Hiya,

I was wondering if anyone can give me some advise on training my dog not to run away when he's off his lead when he see's another dog in the distance?
He is a 5 and a half month old German Wirehaired Pointer, he is great with other dogs, he wants to play with everyone. The only trouble is, is that if he see's another dog in the distance he will run after it, he doesn't look back and nothing will get his attention (treats, toys, calling him). It normally results in me having to sprint after him.

Can anyone help?

Running after other dogs is self-rewarding. Your dog gets to the other dog and it plays with him. Obviously for your boy, access to other dogs is far more interesting than food or anything you can offer him. Also, no doubt as soon as you get hold of him, you put his lead back on, so in his mind, coming to you = the end of any fun.

You need to convince him that you control all of the resources he wants, including access to other dogs. Start by keeping him on a long line, as every time he runs off to other dogs and gets away with it, you are reinforcing the behaviour, and the fact that the command 'come' or whatever you are using is meaningless. It means 'come when you feel like it'.

So, dog is on the long line. As he is wondering about, sniffing etc, wait for a moment when he is looking at you, (I find when the dog has got to the end of the longline if I stop walking is a good time) and call him to you. (use a new command, he's already learnt to ignore the one you have been using) Be REALLY enthusiatic, and when he gets to you, give him a tasty treat and then carry on walking. Do it often, call him to you every couple of minutes. You are teaching him three things. One, that coming to you means tasty treats, two, that the walk doesn't continue unless he comes to you, and three, that coming means the walk continues. Do it LOTS, every single walk.

Then you need to find a kind person with some other dogs. 'Accidentally' meet them while walking your dog on his line. Get close enough so your dog can see them (their dog is on a lead and they'll stand still when they meet you) but he can't get access to them. Call him to you. He won't want to come at first, but be patient. Then , when he comes, give him a treat and allow him access to the other dogs. Keep him on the longline. (watching for tangling! ) After a while of playing, call him to you again, and get your friend to take their dogs out of his reach. Give him another treat, and allow him access to the other dogs again. You'll need to repeat it quite a time to build a pattern, but the idea is for the dog to think in order to get access to other dogs, he has to come to to you first.

Don't ever let him off the longline when you think he won't come back. Every time he doesn't makes it even harder to train him not to do it than it was before.

You could also teach him an emergency sit or down. Let me know if you want to know how to do this. I won't now, as I feel like I am going on a bit!

The advice Jackson has given you is very good , but be patient as all dogs learn at different speeds , our 15 month old lab bitches still wander off to say hi to other dogs but this isnt a problem as they always come back and we know most of the dogs in our park so its like a big dog play time . your dog is still a pup so will be all up for play and not to interested in learning so keep it fun and never get cross .

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Jackson has hit the nail on the head there - take that advice and with patience it will work...I know it does I have used the same methods over the years with great results....good luck with your boy - it takes time but he will learn

Thank you all for your help, I will give them a go as from tomorrow.

Ok my advice is...
He's a 5month old GWP, he should not be off the lead until you have a 100% solid recall. I suggest you keep him on the lead from now on until you sort this, otherwise you will NEVER get it sorted.

He's a gunner, they have inherent tendencies to hunt and explore.

I agree with what Jackson said, get a long line!

BTW, what are his lines out of interest?

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Will, you really need to be extremely careful if you have no recall. If your dog had pushed himself on our last GSD, for whatever reason, he may have been seriously hurt.

Personally, I would strongly suggest that you use a flexi lead until you have him under control. Especially in public places, since his exuberance could result in knocking a child over.

Have you thought of training classes?

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He is attending training classes presently, yes.

He is also very good off the lead and does come back when called, it is only with some dogs. I don't let him run off the lead unless it's in an enclosed area at the momment.
His training is going well so hopefully this problem will soon be resolved.

our dog was really good off the lead and although he got excited and wanted to play when he saw other dogs, he still waited for permission and came back when u told him to.
recently we bought a puppy and he has been playing with him and chasing him all over the house, and then last week when i took him for a walk, he spotted an older puppy and he was off! chased the dog everywhere, totally ignored me and i had to jump in front of him (he almost broke my legs!) to stop him and grab him!
any advice to get back to his well behaved self? im hoping hes just excited and will leave other dogs alone once our puppy has had his final jabs and can go with him.

oh, jackson- i would def like to hear how to get a dog to learn an emergency sit or stay!

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Hi
we have a GWP 10month old and have exactly the same problem you highlighted as ours wants to play with everyone and particularly loves to go play with dogs if we let him off lead. We keep him on a longline and was just wondering how you were getting on and if your dog had improved and if so at what age it fell into place if it has.