Hi, I have a rescue cross lab-staff, but is lab size, he is quite good over the park, and stays near. However if he sees another dog, regardless of how far away, then he is off. I do try and get him on the lead before he 'disappears'.
If there is no other dog, he will come when called, however when chasing another dog, he ignores me, and straight afterwards I put him back on the lead.

I dont mind him meeting other dogs, and generally he is very sociable with other dogs, unless they jump up at him, regardless of how small, he cannot tollerate these dogs, and will get annoyed, he loves dogs he can run around with. He also does not appreciate his size and when he goes bounding up to smaller dogs, they are intimidated.

The problem is that sometimes the other dog may be on a lead for some reason, and this causes anxiety when my dog approaches, and if he is far away, it will take me a while to get to him.
Also I have found nothing that I can do over the park that interests him, at home he plays with tennis balls, toys etc but over the park, he is not interested in toys, sticks, balls, or even food.
I would just like a few suggestions so that I can enjoy being over the park, rather than being like a constant radar, on the look out for dogs that he should not be saying 'hello' to.
Thanks for any info.

Hi Dave,

I'd say you need to go right back to basics with him, unfortunately it can be more difficult to unlearn behaviours.

If he's running away from you and you haven't got a recall, ie you know he won't come back, then don't call him, there isn't any point and all you'll do is reinforce to him that he can ignore your command(s). If he doesn't come back after one recall, then get on his case and get after him.

The thing that works best with any training, is making sure you succeed, so don't set up a situation where you and your dog are going to fail at anything, no matter how small. Some people advocate using a long line, but I don't use them for recall training for two reasons, because it gives you the handler a false sense of security in that their recall can't be bad on a long line, and some dogs are clever enough to know they're on a 'lead' basically, so once you try off lead recalls you can quite quickly revert back to the same problem.

I use a whistle with my dogs, but that's because I do gundog training, there is no such thing as a magic whistle that will suddenly work where your voice commands didn't. They might respond better initially because it is a different sound. All it takes is practice, ten mins a day is enough and you can easily fit that in at the beginning of a walk. I'd suggest going to a good class or one to one as they will be better able to asses your skill and your dog, and give you the tools you need to get recall, and other training in hand. If I've got all my dogs with me, they're expected to sit (except Chloe because she's got a weak back end) and wait until I release them with 'go play'. And I deliberately use other dogs and dog walkers as a distraction for Tau who I do most training with, but it has taken me a long time to get to that point. I still do, and will always have to, reinforce the basics with her, or any dog I'm training, you can't just teach it once and think that's it!

There's a very good phrase used that I've heard a few times at gundog training, 'if you can't control your dog on lead and two yards away, you won't have any chance off lead and 50 yards away'. It is laborious training, and practising, heelwork and sits etc, but it is definitely worth while.

__________________
The British Association for Shooting & Conservation
Countryside Alliance



Follow my art here http://tarimoorart.blogspot.com/

Great advice from Sleeping Lion
You'll prob not get better
What I did with mine was take all their toys away and only use them on walks for a while, the toys became exciting and valuable and worth returning for.
Also used a long line until recall was stronger.
Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

__________________


A dog Possesses Beauty without Vanity,Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.

Hi.

Wow - I have exactly the same problem with my stafi x. He loves other dogs but sometimes he charges up to them, which although is not aggressive is very anti social and should be discouraged. When he gets into play mode absolutely nothing I do can retrieve him, at times he begins to bark at the owners - very embarrassing!

I tried everything, tasty treats to recall, a squeaky toy. All other times his recall is great and he is very obedient, it is just this one issue.

I now have the PERFECT solution - I have a spray coller. It means I can now control the charging, if he doesn;t approach in a respectful mannor then I recall him with the spray. If he does get a bit excited, then again a spray provides the distration so you can recall him to you.

I paid 140GBP for my coller but it was worth every penny. When you have this type of dog, it is unfair to allow this behaviour.

Now I have stress free walks!

Hope this has helped
Vicky x

Thanks for the info and ideas.
We have been to dog training, but it did not work. I objected to some of the trainers techniques. One of her techniques was when my dog jumped up at her she would grab his paws and twist, causing him to yelp. This eventually caused him to become fearful of the trainer, and during the whole class my dog was filled with stress and anxiety. After 2 months of training, nothing was achieved that could be related to training.
I have managed to get him to walk quite well on a lead, although a halti did not work, dispite numerous attempts.
From his history I understand that he is around 3 years old, but during his previous 'ownership' he never went out, was kept outdoors and neglected. Therefore I am working with an adult dog, with the maturity of a puppy.
He loves people and dogs, even if they dont love him, and think a lot of his issues relate to stress and anxiety, whilst at home he is a great companion.
What I think he needs is a teacher, and that teacher being another (well behaved) dog, as when we are in the park walking around with another dog and their owner, he stays near. I do dog sit another dog often, but this is a 11 year old jack russell, who is not very energetic!

I've just realised that the profile pic was from my previous (very well behaved!) dog, so have a pic of new dog now!

I agree, I have used a spray collar with great success for a similar situation (dog running off to join in football games). Of course it depends on how sensitive the individual dogs are to that sort of correction, and you should not use the spray when your dog is close enough to another dog for them to get sprayed as well, or if they are close to another person (your dog might think they had done it, and cause them to fear new people) but if you spray as your dog starts to run away from you it should work well.

__________________
twitter me...

www.fun4fido.co.uk

"Properly trained, a man can be a dog's best friend."
Corey Ford

EEeeeeek at the dog training classes, they sound a nightmare!!! And you were right to vote with your feet and get out of there!!!

I am not a dog trainer, and I consider myself to have basic handling skills in comparison to those who work and compete their dogs, something I hope to do in the future. I have done a lot of the basic training with my dogs, and a lot of reinforcing basic training, by which I mean putting in regular heelwork, recalls, sit stays, stops, etc with them. If they've got that, then we move on to the exciting retrieve work.

The reason you can't get your dog back to you comes down to one reason, in your dog's mind you aren't as exciting or interesting as whatever else it is focusing on. You've mentioned that your dog doesn't seem interested in toys or treats once away from home, this is because dogs learn in context to their surroundings, so for now, I'd do what someone else suggested, and take all his toys up at home, reserve them for walk time only, and only treat him when you go out for walks and make it something really smelly and tasty - chopped up hotdogs, or sausages.

Does he like playing retrieve at home? If he's got any Labrador ability in there, you might want to consider using this as an incentive - but only when he's out on walks for now, and only one or two retrieves, otherwise the game loses its value. Tau likes nothing better than to go off and find a blind retrieve (dummy or article I've hidden for her in the undergrowth). It uses her natural hunting ability and because she's good at it she achieves something. She loves doing this so much that she will come back to me on the off chance that I'm calling her to set her up for a blind retrieve. There are lots of little ways I reinforce recall and other training when they're off lead, and once you start to learn as a handler, you can read situations more and decide if/how you can use them to your advantage.

There's a basic gundog book by a chap called John Weller, 'A Simple Approach to Gundog Training' which I'd recommend, the basic heelwork, recalls, sit stays and retrieves in there can be used in context to training any dog for anything, from pet to trial dog.

__________________
The British Association for Shooting & Conservation
Countryside Alliance



Follow my art here http://tarimoorart.blogspot.com/