper into the mud.  Meanwhile I was standing on the other side of the wall shouting like a mad woman to try and get him to pull himself out.  

A group of people came along and I asked them to look after Cooper for me  :oops: while I ran to the next gate, jumped down the 8ft drop onto the shore and tried to get to him but ended up sinking in up to my shins myself  :oops: - as I write this I'm imagining what it must have looked like    but I can assure you I wasn't laughing at the time  :? .  I had to go back and stand on solid ground and started calling him and running back and forth.  Everyone on the other side of the wall was shouting encouragement to him as well :?   He started moving and gained a bit of momentum, but it still took him almost 5 minutes of really hard work before he pulled himself free.  

He was caked head to foot in mud, as was I, when he shook all over me.  I took him back over to the wall where one of the people I'd met was waiting to lift him and then me up onto dry land  :roll:, where Scaredy Cooper was panicking at being left with a stranger

When we got home he was in the bath for 25 minutes before I got the thick greasy mud out of his coat  :?

What can I do to curb his obsession for water?  Although I knew that I would get him out today, I’m scared that he will do something reckless like this in the future and end up in more serious trouble.  I was quite shaken by the whole thing :oops:  .  The answer is probably just to keep him on the lead – for the time being, this is exactly what I plan to do.

I'm so sorry for the long and rambling story :wink: , but any advice at all would be really great   :?  .                    

[bluesmum]

Oh my goodness Shirley that must have been terrifying for you!!!

I bet you were that frightened you couldn't tell him off just gave the little monkey the biggest hug ever!

Lets just hope that Morgan has had just enough of a shock never to dash towards the water again without mummy's say so!
 
Sending a to you all Shirley, sounds like you all could do with one after the day you've all had! :wink:                    

[scoobie]

Shirley what a scare for you and morgan I think the best thing is to keep him on a lead like you say :wink: sorry can't give any more advice just wanted to send best wishes and glad that your both safe cockers eh.. who'd have em :wink:
Edith                    

[daftcockers]

How terrifying, glad you are both ok. Sonny also has this obsession with water. Once he gets on the beach thats it he's off straight into the water no matter how far out the tide is, and he also goes deaf once in the water :evil: , I sometimes wonder if he would swim right over to the Isle of Man                    

[Michele]

I've been sat reading this with my hand over my mouth in pure shock over your ordeal. I'm so glad that you're both ok

As already suggested I don't think there's much else you can do but keep him on a lead  :roll:                    

[*-Nikki-*]

:shock: Shirley - What a walk. Cannot really offer any advice ask ours don't really get exercised near water. However when Harvey was about 10months, he was running in the field and he saw the farmers cat :roll:  and chased it into the little brook at the bottom of our hill, it was scary at the time :evil:  – I was just glad that it wasn’t very deep! I like the way our cockers sometimes develop selective hearing from time to time :roll: !
Hope Morgan and yourself are OK, safe and well now!  :wink:                      

[picklesmum]

Oh Shirley, you poor thing. What a horrible scare that must have given you. I'm no expert, so don't really have any advice to give you, but I guess if it was me, I'd keep him on the lead for now.
My only suggestion - have you tried whistle training Morgan? Pickle pretty much ignores me when he's off the lead, but I've taught him to come to the whistle (one of these high pitched doggy ones) by rewarding him with lots of cheese. I feel  :oops: giving advice, as Pickle has been quite hard to train, so feel free to ignore me! But it works 9 times out of 10 for us now - although, I guess it's the one time out of 10 it doesn't work that will be the problem....
But, anyway, sending you big relief hugs - that 'sinking sand' must have been so, so scarey. It's one of those nightmare things that you never imagine actually happening.
And poor wee scaredy Cooper - guess he didn't want to miss out on any attention!
Emma and Pickle xx                    

[*-Nikki-*]

My only suggestion - have you tried whistle training Morgan?

That may be a good idea, or maybe you could try clicker training :? . I know it works for training different types of dogs, as there are a few  people I know; who use this method, when training for heel work to music.                    

[PennyB]

Whistle training might work better than a clicker as it can be heard over a greater distance.

I sympathise as I've got a water loving cocker who has to be rescued every so often as well.                    

[Shirley]

Thanks for the replies eveyone .  Just about recovered now.  I'll probably start using the 'evil' extending lead on these walks  :roll:   After working so hard to stop him pulling I'm loathed to go back to the extender but at least it will give him a bit more freedom than the fixed one.
 
