At the end of my teather!

benson21

benson21

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I have a 7 (ish) year old patterdale terrier, who does not do recall!
he is walked morning and night on a long lead so he can run, but this morning he has somehow found a way out of the garden. That was 6am. My OH is still out looking for him. We know exactly where he is, he is in an overgrown garden at the rear of our house, but he will not come to call. He has done this many many times, although this is the first time he has found a way out of the garden! Last week he got out of the front door, my mistake, I caught him 4 hours later, had to be sedated at the vet as he had wounds from playing with a fox. I thought maybe he would learn, but no....
 
You have my full understanding and sympathies. I have a 3 year old Patterdale - smooth coat and I emphasise the SMOOTH coat as I feel they are much worse than the rough coated ones!
Mine will fight with any other dog when we are out if I let him off the lead. He is totally dominant and unsociable despite living in a household with 3 other dogs. He has been castrated, which made not a jot of difference - only to his waistline. He is so bad he gets exercised solo up at my paddocks. I have to watch him constantly as his favourite game is to leap and grab a horse's tail and swinglike a pendulum as they trot off.

I met a chap at the the market the other week who made me smile when I moaned about my patterdale (I was buying a rat trap and he had commented I need a terrier to which I gave him the tale of the naughty one I own who would eat my chickens before he caught the rat) - sorry I digress; he said 'ah well Paterdales, now they should come with a warning that you get them in 2 parts Part a) the body comes first and then Part b) the brain arrives at around 2 years old :) :D

Hubby is unsympathetic as I hollered at the dog to stay away from the one horse that would seriously kick to kill his comment was 'well the horse is insured and he may just kill the dog outright' :(
 
I don't know what you would realistically be able to train out of him at that age, it is in their DNA to hunt, they are still pretty much working dogs all I could suggest is securing the garden or invest in a dog run (with a roof :p) I'd be going out of my mind too, worrying that he'd be run over or shot :( I know I would be in a world of trouble if mine was away for that long, you're lucky to keep getting him back x
 
Our garden is secure with 6 ft high fence panels all the way around. He has never escaped from there before, we think this morning he climbed onto the bench, up onto the wheelbarrow that stands upright against the fence, and over!
 
It is amazing how crafty they can be when they want something - I was watching Henry the other week scaling an old (non-working) water-wheel that had a bird table on it, and boy is he ever agile! I was torn between stopping him (quite hard as I was on the third floor about to get into the shower) and admiration at his climbing ability...

You may find a run to be your best option, for your peace of mind and sanity!
 
We have a big park out the back of our house, which has a 'secure' area to let dogs off leads for a run. Can you guess what happened!!! Yep, wasnt secure enough for him! I am thinking I might be able to find some sort of trainer that I can send him to for some proffessional training, so if anyone has any reccommendations, I would appreciate them!
 
Benson, you need to work with him yourself, sending the dog away will mean he will go away and work for the trainer and then return and do exactly what he was used to doing back at home.
I can give you a tonne of examples of people sending their dog away, paying top dollar, the dog will come back with all it's 'qualifications', the owner will throw a dumbbell or give a command and the dog will look at them blankly.
He's your dog, he lives on your property and he needs to work for you within the home parameters.
You need to be trained as much as the dog does. Good trainers teach the handler to train the dog.

Achinghips has given some good advice in NL but I reiterate at seven years old this will be fairly ingrained behaviour. It's not impossible but suddenly saying to him, this thing that you have been doing for years and got away with, well, you can't do anymore, because I say so, will not be easy to compute for him.
 
CaveCanem said:
I'd be going out of my mind too, worrying that he'd be run over or shot
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One of my friends has a habit of wandering, and he last person to leave the yard on Sunday evening didn't shut him in his cage, or put him back in the house, or put him in his kennel, he did wander and appears to have been hit by a car.
We're getting the crappy exposed kennels pulled down and buying a run with a nice enclosed kennel. It was a hard lesson to learn and the person that didn't shut him away is devastated (she's wanted to take the dog home with her for ages and really likes him), but I don't think anyone will forget to make sure he is shut away again.
Have you considered lines, we use these in summer, him and his sister get tied up on 15ft lines, so they have space to move about but we don't have to worry that we've taken our eyes off them for 5 secs.
 
Personally I do not like tethering dogs for long periods but again that is just a preference.

Benson, does he do anything apart from two walks a day, he is a working breed who will need a lot of stimulation, you could look into lure coursing, agility, scurry, or some sort of field sport simulation, your OH could jog or bike with him...he seems to be self-entertaining by bogging off like this.
 
Unfortunately he is home alone for 4 days a week because of our work commitments. We got him from a rescue centre, maybe that should have told us something!!
I dont really like the idea of tethering him up, we only have a very small garden so cant really run too much in there.
I think the idea of cycling with him is a good one, would certainly get rid of some of his energy!! Now got to talk the OH into it!!
 
If you need any help, shoot me a PM, I bike with my young dog (not too much as he is very young still), it's great if you don't have too much time in the mornings and tires them out for the day :)
Could you look into a dog walker or someone who could come in and have a play with him during the day?
 
My OH used to be a hunt terrierman and used and loved patterdales. The MFHA frown on them now as they are too hard, which tells you a lot about the breed.
Good luck with yours, I think they make awful pets but cracking workers
OHs were walked off the lead twice a day and came to call, although the walks were well chosen so as not to go past any holes in the ground, and they were fed after both walks back at their kennels for a bit of motivation.
 
Sorry, but part of me laughed reading this. He's a proper Patt through and through isn't he? I can't give you any help I'm afraid, I struggle enough with my JRTs sometimes, who are a blunt instrument compared to your boy! But I do hope you get it sorted, its not an easy task but not insurmountable I'd say. Good luck Benson
 
Clodagh said:
My OH used to be a hunt terrierman and used and loved patterdales. The MFHA frown on them now as they are too hard, which tells you a lot about the breed.
Good luck with yours, I think they make awful pets but cracking workers
OHs were walked off the lead twice a day and came to call, although the walks were well chosen so as not to go past any holes in the ground, and they were fed after both walks back at their kennels for a bit of motivation.
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I fully agree with this. I would actually label them quite a specialist dog.
 
Agreed 100%, props to anyone who can handle one as a pet because they are a league above most terriers. And terriers are in a league of their own already :D
 
benson21 said:
I have a 7 (ish) year old patterdale terrier, who does not do recall!
he is walked morning and night on a long lead so he can run, but this morning he has somehow found a way out of the garden. That was 6am. My OH is still out looking for him. We know exactly where he is, he is in an overgrown garden at the rear of our house, but he will not come to call. He has done this many many times, although this is the first time he has found a way out of the garden! Last week he got out of the front door, my mistake, I caught him 4 hours later, had to be sedated at the vet as he had wounds from playing with a fox. I thought maybe he would learn, but no....
Click to expand...

Hmmm, personally I doubt he was "playing" with a fox!:D
 
Patterdale = Nutter Bast*** Terrier which are a sub strain of the working Fell Terrier Get a proper Lakeland every time I have had them in the past but never again I have worked terriers for over 27 years.

Patterdales are like Jack Russels on Chrystal Meth Amphetimin:De
 
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