Pup is now a naughty teen, advice please

[MyBoyChe]

Just wondering what others would do. I have 3 dogs, a 10 yr old, a 13 yr old and an 8 month old pup. All go out for their walk together and are all off lead in relatively safe spaces (off road footpaths with no livestock around currently). The pup has become very adventurous and goes off further than I would like, not always responding to whistle to come back until he is ready! Im sure its a phase hes going through as has been paw perfect until now, strangely since he was castrated too!! The older two never go far these days so he has decided to go it alone. Can I have a few ideas for stopping this in its tracks, you might all have ideas that I havent thought of. Hes an F1 cockerpoo if that makes any difference, my others are an ESS and a JRT.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Long line, all food from you.

 

[Prancerpoos]

Not going to be too encouraging here, but I am not sure it is always possible to stop dogs ever from running off.

I used a ‘weasel’ for mine when she was younger - basically a stuffed squeaky toy on the end of about 40cm cord attached to a wooden handle that was only ever brought out on walks when I wanted recall. That would generally get her back, but not always, and for a long time I only exercised her on a long line. She is pretty good now, at nearly 4, and nearly always comes to call - but will still disappear if she gets on the trail of a fox or deer so I am very careful about where I let her off lead. She is a curly coated retriever and they are very strong willed and independent so not too bothered about running away from friends / owner. This is my 4th one and they have all been much the same. I had a dog trainer work with her when she was young, but not sure it made a huge difference.

I hope you have more success with yours and that he grows out of it

 

[JJS]

Could you go back to basics and pop him on a longline until you can re-establish his recall? I find most dogs have issues with this around the eight-month mark, no matter how good they’ve been up to that point ?

 

[Cortez]

Not going to be too encouraging here, but I am not sure it is always possible to stop dogs ever from running off.

I used a ‘weasel’ for mine when she was younger - basically a stuffed squeaky toy on the end of about 40cm cord attached to a wooden handle that was only ever brought out on walks when I wanted recall. That would generally get her back, but not always, and for a long time I only exercised her on a long line. She is pretty good now, at nearly 4, and nearly always comes to call - but will still disappear if she gets on the trail of a fox or deer so I am very careful about where I let her off lead. She is a curly coated retriever and they are very strong willed and independent so not too bothered about running away from friends / owner. This is my 4th one and they have all been much the same. I had a dog trainer work with her when she was young, but not sure it made a huge difference.

I hope you have more success with yours and that he grows out of it

Nothing useful to add, but just to say I love, love, love curly retrievers.

 

[ArklePig]

Long line and most exciting toy in the world was the only thing that helped me. My dog isn't overly foody so the regular high value treats etc didn't work for us. She genuinely wouldn't give a sh!t if I produced her favourite food if she thought she could have more craic sniffing about.

She wasn't let off the long line until she had already proven herself reliable in a similar scenario. She was an adult though so we started from scratch. The book Total Recall changed my life, not necessarily every single tip from it but it helped me adjust my mindset and I would recommend it - lots of second hand copies out there (would offer mine but I'm afraid we'll need it again!)

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Long-line but you could also try hiring a secure field to work on the problem.

 

[Teaselmeg]

Longline ( attached to a harness, not his collar) and the best treats ever for coming back. What you must not do is let him ignore your recall cue, the more he practices ignoring you, the more ingrained that behaviour becomes. Keep up the recall training at home.

Adolescent dogs have a phase where the part of their brain that helps regulate their decisions/behaviour grows slower than the part that tells them to ' go for it', so you are up against that as well. It will get better, but lots of reinforcing what you want will really help.

 

[Mynstrel]

Echo what others have said about using a longline and secure fields. You need to break the habit so don't allow him to get to the point where he can go for it, if you can see a situation heading that way do something, anything to get his attention back on you, but practise at home or somewhere else without distraction so you will be confident that you have his attention when you need it. If you believe you can do it then it's more likely to happen, they're like horses, if you doubt yourself so do they.

If he's not foodie find a toy he likes, then build the desire at home so that he really REALLY wants it, and only ever play with him with that toy when he's loose (or thinks he is), you have to make being with you the best deal. If he is foodie use his meals to build that wanting to be around you, take him out with his breakfast and drip feed him so he's always got one eye on you to see what else is coming his way.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

Mine went through exactly the same at a similar age although she's a girl and not been spayed.

Longline, treats and time. Mine grew out of it within a few months.

 

[Goldenstar]

I think I would make time to walk him alone .
Walk him hungry and give a bit of kibble when you call him back .
I train the stay close command that means not heel but you can wonder around close to me .
I then use go away have fun when they are allowed further .
I had exactly what you describe with Pearl although she was a little older when it started I made the effort to take her out alone again ( i obviously did this when she was a puppy) worked with her one to one and very quickly it came right .
I also took her away from the others two or three times a week twice in the day ten minutes both time and do some work on impulse control just sitting when you say throw the item a high value one with Pearl it’s a ball the collect it yourself and only let her take on command now and again .
That really helped her .
We realised sometimes Pearl had learnt watching Dram and making the effort to do more one to one work even when she was older paid huge dividends, she is now Miss Perfect .

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I think you will find he is not so brave without the others, so walking him solo should help to get him focused on you and your commands.

