runaway puppy

[Michelle_S]

I had a scary experience today on my morning walk in our local park with Harry (now 9 months old) - when i let him off of the lead he shot out of the gates into the road with me in hot pusuit shouting HARRY COME!! - he then ran into a garden and had to be tempted out from under a bush with a bit of hot dog sausage - favourite treat.

Up until now he has been really good and his recall has been excellent so I guess I have been feeling (over?) confident in letting him off the lead.

My question is what would you have done once you has caught him?

I am not sure if he thinks it was OK, as I gave him a treat to catch him, but should I have 'punished ' him in some way afterwards? or would he then associate being told to 'come' with me being cross? When he does something 'naughty' at home a firm 'NO' is usually enough to stop him. Would this suffice? I carried on the walk with him on the lead and my heart has only just stopped thumping!

I'd really appreciate any tips!                    

[Pammy]

This is a difficult one and your instinct is to shout and tell him off. Trouble is he'll think he's being told of for coming to you and taking his treat- not for running off or hiding  - so confusing for a pup. What you want to do is to make him come to you each time you call - everytime - NO won't acheive that.

We use NO when they are doing something that we want them to stop - chewing, misbehaving etc - but NO for a single short action that's finished is a waste of time and simply confusing.

Reward and praise for taking the treat is the right thing to do - imho :wink:                    

[PennyB]

This can happen at this age—Wilf had wonderful recall until recently (he's 9 months) and then he decided he'd do a runner (I think its a young boy thing who should know better but he's pushing the boundaries again and will probably misbehave in other things as well occasionally). I went back to basics with him and started with recall training again. On the park he's fine but if I go up the Taff trail I attach a long line on to his harness just to make sure.

Never punish a dog for running away.                    

[Michelle_S]

Thanks Pammy and Penny - it's good to have confirmation that what I did was probably the right thing. Guess Harry's just keeping me on my toes and making sure I don't get complacent :wink:                    

[PennyB]

Guess Harry's just keeping me on my toes and making sure I don't get complacent :wink:

That's cockers for you Ruby was doing brilliantly at her intermediate training class tonight and then just before the end she decided that she'd had enough of the cute cocker routine and thought she'd become the devil incarnate and defend her cheese treats as she thought I was going to hand them out to the dog next to me (even though she'd been good mates at the beginning of the class)—thank you Ruby! There was also a wonderful bit where we were meant to walk to heel off lead 4 times the field we were in. I always get lost in how many times we were meant to do this but Ruby was obviously counting (or on strike) and there she did the perfect sit-stay without me asking her and then left me to walk to heel without her, much to the amusement of everyone else that was watching. Just to prove that keeping you on your toes is what cockers do best—they are really training you                    

[LindaW]

I agree with Penny that this can happen at any age.  
Sadly we lost our hansome tricolour cocker boy called Dexter a few years ago.  He was about the same age as your dog and he ran away into the road on a dark morning and when we found him he was dead!  :cry:
I also remember when my children were at school a lady used to let her golden cocker boy off the lead and he used to run around in the park opposite the school but one day he decided to dart across the road and was killed by a car.   :cry:
I've also heard of a lot of other cockers killed in a similar manner.  I think it is essential to try and always be one step ahead of our cockers if we possibly can as it only takes a moment for them to dart off and if you're near a busy road the consequences could be dire.