I hope somebody out there can help as I’m rapidly running out of ideas of ways to try and cure this problem. I have a 20 month old Staffordshire Terrier bitch who is a gentle little soul, but is extremely wilful and very intelligent. For the past few months she has got it into her head that she does not want to come back to us either during or at the end of walks. Generally this seems to be linked to the fact that she does not want her lead on, a behaviour which she also exhibits at home when she will often run off and / or hide behind the bamboo when it comes time to put her lead on to go for a walk. But we have tried taking her back to the car without a lead on where it is safe, and although she will come to the car, she won’t get in it and then walks off again.
A little bit of history might help here. She was a rescue but we have had her since she was 13 weeks old. She doesn’t really like being handled and I have always put this down to a lack of handling when she was very young. However, she is very dog focused and wants to go up to every dog she meets. When she was young we actively encouraged this since she was a Staffy and we wanted to make sure she was well socialised. But because she wouldn’t come back if she saw another dog we kept her on the lead until around 10 months old. From that time up until 12 months we let her walk off lead and her recall became reasonably good (although not perfect). It was, however improving. At 12 months she was diagnosed with luxating patella and spent the next 5 months either having no walks or limited lead walks as a result of 3 operations. At the end of this time we let her off again. This was exactly the same time that we acquired a 7 month old Springer as a companion for her. For the first week or so she would come back to us and was very good. But then she started avoiding us at the end of a walk, or worse, running off to explore on her own. Throughout a walk she will come up to us looking for treats, and although she doesn’t walk alongside us, will go where we tell her to and will come when called. But if she thinks the walk is ending or we want to put a lead on her, she hangs back around 5-10 yards away. It can take us up to 45 minutes to catch her, and often we can only do it with some other dog walker’s help (as she goes to play with their dog). Needless to say she is spending more and more time on the lead.
We’ve tried a whistle, different commands, favourite toys, and favourite treats reserved only for recall. We’ve practiced recall in the garden and on an 8m lead. We’ve tried taking her towards to the car and then continuing the walk. We’ve tried playing with her at the end of the walk. We’ve also tried giving her a favourite treat for getting back in the car. We’ve even got crafty and given her peanut butter as she always stops and licks her right leg when she has this, giving us time to get the lead on. But she gets wise to everything after 2-3 days (including the peanut butter trick) and so we’re back to square one.
I really don’t want to have to walk her on the lead all the time as she is generally very well behaved (we actually get a lot of positive comments about her), but it’s getting to the stage where that seems to be our only option. I would be grateful for any suggestions as to what we can try to overcome this problem.
Julia Livesey
I would keep her on a long training line so that you can still get her back but so she can explore and spend lots of time in your garden just re-calling and putting the lead on, so it becomes second nature to her again.
ReplyDeleteLucy
When I teach recall I start by calling the dog to me as many times as possible, in the house, and rewarding every time to start. Then I only reward the fastest ones. Then move onto the garden, although the big wide world is going to be a harder nut to crack, she will have a good history of being rewarded for coming when you call her.
ReplyDeleteIf she won't come to you for the lead on when getting ready to go out for the walk, put the lead away and abort, or just take your other dog for a short trip around the block.
Do you ever recall her during the walk when it's not time to go home? If she comes to you on a walk looking for treats I'd turn in the other direction and run away from her. I'd also have her on a long lead when out on a walk, as long as is manageable, and call her to you lots and lots of time, if she won't come you can either entice her with the lead, or shorten it as you go towards her. Put her short lead on her as well, and walk for a little while, before letting her back on the long lead again. It seems at the moment she's associating the lead with the end of fun meeting other dogs, so you need to teach her that it's just a lead and it can go on and off at any time with no clue which time will be the end of the walk. Once she's got better you can let her off the long lead, but carry on calling her back to you and putting her on the lead for short periods.
I used a squeaky toy or a ball to get my dog back from other walker's dogs, otherwise he'd go off with them for miles!
Sorry Julia,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have a lovely, dog friendly, strong-willed Staffie bitch of the same age I wouldn't like to offer any suggestions as I'm not knowledgeable enough.
It sounds like you know what you are doing as you seem to be trying all the right things.
I really hope someone will be able to help.
Good luck
Thanks for your comments so far. I'm begining to think I need to try a combination of recall at home (as suggested) and a long line. I have tried a long line, calling her back, and then putting the shorter lead on her before for a while. It didn't seem to make a difference, but I may not have tried it for long enough.
ReplyDeleteWe don't actually have a problem with her running off and not coming back when called. She always comes back, just not close enough to get hold of her again. Karen Wild (Pawprint training) has given me the idea of letting her run loose on a long lead (more chance to catch her) so we are going to try that. Just not too sure how we will fare in the woods though!
Hi Julia, Lucy and Karen are correct in what they are saying with using the long line - however, I would like to just add, without chatting to you more on the subject, I suspect that you are trying all the things but not spending enough time reinforcing the training. A 30 foot line is how I train all my clients to get a perfect recall and it works. Karen is right in saying let her run around on the line, but I think for starters you should keep hold of that line and teach her the basics of a recall. Take with you some high valued treats on the walk, i.e. chicken, cheese, ham or hot dog sausages. Do some simple recalls by using her name and your recall command. If she ignores you, simply give the line a gentle tug to reinforce it and normally most dogs will come in to you. If she still ignores, you can then use the line to reel her in. Make sure as she is coming in you are praising her and give her the reward immediately. Give her permission to move off again, don't let her take the treat and run. You can also trying running away and calling her, hiding behind trees to make her find you. Make it interesting and fun. When she has come into you, practice just holding the collar and rewarding her at the same time, so that she gets used to you grabbing that collar. Eventually when she is improving on her recall in different situations, you can try letting go of the line and let it trail after her. So then if she fails, you can simply grab the end of the line rather than chase her. It can take time but this is the simplest and easiest way to get a good recall. Any other advice you may require you can visit me at www.schoolforpaws.co.uk. Best of luck - Emma - School For Paws Dog Training.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought - tie several knots in the long line so you can step on it quickly without it slipping away from under you.
ReplyDelete