Dog will not come back

[pocket]

I have a lovely collie cross bitch who I got from Battersea 3 years ago. She is as all collies, very highly strung. She is very good at home, on the lead and understands the basic commands.

My problem is when I let her off the lead, she runs and runs, becoming completely deaf! We have a huge 40 acre field which I walk her in, but when I let her off she just goes and I have managed to get her back as she was unable to get through the fence, had she, god knows what would have have happend.

Any suggestions? She has to stay on the extending lead and I feel so sorry for her as she would love to go off and play with the other dogs.

 

[EmEm]

Hi

Well, we have a 3 month old Rottie, so are trying to teach her to come when called, and once you have the basics it should be easy.
Basically you have to give the dog a good reason to come back to you. So when she does come to you when you call her give her a treat or favourite toy, DONT tell her off, even if it's taken you an hour to get her back!
This will take time to get to this stage, but keep going, the reward is fab!
Foxy (my Rottie) has the idea, but isn't perfect, and I dont have the confidence to let her oof yet, but I practice in the garden. Throw her a toy to "fetch", once she has it, call her name in a "fun" excited way, and if need be, get on your hands and knees like a dog and slap your hands on the ground. Now it may take time, like I said, but when she does come running to you, have a treat ready, and once she is next to you, tell her good girl, and give her the treat. Take the toy, and repeat exercise. If you want, you could attach a long bit of string, so when she is away from you, you can give it a pull when you call her, so she gets the idea of what you want. If you can practice this in a smaler enclosed area, otherwise the dog becomes overwhelmed with all the space you have provided!
One thing I found when teaching dogs is to praise the good bits, and ignore the bad.

 

[pocket]

Thank you, its so frustrating and scary. My old dog was so good and came to command so when Sally did a Forrest gump and ran and ran, it was a shock!

I've tried rewards and toys but she goes deaf! Will persevere

 

[seza]

I have a four year old jack russel and I have tried treats, praise, dog training, everything and I have now accepted that he needs to stay on an extending lead.

 

[lordflynn]

Is she very food oriented? Had trouble with recall with my setter and tried all sorts of treats. Finally used cheese, was very consistant (started on extended lead) and his recall is 100% now-even if there are seagulls to chase(was guaranteed to bring about selective deafness!)
also, have you tried a dog training class? we did our KC Bronze and will start Silver soon-some of its very basic but its always good to get ideas/advice/feedback from others

 

[pocket]

Oh yes, she loves her food

Have tried that, I think the dog classes will be the next step, the extended lead is a great thing but I feel for her as she has not mastered the length and runs at 100mph and then comes to a sudden stop

I'm sure she will master the length issue eventuallly

 

[Sooty]

You could be talking about my dog! We have tried everything, even had her trainer out here for a one to one session, but she had no more success than we did. If you find a solution, please let me know!

 

[Triskar]

Have you tried running in the opposite direction, making excited noises? It does work for some dogs!

 

[pocket]

Oh yes tried that one and she still kept running so I had further to run to catch up with her

She's a minx

 

[Oneofthepack]

Rather than an extending lead which is quite limiting have you tried one of the long coiled tape leads? Dog trainers recommend them as they only go slowly as far as you want rather than letting the dog race off to full extension and snap her neck when the lead runs out! They can be 50 ft long or more if you want. Try letting her go on the lead then call her back while gently pulling the lead in and give her tons of high pitched voice praise and favourite treats then let her go again. The problem may be that she's having a really good time and knows if she comes back she's going on the lead so lots of coming back and letting go may work. I have a collie cross and he is superb at coming back but I think I was just really lucky because I also have a lurcher who thinks it's very good sport to run away!

 

[nicknack]

Don't let her off the lead until you think you've cracked it on a long training lead - otherwise you're allowing her to continue with her behaviour. We taught our rescue collie from scratch on a long training lead and he ended up very reliable.

Mind you, my spaniel x is beautifully obedient until she gets loose in our field. Then it's head down and into the undergrowth, completely deaf until she's run the length of the woods. Needless to say, she's not allowed in the field off the lead at the moment

My veterinary nurse / dog trainer has recommended training her using very stinky treats and a dog whistle. Method as follows:-

Fry some liver with loads of garlic so its really stinky. Start indoors when she's sat next to you. Give a toot on the whistle and when she looks at you, give stinky liver. Repeat over a couple of days until she walks towards you when she hears the toot. Gradually progress this until she recalls within the house to a toot. Then extend the exercise outside in a confined area, then into the field on a training lead. Then go for it loose!

That's going to be my next project with her.