My dog will not come abck if he sees another dog

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babs2507

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I have a 1 year old JR X Patterdale, he is lovely, and yes I know he is still young but ruins the fun sometimes.

He is a VERY friendly dog, loves all other dogs and people although if I take him on a beach for a good stretch of legs he sees another dog and runs. He is very good at coming back if you in the woods or somewhere but on teh beach I have to walk to catch him up.

I have tried treats when he listens and then he will be good although its like he switches off. He is brilliant everywhere else, but just gets me down as I feel like I cannot control him on a beach. Another dog went for him the other day and the other owner looked at me and gave me a stare and snied that I should not let my dog off if I cannot control him, which I can but obviuosly not on a beach.

Any ideas for him to listen? I lvoe the fact that he is so happy but he will not come back and thinks all other dogs wants to play
 
Beaches are funny places for dogs, a vast open space with no land marks as such.
Does he get so far that he can't see you, or hear you?
I had all mine on lunge lines when we first took them to the beach and did lots of recall with treats.
 
Didnt think about using a lunge line, although he is better if it is just me alone walking him, if my partner is with me then he will not listen at all.

He will go so far that he cannot hear, and to be honest, he probably cant see me even if he looked, I think he would go home with the other dog that he ran too if he had the chance.
 
If you can't control him on a beach then you can't control him and it might be time to go back to basics.

I'm not getting at you, my dog can be a little sod at the beach too! And he is on a lead until he earns the right to get let off the lead.

He most likely can see you and he can hear you (think about how sensitive a dog's senses are) he is just choosing not to come back because it is much more fun to tank off after the other dog.

As well as the lunge line (which is important - control the dog physically because once he is off the lead there is nothing you can do at this point) you need to start back at the beginning and make yourself the centre of his universe, you and your hands bear all good things, food, toys, etc, and he only gets those things when he is doing what you want him to, he doesn't just get food plonked down twice a day and to chew a ball whenever he feels like it.
It's not the feeding of 'treats' that gets results, it's the feeding of the dog's own normal food and the dog only gets food when it is doing what you want it to do.
If the dog isn't hungry, it won't work for food. If the dog knows it will get fed at the start and end of every day regardless, it won't work for food.

You have to see it from the dog's point of view, what is more fun, running free after another dog, or returning to the shouting, wailing woman to get an earful or a grumpy face. You've already wittingly trained him that when he goes to the beach and sees another dog, he can run after it and you will walk to catch him up.

He is not coming back because the value of running off is much higher than the value of coming back. You need to rewire your way of thinking, and his, in order to get a recall, he either has to think that either you are the most fun person in the world, or the consequences for not coming back, are terrible, but that's a whole different story!!

Sorry for the ramble!!
 
What CC said- because one day he might just leg it up to the wrong dog- one on a lead for a reason perhaps (not just aggression issues- sickness, recovering from surgery, elderly)- and the outcome may not be good for your dog or the one it has pelted up to!
 
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