Great dane x blood hound, help with training!

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PingPongPony

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Hello everyone :)
I've recently started walking my neighbours dog, she is 18 months old great dane x bloodhound bitch. Has absolutely no manners, is spoilt rotten, and doesn't listen at all, her name has been used so much that she now doesn't react to it at all, she has 0 recall, she finds it a great game, runs up to you and if you try to catch her or get closer, she just runs off, however if you keep walking and ignore her, she just legs it home, and since we have to cross a roundabout and a slip road to a dual carriageway, it isn't exactly safe for her to just go home by herself. So because of this, i don't let her off the lead, she isn't my dog and if anything happens to her i will feel terrible and her owner will be distraught.

However, I feel so sorry for the poor thing, all she wants to do is go for a good run and a play, and we have miles off road walks across enormous fields which are not crops and have no livestock on it, and so she could just roam free, if only she listened when told to come back!
She isn't any better with another dog, we've tried in a big enclosed arena, we let her and another well trained dog off the leads to have a play, called both of them back, other dog came running but she followed and stopped a few feet away from us, when i went up to get her she did her 'funny' little game again.

Also when walking on lead, constant pulling towards things she wants to sniff, she also almost always has her nose pressed hard to the ground, always sniffing, now i don't mind this when i let her have a long lead, but when i'm trying to cross the road, or get out of the way for a cyclist or just asking her to walk next to me and behave, it can get quite irritating.

So i'm just looking for any tips on making her a little easier to walk really, so far anything i have ever tried with other dogs is failing, she doesn't pay any attention at all to anyone, always looking at other things, finding things to sniff, very distracted.

She gets 2 30 min walks with her owner, and 1 1hour walk with me every day.

Any tips? :)

ETA. Owner refuses to acknowledge the fact that the dog misbehaves and doesn't even know the simple basic command of coming back to you, so unfortunately getting a professional trainer or going to classes is not an option. At home, dog is allowed to sleep on sofas/beds, jump up on the coffee tables, steal food from the counters in the kitchen, jump up at people, bark for attention etc, and all this gets put down as her having 'character' and being 'cheeky' so as much as i'd like to, the owner will not allow a professional to come in, since there is no problems to sort according to them.
 
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Unless you have the owner on board then Im afraid you are doomed to failure, sorry to be a killjoy but Im just being realistic. I would buy a 50ft long line and keep her on this, when you call her and she ignores you just reel her in and give her a tasty treat, then let her go again and keep repeating. Once a Bloodhound gets a scent then only a bomb is going to stop her, you have a mixture of 2 very different breeds working against you as well so I would just work on damage limitation and keeping her safe, respect to you for taking her on.
 
I agree with everything Dobiegirl says. Bloodhounds are bred to track and you will probably never stop this dog sniffing, perhaps actually lay some tracks for her to keep her busy. If you want to give her some freedom then a long line is probably the only way to do it, but as long as the owner doesn't believe there is a problem you aren't going to get very far. I have no idea why anyone would cross those breeds but hope the owner is aware of the high risk of bloat/torsion :(
 
Good luck! my friend has a labx bloodhound, bred specifically for mountain rescue down here in Devon. He is brilliant at trailing, but a pain in the arse to walk. He has to trail/ track, its totally in his nature and he just does it naturally. He has been trained and he does have recall, sometimes. But a long line attached to you is the best way to go.
 
Pm me - I have a foxhound x who has the same issues. 2 well respected trainers suggested PTS!! 8 years on and his recall is perfect (usually) but it has been a long hard slog!
 
Lunge line and practice re call with food/treats
Did this with mine (also in a empty Tennis court) i would squat down call her name, she 50% come over i would give her some treats, and did that for a while, may be worth a try?
but i think the sniffing may be down to her Blood hound side?

She sounds like an interesting dog!
 
*be warned* lunge lines can result in broken human bones if your dog can run fast enough, or a broken doggy neck :( if the dogs sets off at speed on a lunge line, please drop it...
 
sounds like she has been grabbed at to catch, you could try taking her with the other dog to a fenced area-call back give other dog tasty treat and throw one for her to start with. also try with her on the lead sitting in front of you say 'come' give high value treat, progress to doing the same when she is on lead and distracted, as she is not yours and you don't think the owner will put the work in I would do this to make her easier to walk on the lead rather than with the aim of letting her off.
I would also be teaching her to track as it will work brain and body-hopefully the owner will find a more settled dog and see and improvement then start to work with you.
 
Fides said:
*be warned* lunge lines can result in broken human bones if your dog can run fast enough, or a broken doggy neck :( if the dogs sets off at speed on a lunge line, please drop it...
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I agree with you on that, but luckily i never had a problem and now she's just of the lead! :)
Could you practice his recall in the owners garden?
 
Thank you everyone for your advice!
Unfortunately, she is not interested in any food or toys as a bribe, she simply doesn't care and just legs it as fast as she can from you, even with other dogs around, she only comes up far away enough so you can't touch her, even in her own garden, if anything in her garden she's worse, all the owner does is waits for the dog to come back inside on its own and slams the door shut behind her.
I've tried having her on a lunge line, she went mental running around, yanking on the lunge line, pulled me over a few times (and i'm 5ft11 and 11stone so am not little) in the end she broke her collar (crappy nylon 'pretty' thing with the safety catch like on a cat collar, so the catch broke), that's how i found out that she doesn't have any recall what so ever, only caught her by creeping up on her from behind when she was busy sniffing something.
So now she gets walked on a short lead, with 1 normal collar that her owner insists on me using and the other i just use a slip lead, lead has a clip at other end also so i clip it to her normal collar, at least if she breaks said collar or slips out of one of them, at least i have a back up plan.
I'll take a photo of her on her walk in a minute, i'm just on my out to get her now.