You're right Maria - I did give him a big muddy hug   I think all the people there thought I was mad. When I got back up, the lady who had been holding Cooper said I had gorgeous dogs  :roll:   :roll:  I said thanks and asked her if she was sure she didn't want to pet Morgan    

I think I might try the whistle training.  Where would I get one?  I tried the clicker before but didn't really persevere  :oops: .  I'm not sure how well it will work as Morgan is not really bothered with food.  If I offer him a treat out on a walk sometimes he'll take it but the majority of the time he won't.  but anything's worth a go  

Thanks again for the thoughts and advice  

Off to work now, last day tomorrow, then 7 weeks of lead walks  :wink:   :roll:                        

[Mike]

Shirley, that must have been absolutely terrifying I'm so glad that everything worked out in the end - thank heavens that group of people turned up to look after Cooper, freeing you to go to Morgan's aid!!

Maybe your best bet is not so much to avoid water on his walks, but only let him off lead where you know the water is safe, and keep him on lead at any other time? The only time my springer ignores my recall is when she spies water in the distance, so i can really sympathise at how frustrating it is!

A note on clickers - they're supposed to be used to reinforce good behaviour apparently, ratehr than clicking to distract your dog from doing something you dont want it to - it's a common misconception, and I had to be corrected too                    

[*-Nikki-*]

A note on clickers - they're supposed to be used to reinforce good behaviour apparently, ratehr than clicking to distract your dog from doing something you dont want it to - it's a common misconception, and I had to be corrected too

Yeah in most cases Mike, however when I’m in the field, Harvey tends to develop selective hearing :roll: and because he is quite a bit away I find he can hear the clicker more than my voice - or that’s what he chooses to hear :roll:  :roll: . As when he was a puppy we clicker trained him for the show ring, So he kinda associates it with treats I think - even though when he does get them they are virtually fat free :wink:
He knows that two sharp clicks means return - he is v.good now, I’m delighted with him .                    

[picklesmum]

Hi Shirley, glad you are feeling a bit more calm today.
Re the whistle, it was actually my mum-in-law that bought ours, but am sure you'll be able to get one on the internet quite easily.
The thing I've found about it is that the sound must be quite piercing to Pickle, as he always looks round with a start when he hears it - great for blustery Scottish windswept beasches, as the sound obviously carries really well. He very quickly associated it with cheese - the only treat he's bothered about - like Morgan, he'll quite often refuse other treats outside, when there's more important things to be done (like chase rabbits!).
Good luck, and I really hope wee Morgan has learned a bit of a lesson after his fright yesterday.
Emma and Pickle xx                    

[gc]

what a muddy walk  :roll:

I tried whistle trainning a couple of years ago and it actually had some results... but I quit on it as other dogs were distracted too and the owners didn't like that... obviously!

If you don't have other dogs near you, it might be a good trick ;-)

The whistle I had, was tuned adjusted. So if I was talking Balu with my father's dogs out for a walk, Jimmy and Boby (father's dogs) were not distracted by my whistle sound... what I said now cannot be linked to the above, that other dogs are distracted, as most of the above dogs were not whistle trained, so all sounds were applicable to their ears ;-)

What I tried to do (I don't know if it was right) was the following: I tried to  link the whistle ( or tune(s) ) to some action(s). So *come back* - tune - *come back* etc. Not many commands could be linked as it wasn't an easy task to find the the extact tune again  :?

How did you people do the whistle trainning?

g'luck,
George.                    

[Mike]

Yeah in most cases Mike, however when I’m in the field, Harvey tends to develop selective hearing :roll: and because he is quite a bit away I find he can hear the clicker more than my voice - or that’s what he chooses to hear :roll:  :roll: . As when he was a puppy we clicker trained him for the show ring, So he kinda associates it with treats I think - even though when he does get them they are virtually fat free :wink:
He knows that two sharp clicks means return - he is v.good now, I’m delighted with him .

That's the key with clicker training - a click always equals a treat, so you should get to the stage where any time you click, your dog will come to you to get the treat s/he expects (depending on how food-driven your dog is, not sure how it would work with my fussy springer for example!). It could work in Shirley's case, but she'd have to train Morgan to respond to the clicker (to get the treat) first in everday/basic situations, in order for it to have any chance to be effective on recall. Sorry to speak about you in the third person Shirley


Whistle training sounds a good idea too