 

[MyBoyChe]

Great ideas so far, thank you all. And Im chuffed that in the main they fit with what I thought. Our yard actually has a secure dog walking field adjacent so will book a few slots in there. Off to buy him a harness tonight, mine all have collars with tags as they all run loose and are well behaved (or so I thought). He is very food orientated although last weekend he ran so far off he had no idea I had grabbed an emergency Milky Way from my pocket and was rustling the wrapper (choc is for me no them but any port). Ill reinforce the recall with a long line and chunks of sausage or cheese until hopefully, he realises if he runs too far off he will miss out on a top snack. Im sure its the teenage phase as he has been really easy and good to this point, he hasnt suddenly gone right off the rails but has realised his gun dog nose is worth following. Thanks all

 

[CorvusCorax]

If he is foody I'd just use his normal food then go to high value stuff if you hit a big problem. If he doesn't want to eat, that's his decision, end the session, pop him back in the car and give him a few minutes, try again.
Fast recall = jackpot, loads of food, end session.
Meh, you can wait = sorry son, not getting anything.

My bitch is nearly three and she still gets her morning ration for checking in/recalling etc.

If a dog knows he's going to get fed twice a day **whatever** he'll work as hard as I would if my boss came past and threw me a tenner a few times a day for doing nothing.

 

[Jenko109]

As someone else has said, I would stop feeding him dinner from a bowl and instead, every single thing he gets to eat comes from your hand.

Likewise, I would remove toys and only use these during training too.

You will very quickly become his everything.

One of mine was on a course of steroids recently for a skin condition. They make them really hungry and she became an entirely different dog to train! She was so handler focused it was unreal.

 

[maya2008]

Yes use a v light v long line in an enclosed space to reinforce training.

I am sure food will work for you, unless your dog is likely to take to hunting for trash or for live prey if hungry. I have known the complete control of food to backfire very spectacularly in such cases - the dogs just left and found their own food, having lost trust in the human owner. Twice when I was a child (retrievers, raided bins), twice as an adult (terrier + lab cross - both hunted, the larger dog being big enough to pull the lead out of the owner’s hands and go off for days to hunt pheasants and other wildlife). The latter two found new owners and were subsequently fine with a different approach.

 

[GSD Woman]

I've been lucky with Freddie. She learned a good recall around the house and it's held up. When we go on our off lead walks she comes tearing back because she knows tennis ball is for good dogs.
If one of the others is close to naughty boi that might help. Freddie followed Rudy on free walk recalls. Now she's faster but still flies in on a recall.
Today though, working on some obedience, we had finished and I let her chill and drag her leash. She wandered into the neighbors yard. I called her, no response. I got the end of the lead and popped her collar reminding that I said come. We did some recalls after that and she came, got lots of praise and cookies.

 

[Clodagh]

If he is foody I'd just use his normal food then go to high value stuff if you hit a big problem. If he doesn't want to eat, that's his decision, end the session, pop him back in the car and give him a few minutes, try again.
Fast recall = jackpot, loads of food, end session.
Meh, you can wait = sorry son, not getting anything.

My bitch is nearly three and she still gets her morning ration for checking in/recalling etc.

If a dog knows he's going to get fed twice a day **whatever** he'll work as hard as I would if my boss came past and threw me a tenner a few times a day for doing nothing.

I think it’s a good idea. And Scout will need a but if sharpening up when he has finished work, but if I use his food he will not leave me to be recalled? I will literally be falling over him. So do I still blow the recall and feed even though he was there all along? Ty.

 

[Clodagh]

Yes use a v light v long line in an enclosed space to reinforce training.

I am sure food will work for you, unless your dog is likely to take to hunting for trash or for live prey if hungry. I have known the complete control of food to backfire very spectacularly in such cases - the dogs just left and found their own food, having lost trust in the human owner. Twice when I was a child (retrievers, raided bins), twice as an adult (terrier + lab cross - both hunted, the larger dog being big enough to pull the lead out of the owner’s hands and go off for days to hunt pheasants and other wildlife). The latter two found new owners and were subsequently fine with a different approach.

I’m not sure that you keep the dog on the edge of starvation! That sounds to me like problems that would have arisen anyway. I had a bin raider and she wasn’t remotely hungry just a persistent thief. I wasn’t training her with food so it wasn’t a connected thing.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I'm sure some people do go robbing when they think they're not paid enough, but I think they're in the minority and there's usually other issues at play. I'm very happy with where I've got with my own dogs using food ?

 

[CorvusCorax]

I think it’s a good idea. And Scout will need a but if sharpening up when he has finished work, but if I use his food he will not leave me to be recalled? I will literally be falling over him. So do I still blow the recall and feed even though he was there all along? Ty.

No I'd probably just tell him he's a good boy and work on something else

 

[GSD Woman]

There is always the get it get it get it game. Start in an enclosed area. Have high value treats that will show up on the surface you're working on. Take one treat and toss it telling the dog to "Get it." Throw another treat in the opposite direction again telling him "Get it." Do this a random number of times and then call him. release with another cookie again telling him to get it. toss the cookies as above and then randomly have him come or sit or down.
This usually helps with recalls and random position changes.