I don't mind her sniffing along the off road tracks, i can just lengthen the lead enough for her to sniff and me not to get yanked about too much. I'd really like her to stop sniffing when on roads and pavements though, it's just not safe crossing a slip road to a dual carriageway with her having to sniff her way across and if there happens to be an interesting smell, she will stop dead, she's a strong dog and it takes a lot of pulling for me to get her across the road quickly enough.
I've had a great dane before so initially i thought i'd be ok, i can deal with danes, but this dog is more blood hound than dane in her behaviour and i just cannot get through to her. She looks more like a dane than a blood hound, she is beautiful, but a PITA to walk!

I'm going to take her through the fields again today, i'm armed in squeaky toys and some chicken, i'll have another go at getting her attention. I'll report back with photos after our walk :)
 
Good luck!

Looking forward to pictures!
(forgot to mention!) i used to keep my treats in a plastic bag/poo bag so the rustle would help her come over (if that makes any sense!) and i ALWAYS make her sit and wait when taking or putting her on the lead with a treat too!

But as you mentioned in a previous reply, she isn't your dog so letting her off the lead is a tad risky! would the owner consult to a halti? heard a mix of reviews for these and may help if she is constantly sniffing as you can gently 'pull her up''?

The joys of dogs aye!!
 
Having just spent two weeks walking dogs at a rehoming kennels I can vouch for the snack in bag that rustles :)
just concerned that you will end up flat on your back with enormous dog sitting on your chest eating the snacks bag and all. :D
 
Agree Gunnerdog, use the long line on a harness, and do not let the dog off the lead. When bloodhounds are being used for tracking they do it with longlines, as the hound will keep going. They are not a normal pet dog, they are nothing like a pet dog to train, and their ability to track/trail is incredible. They live to sniff, and are rarely food or toy orientated. Their tracking/trailing has to be contained to make them useful dogs. I can see the use of a labxbloodhound, but a bloodhoundxgreatdane is deranged. I walk my neighbours, but in a stock fenced farm, and he has been trained since he was a puppy, and I know how to work with him, but even then he is hard work, and I have to keep my wits about me at all times.
Personally I would not be letting the dog off the lead, ever.
 
Well todays walk was... interesting. We set off quite nicely, calm, walking next to me, only occasionally sniffing at things, until we got to the road, asked her to wait, she sat down, then suddenly as if someone turned the lights on, she dragged me into the middle of the road because there was a flattened dead animal there. I'm extremely embarrassed to say that i lost it, i screamed at her and threw the roll of poo bags at her, i'm not proud of it but it got her off the road and stopped us getting run over, so even though i'm not proud of my actions, i'd rather have done that than be dead or in hospital.
The rest of the walk, she behaved like an angel, walked on the lead nicely, very rarely sniffing at things, didn't yank me around and generally behaved herself, she also had a lovely time in the stream and didn't try to pull me in :)
We got home, i let her in and closed door behind me while i undid her collar and lead and put those away. On my way out, she ran full pelt at me, knocked me over, ran out into the middle of the road (on the estate so not a huge road) and proceeded to run around the estate. It took me 20min to catch the bloody thing, and i only caught her because a lovely lady walking her friendly lab let her sniff the lab and grabbed her collar for me.
Again, had treats and toys, treats in rustly bag etc, she doesn't take any notice and she simply does not care!
Her owner doesn't have a harness for her otherwise i'd use that to put her on a long line, but i'm not really prepared to buy things for someone elses dog.
Because during the walk she was so well behaved, i managed to snap a couple of pics :)
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she looks in tip top condition and her antics had me laughing (sorry)

that is not a slip lead she is wearing though it is a training lead, the clip should not be worn around the neck-you run the risk when she pulls of the clip digging into flesh and getting embedded.
 
Sorry me too :D :D I probably shouldn't though as I was dragged all over the place by a lab X ? Something humongous last week and despite having both hands on the lead and leaning back and using all my strength AND it was a slip lead I still got dragged!

Lovely looking dog though :)
 
A handsome animal, of that there's no doubt, BUT...... ! The breeding and the apparent arrogance displayed within the pics, speaks of an oafish animal, and I suspect that progress, assuming that any can be made, will be very slow!

Alec.
 
Have you a dog with good recall to help it? So he will follow back. Could you do some games to do with scents to occupy him (use some brain energy) ? It looks like you have a big job on your hands! Another thing that has
worked for me is to make a game where's ............. You can do it for people, toys, other dogs especially if you do it to people you can use it as recall a bit. Teach dog names of things. I don't know how well you will do with that as only done with a very eager to pplease spaniel!
 
Alec Swan said:
A handsome animal, of that there's no doubt, BUT...... ! The breeding and the apparent arrogance displayed within the pics, speaks of an oafish animal, and I suspect that progress, assuming that any can be made, will be very slow!

This. I have a foxhound/flatcoat he is now good off the lead at 9 years old.

Lovely dog though.
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