A quick update and can you help?

HeatherAnn

HeatherAnn

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Hi, I haven't been on HHO for a while because I don't really use the laptop and my tablet is very slow on the internet.

Anyway. Dog's foot is all healed, he won't be having an op to remove the tow after all.

We are now facing a predicament. We were told to only take him for short walks, which is what we did. Then when the vet gave him the all clear we started taking him for longer walks, keeping him on the lead, just to build up his stamina again.

He's a bit of a hooley off lead and we didn't want him doing himself another mischief so thought we'd get him fit before we let him off.

So the time came, my dad took him for the usual Sunday morning walk and...

He ******ed off, luckily another dog walker grabbed him when he was saying hello to her dog. He ducked under a hedge to get to them and was close to a road.

Now everytime we let him off lead he does a runner. His recall was great but now it is none existent.

We're stuck on what to do. When we're out he doesn't respond to anything. Not toys, not food, nothing. :mad:

I was thinking about buying a long lead but I was hoping you'd have some tips on how to recall his recall? :D
 
Keep him on a long line for now, its really not worth the risk and every time he disappears;) he is reinforcing not coming back.

Do lots of practising and with tasty treats, reel him in if he ignores you, hopefully this behaviour is because of his lead walking and is just a reaction to having freedom.

Is he ball orientated at all or a squeeky toy, try to get his focus on that rather than him bombing off on the horizon.


Just seen he is not interested in food, dont feed him before, make him nice and hungry, make the ball as exciting as you can.
 
He ignores everything. We've made high valued treats i.e bacon with cheese melted on the top, chicken, everything. He's not interested. He also ignores toys.

The only thing he responds to on a walk is a laser pen but we found that out by accident and only use it as a last resort emergency situation thing because we don't want to take a chance with damaging his eyes.


Looks like it's going to be a long line for him :o
Thanks for the advice :)
 
What age is he?

As mentioned, make sure he is hungry when he is out - if he has to skip a few meals and you feed only from your pockets, it will not kill him.
Re toys, no free access to toys in the house, you need to develop a drive for toys or balls if you want to use them as an incentive for heelwork or recall.
It's that old analogy, you wouldn't work very hard if you knew you were going to get your pay whatever happens/before you start work.
 
Out of interest why was the toe at risk? I only ask because my collie had a toe removed at 18 months. Technically, he could have kept it, but it would have meant long term rehab and careful walking or...have the tow removed and go back to living his full and normal life within the month. I chose for him to have a fuller life sooner as he had already spent 4 months being fine on three legs thanks to the bandaging and repeated surgeries, so being without a toe was no big deal.

As for the behaviour on walks, long line for safety.
 
CaveCanem said:
What age is he?

As mentioned, make sure he is hungry when he is out - if he has to skip a few meals and you feed only from your pockets, it will not kill him.
Re toys, no free access to toys in the house, you need to develop a drive for toys or balls if you want to use them as an incentive for heelwork or recall.
It's that old analogy, you wouldn't work very hard if you knew you were going to get your pay whatever happens/before you start work.
Click to expand...

He is nearly two.
He doesn't seem to have an interest in anything, not even at home, the only thing he really loves is tug games. So we'll cut those out and try them on the walk.

_GG_ said:
Out of interest why was the toe at risk? I only ask because my collie had a toe removed at 18 months. Technically, he could have kept it, but it would have meant long term rehab and careful walking or...have the tow removed and go back to living his full and normal life within the month. I chose for him to have a fuller life sooner as he had already spent 4 months being fine on three legs thanks to the bandaging and repeated surgeries, so being without a toe was no big deal.

As for the behaviour on walks, long line for safety.
Click to expand...

We're not 100% sure about how it happened, but he ended up with a small hole on the inside of his toe, it quickly became infected and didn't clear after daily cleaning and antibiotics. We bought a cone and had another round of antibiotics and it cleared up and the vet was happy that he could start walking again.

He was only out of action for about a month. If we thought that he would have been better without the toe we would have opted to have it removed, luckily though the infection cleared.
 
A special treat that mine adore is crackling, Morrisons sell the uncooked rind for 99p and I just roast in the oven and break into little pieces. Its worth a try and wont break the bank, this tip was passed onto me by Cremedementhe on this forum.:)
 
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