a different recall issue

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milo'n'molly

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Not the worst problem in the world but my dog is my shadow and its getting a little annoying. He is generally a very good dog but when I walk him on my own he very rarely takes his eye off me for more than a few seconds.
He settles eventually but every time I call him to heel (when other dogs or bikes approach) and release him he will run circles around me barking or jump up at the side of me repeatedly still Barking.
He knows away and will go away but keeps his focus on me to the point where he runs into things, trees, lamp posts, walls, bins, even people. After a minute he goes backto sniffing out rabbits but still looks for me every 10-20 seconds untill i have to call him back and start all over again.
I have stopped taking a ball or toy out walking and he is better if my oh is with us just after some advice because otherwise he is perfect to walk.

Ps. He has always been very good off the lead and I've never stood a chanceof loosing him but he's 4 now and seems to have gotten worse the last 6 months
 
Jacksident

Jack russle x with a range of possibilities of farm dog but would guess a good percentage of BC.

He has the BC affinity for chasing wheels and is very ball obsessed but unfortunately totally useless with sheep.
 
CaveCanem said:
Ignore/no eye contact/change direction, walk away.
Click to expand...

ignoring him is the current strategy but doesn't seem to be getting any better as he just bounces higher and it makes me cringe to think what he's doing to his joints as he bounces to face level. Walking away made it worse as he got super sticky to my side.
In agility training was where he first started and it turned out that it was because I wasn't giving him instruction far enough ahead and they said he was telling me off.
 
My Border Collie tends to do this. Ignoring him by looking at the sky was OK but it was me that walked into goal posts, bins etc!!
I have found that getting him to carry a toy or discarded plastic bottle gives him a job to do and we have extended that by asking him to drop and leave and then working him away from the article and then sending him back. Recently I have asked for a drop on his return and then worked him even further away before sending him back. He loves this game and the variations and I don't have to walk any further. Working seems to relax him so when he is not working he is more likely to inspect the hedges, cock his leg etc. I have stopped doing agility with him because it made the circling and jumping up much worse. He was a rescue at 6 months and I worked really hard on recall which probably hasn't helped. My mistake, not his.
 
Thanks, thinking about it I stopped taking a ball because he was becoming obsessive about it and he often does pick up pop bottles whilst we are out and he is better when he has something to carry.
I know it seems like a minor problem because he really is a very good dog but I want to stop it before it escalates because when he gets really obsessed / fixated ( like at the start of the bike ride or if I take a ball launcher) he gets quite worked up and excited and barks, shakes and drools and just can't contain himself.
It must be me as it is only me he gets so focussed on but I don't know what it is I am doing wrong.
 
He does sound very like Max. When I used to carry a ball he was always under my feet and was actually working me and getting me to play on his demand. We have now turned that around and it has the bonus that he is less dog reactive when me meet other dogs. Something else that also helps is teaching commands using hand signals and then increasing the distance. When we go to the woods or somewhere new I do appreciate the fact that he stays reasonably close and I can see him. I would not cope well with a dog that disappeared over the horizon and kept me waiting on a recall!!
 
While I can't see the dog in front of me, he sounds very like mine, as Maximum said, he was working and activating me, not the other way around.
It's just the type of dog he is and the type of handler I am, does not necessarily suit that, so I have to be very neutral and calm in all my dealings with him, if I get fast and hyper he feeds off that, and he also feeds off his own energy and can wind himself up into a right tizzy.

He also barks out of frustration when he is confused and doesn't know what is expected of him.
 
Thanks again I perhaps need to make sure I really am ignoring him and make sure he has something to carry.
It was suggested that as he is so focussed on me and given the chance follows me everywhere(from room to room and even into the shower if you'd let him) that i should lock him in a room away from me for a while but i don't think that would improve anything as he spends time alone most days when I'm at work and is often left in the kitchen for a time each day untill the mucky git dries off.

Will have to think of things to keep his mind occupied.
Have just seen the other thread on rally o, might give that a go as looks less manic than agility (which he loved but got him very excited and vocal)

we did try heelwork to music as he knows all the tricks but it didn't really suit us and a friend has signed her collie x for a short course on working sheep ( totally for fun) but mine has no interest in sheep at all, another friend has pet sheep and he thinks its great that they chase him he is much more interested in catching rats and rabbits so open to other suggestions
 
OP, I was thinking of you today.
My dog barked the entire way through an obedience round today.
2x heelwork patterns and a downstay. So pretty much 20 mins of barking.
It's on video.
No, you can't see it.
He might be for sale.
Ask me tomorrow.
 
CaveCanem said:
OP, I was thinking of you today.
My dog barked the entire way through an obedience round today.
2x heelwork patterns and a downstay. So pretty much 20 mins of barking.
It's on video.
No, you can't see it.
He might be for sale.
Ask me tomorrow.
Click to expand...

That's a skill, isn't it :p:D
 
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