Lost & Found!

[gerry]

We have had a particularly bad day today - Risby decided to run off when out with Kevin on a run this morning :cry:   Thankfully, to cut a long and very traumatic story short, we found him 3 hours later - muddy and very scared having crossed two major roads in his journey.  

This isn't the first time he has decided to "go" - last week I was out with him and had been walking with another cocker owner who has two cockers (both male), after a time we went our separate ways and all dogs were happy enough to part.  However, I was almost at the car park when Rigs suddenly turned and ran in the opposite direction - it was almost as if he had caught scent of his playmates and decided to go back after them.  I then had to run all the way back down the river to get him back - he just totally ignored my calling him.

Is this just him being "naughty" or is it a male dog thing (he has not been neutered and is a year old).  Also on Friday when I met up with the two male cockers again, he kept trying to mount the youngest one and I had to put him on the lead in the end as he was  such a pain :oops:

I have read Jane's article on castration in the FAQ's section and don't really want him done for no aparent reason, but I do want to be able to trust him off the lead - Any help or advice appreciated.

P.S.  He is looks beautiful after his bath and had roast beef for his tea as a special home-coming treat, and he's now flaked out in total abandon in his bed                    

[Pammy]

Gerry - sorry for not replying sooner. What recall training have you done? I suggest that you need to do a lot more with him and until he's more responsive, then unless you are in a totally safe place, Risby should stay on his lead

Cockers can be very single minded. When on holiday at New Year, we had walked for miles up and then back down this Scottish Glen and both my boys had been so good. Very near to the end, the younger one suddenly saw a sheep at the top of a mountain and was off. If I had seen the sheep first, he would have been on his lead like a shot, as I know what he's like. It took us ages to get him back, no amount of calling etc - we had to climb the hillside and fortunately the sheep came towards us so we caught him.

You need to be prepared at all times for Risby to run off, if he has that tendency, then he will do it. Training on recall can help immensely, but even then, if they see something they want, they'll be off. The best you can do is do some training and keep your wits about you.  Sorry that's prob not much help, but there is no easy answer to this, and neutering isn;t necessarily going to solve it either.                    

[gerry]

Thanks Pammy

We've been working with Extra Mature Cheddar which really does the trick!  Back to square one with recall, as you say.  I guess I really just needed reassurance that neutering isn't the solution - so many people seem to say it is (but I haven't listed as half of them dont own a dog anyway :wink: ).

Thanks for your help                    

[KellyP]

Hi Gerry,

I've recently tried something new with Millie, who is about 85 - 90 % good off the lead and with re-call - however she has her 'naughty' moments, as Pammy said, when something far far more interesting than me and my packet of goodies comes along.
So I have been taking a squeaky toy with me on a walk - if Millie runs off and isn't responding to her name and the 'come here' command I squeak it frantically, as soon as she turns to face me I call her again and ty to make myself look really interesting (usually by opening my arms really wide, calling her in a stupid voice and squatting close to the ground :oops:) I generally look ridiculous, but it seems to be doing the trick so far  :?                      

[Laura]

I'm sharing all my daft ideas this evening!  To help with Brogan's recall we use the command "wotsit."  instead of come here.  (Came from using the words what's this - after shaking toys and running around like a nutter to grab his attention - to no avail).  I found that the words Come and here were used too often in the house by the children and were therefore ignored on occasions outside.   We  wanted a word that was never used for anything other than to give a reward.  

We only use this command with his favourite titbit - cheese or liver on offer.  Brogan now licks his lips and comes running when we shout it!  We shout it often when he is distracted  in the garden.

Can only hope it continues to work as  he gets older!  A sqeaky toy also accompanies us on all our off lead walks.  We have far from perfected our recall but is much more reliable with our "wotsit" call.  (Has nothing to do with cheesy crisps)!

It's not 100% for us yet so I will continue to wear my trainers for walking and keep up my gym visits!                    

[T]

The idea of a male running off for the female scent did come to mind. Charlie-Spud has been castrated (due to one of his testicles not dropping) but has still given us a couple of scares with mini-running off's (in comparison!!)

The pattern appears to be on the return journey of a walk. It's as if he get his own scent and just bolts on ahead towards 'home', well the car, not responding to any recall. The bad thing is obviously the car parks & roads! Luckily he's been stopped by a gate, a bird (distracted him in a bush) and me once catching up with him! So now we do extra recall on the latter part of the return trip & then put his lead on for the final part. It's been trial & error tho' and different places are difficult to judge at first.

We've also realised on recall he's better when we whistle him ... we just started to whistle the syllabels of his name ... so "Whhhhssstt-Whst"... like "Charrr-lie" ... and we find it works better than just calling his name as he seems to hear it much better.

Like the idea of a taking a sqeaky tho'    will try that!                    

[Laura]

When I take Brogan out alone I also use a whistle to get him back.  I am very feminine though and can whistle very loudly with my fingers!  

Neither my husband nor our 3 children share this talent though - hence the use of our chosen word "wotsit."

Brogan ripped apart one of his squeaky toys recently - i kept the squeaker and use that at home the same way as "wotsit" - associates it with treats now.  The things we do eh?  And we think our dogs are neurotic!!!