Author Topic: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder  (Read 2813 times)

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Offline Londongirl

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Just come for a moan really.

After months on the long line and working very hard on making Henry believe that all the fun begins and ends with me, it has taken just a few weeks for it all to fall apart again. The trigger has been a lovely little bunch of dogs (and owners) who we meet every morning. The owners meet up and chat while their dogs play together, often for up to an hour. Sounds lovely, right?

With Henry finally off-lead, all was going well until he got tempted into this little group. They are a lot of fun, so as soon as he sees them in the distance, he just legs it over to them, whether I want him to go or not. And this week, he's started joining ANY group of dogs he likes the look of (of which there are many because of dog walkers) and generally ignoring me. I could walk off, get in the car and go home and he wouldn't be a bit bothered.

Everything I've been trying to reinforce with self-control and looking to me for direction when we are out and about has unraveled and I'm going to have to find somewhere else to walk while I go back to basics again with his training. I know what I have to do, I'm just SO fed up that we are back to in this situation yet again.
Rachael (me) and Henry (him)


Offline ips

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2017, 02:03:06 PM »
Sorry to hear it LG. It must be very difficult if your in an urban area with high density of dogs. I am lucky that eze has no interest in dogs as she is convinced she is human 😁
Wish I could offer some advice but I have nothing 😞
Muddling along in the hope that one day it all makes sense.

Offline MIN

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2017, 02:22:39 PM »
little s**   :luv:
Run free and fly high my beautiful Gemma
2011 - 2023 

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Offline Londongirl

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2017, 02:23:33 PM »
little s**   :luv:

I have lovingly muttered that in his ear more than once recently!
Rachael (me) and Henry (him)


Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2017, 02:28:47 PM »
Oh dear, I really feel for you it must be so difficult with so much temptation all around. I suppose what you really need, is to be able to build up the distractions gradually, its one thing getting impulse control when faced with one dog but another when its a whole crowd having a whale if a time. I know you don't fancy training classes but  just wondered if you could try and find a few like minded doggy owners with whom you could do a bit of group training occasionally, so you can practice being more exciting than another dog in a controlled situation, if you follow me.
We're very very rarely in your situation so I don't really know how Humphrey would react but we practice it a lot at the dog club, making the dogs sit while people walk round them with their dogs  etc and recalling them out of a group but of course the training ground isn't the same as real life.
Look at the positive side (there is always one somewhere! ;)) think of all the new places you can discover while in persuit of the doggy party free zone!!... :005:

Offline Londongirl

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2017, 03:12:36 PM »
Oh dear, I really feel for you it must be so difficult with so much temptation all around. I suppose what you really need, is to be able to build up the distractions gradually, its one thing getting impulse control when faced with one dog but another when its a whole crowd having a whale if a time. I know you don't fancy training classes but  just wondered if you could try and find a few like minded doggy owners with whom you could do a bit of group training occasionally, so you can practice being more exciting than another dog in a controlled situation, if you follow me.
We're very very rarely in your situation so I don't really know how Humphrey would react but we practice it a lot at the dog club, making the dogs sit while people walk round them with their dogs  etc and recalling them out of a group but of course the training ground isn't the same as real life.
Look at the positive side (there is always one somewhere! ;)) think of all the new places you can discover while in persuit of the doggy party free zone!!... :005:

Funnily enough, you've reminded me that I told OH we should look at getting some help if we hadn't cracked this by the summer, and here we are!

Just looking at local classes now - perhaps working towards the Kennel Club awards would get us motivated. My problem now is that they are all in the evening and Henry is spark out and fast asleep for the night by 7:30 every night!  :005:
Rachael (me) and Henry (him)


Offline bmthmark

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #6 on: June 27, 2017, 03:53:22 PM »
Sorry to hear your troubles. Unfortunately I have no advice as I too am struggling with my little monkey.

How old is Henry?

My Jett looks very similar to Henry

Offline Londongirl

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #7 on: June 27, 2017, 03:59:28 PM »
Henry is nearly two - old enough to know better! His pic here is from when he was about eight months old.
Rachael (me) and Henry (him)


Offline bmthmark

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #8 on: June 27, 2017, 04:03:46 PM »
Henry is nearly two - old enough to know better! His pic here is from when he was about eight months old.

I have just updated my avatar, you can see how alike they look.

Offline Londongirl

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #9 on: June 27, 2017, 04:05:12 PM »
Gosh yes, very!
Rachael (me) and Henry (him)


Offline lescef

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #10 on: June 27, 2017, 04:38:39 PM »
I'm not sure that KC awards would help you as they are really about general obedience and Henry sounds like he does know the basics. I did up to gold with mine but Maddie would still be off given the chance! Gun dog training perhaps?
It's the alternative behaviour thing again - but other dogs are soooo distracting!
I suppose he needs to 'check in' with you to get permission to go and play. I think I've read he does this with you when walking so you could try extending it to playing with others.

Sorry I'm childminding and trying to post at the same time - you've said about getting his attention!  Perseverance I think!!
Lesley, Maddie and Bramble

Offline ips

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #11 on: June 27, 2017, 04:46:26 PM »
LG
With respect I think this is a simple case of a failure in heal. I walk eze at heal a lot and I insist she stays there until released. Of course it goes without saying that there is a total breakdown in recall.
Sorry to sound harsh but I think you need to find a way to get your recall close to bulletproof and for that you need to train with distraction
Muddling along in the hope that one day it all makes sense.

Offline Londongirl

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #12 on: June 27, 2017, 04:52:28 PM »
LG
With respect I think this is a simple case of a failure in heal. I walk eze at heal a lot and I insist she stays there until released. Of course it goes without saying that there is a total breakdown in recall.
Sorry to sound harsh but I think you need to find a way to get your recall close to bulletproof and for that you need to train with distraction

It's not harsh. It's what I've been trying to train for the past 18 months. And we nearly had it. I'd trained with distractions, believe me. But if he loses his head once, all the training falls out from between his wind flapping ears and we have to start over. Again.

I'm sure all dogs are trainable. Some are just harder to train than other.
Rachael (me) and Henry (him)


Offline lescef

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #13 on: June 27, 2017, 05:05:46 PM »
"I'm sure all dogs are trainable. Some are just harder to train than other."

Totally agree. Maddie is very independent and like Henry, wouldn't care if I wasn't there, whereas Bramble is far more of a 'velcro 'dog!
Lesley, Maddie and Bramble

Offline ips

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Re: The never ending trials and tribulations of Henry the Absconder
« Reply #14 on: June 27, 2017, 05:29:28 PM »
LG
With respect I think this is a simple case of a failure in heal. I walk eze at heal a lot and I insist she stays there until released. Of course it goes without saying that there is a total breakdown in recall.
Sorry to sound harsh but I think you need to find a way to get your recall close to bulletproof and for that you need to train with distraction

It's not harsh. It's what I've been trying to train for the past 18 months. And we nearly had it. I'd trained with distractions, believe me. But if he loses his head once, all the training falls out from between his wind flapping ears and we have to start over. Again.

I'm sure all dogs are trainable. Some are just harder to train than other.

Sorry LG I should have elaborated. My point is that to train recall or whatever in a distracting environment you need to proof it in the context of that environment but I know you have already done that but it obviously isn't proofed. As you say some things for some dogs seems to be easy whereas some things for other dogs are not. My two years battling lead training for instance has been a nightmare.
I wish you luck 👍
Muddling along in the hope that one day it all makes sense.