How do I stop my dog running off?

flynnboy

Hi,

The title of my subject is a little misleading as he is not as bad as 'running off' suggests. In fact he is Bretton Spaniel which is a breed of hunting dog. We do not have him for hunting, he is a rescue dog and is purely and simply our pet. I believe that it is his hunting instincts which are the cause of his slightly worrying behaviour, worrying only in the sense that we are afraid that once he gets out of sight he will get lost.

The problem is that if we take him for a walk on the beach for example or perhaps on the hills where he can run a long way he gets carried away with his nose and once it's to the ground he just follows it and unless I am very careful he can get out of sight and out of calling distance and we get worried that once that happens he will be lost. This has not happened yet but only because I keep a constant eye on him when we are on the beach and make sure I call him back before he gets beyond himself. He is never happy to just be around the beach, he always has to go off to the dunes and once he is there you can see all he wants do is go up and over searching around and following scents.You might say well put him on a lead, fair point of course, but he just loves to be free so much when we are out places like the beach it seems such a shame to leash him.

The other problem associated with this is when I call him back I don't just 'call' I have to shout at him repeatedly and angrily before he will come back, I have a whistle also, Okay, he comes back but it does mean that the fact I have to keep such a constant eye on him and the fact that I have to shout at him makes walking him a completely stressful experience, which seems to defeat the object of taking him for a nice walk on the beach:(

He is not a badly behaved dog at all, he simply absolutely loves to run and follow his nose and he has no malice in him at all.

We have been considering an electronic training collar but we have read a number of articles and forums about these and opinions are very divided as to their efficacy and humaneness. One other option we wondered about was whether or not castration would settle him down, does anyone have any opinion about this ? The only reason we thought of that is because being a dog we wondered if it was his male hormones and instincts which were leading him to search around and extend his territory as it were, if this were the case then perhaps reducing his hormone levels would result in a reduced instinct to search off into the distance?

Any advice and input greatly appreciated.

flynnboy

iguana

How do you feel about food training? Let him off the lead and always using the same word (like back or here) call him back, then once he comes back he gets a treat. That way he will associate coming back to you with something good.

Sigma Force

For now don't let him off the lead, I know it's hard esp. when there's so many nice places to run but it's best to have him under your full control until this is sorted and it is more of a shame to loose him or have him come to some harm by running off than not letting him run free. You probably have one already but you can use a long lead or an extra long one like those ones for horses so he can still run about and sniff but you have full control over him.

He needs to learn recall and have it down to a tee, this will take some time and a dog behaviourist or someone else on here might be able to make some suggestions.

I wouldn't use any elec. collars not sure how that would possibly work with recall anyway the dog has to want to be with you and the only way to have the dog want to be with you is using humane methods of training if he feels he's going to be hurt or punished he will want to avoid you not come back to you. Even if he take ages to come back praise him when he does, otherwise he will think he's being punished for coming back.

Neutering may or may not help, if he does smell a female in heat he will want to go after her so this could be a concern and one they have their mind set on it it can be hard to get them back. Neutering would be the responsible thing also so that if he ever did run off or escape he doesn't cause any unwanted litters. It might also calm him a little and help him concentrate more on you and not on the scent of a female dog.

Using a harness might help on walks as well, either a basic comfortable one to start off with, by the sounds of it he probably pulls on the lead so it might be easier for you to control him and any pulling won't affect his throat.

No expert just a dog owner, so perhaps a behaviourist can suggest more practical ways on controlling him when out and about.

Just don't be afraid to keep him on the lead, he can run free in the garden at home for now.

peasant

Obviously a dog with a strong hunting instinct.

The lead is the only thing that is reliable.

We got a dog like that at home. Friendliest, cleverest, most biddable dog you could imagine ...until she gets an interesting scent up her nose ...she's completely lost to the outside world then.

Nothing we can do about it but keep her on the lead. (she can run off lead all she wants in the fenced in 1/2 acre "garden" )

tazwaz

hi, i have a 4 r old springer spaniel and when he was younger he broke my heart walking him. he loved being off the lead but if he got a glimpse of a rabbit or something he'd be gone and i'd be like a fool shouting for him. it got to the stage where i couldnt lave him run free and it broke my heart. he was also a nightmare on the lead. i tried everything from the extendable lead, harness and choke chain (just for a few days cause i didnt like it).

theres a brilliant dog trainer in my area so we went to her every sunday for 6 weeks. what a godsend she was... she gave me a lead called the gencon all in one and it has made walking him an enjoyable experience. she also helped me to train him on the whistle properly and taught me the trick of running the opposite direction when i want him to follow me.

i did get him castrated around the same time as the training and it did calm him down loads, he was crazy!! it didnt change his loving personality one bit even though some people did tell me it might. i think the combination of that and the training made life easier on both me and him:). he was much less inclined to run away from me.

iguana

How old is the dog? If it's more than a few months old you could be asking for trouble if you confine it to lead walking. Bretons are extremely active dogs and just a few days of limited exercise could see the beginning of hyperactivity and frustration problems. Id suggest that the OP takes the dog to a more confined area than a beach to exercise if he's really worried about him running off.

The other thing OP is that it will take a while before you get to the stage where you can enjoy a relaxing walk. For now the walk will be a training exercise. It will take a few weeks/months for you to get to the stage that the walk is relaxing in the way you want it to be.

muckety

theres a brilliant dog trainer in my area so we went to her every sunday for 6 weeks. what a godsend she was... she gave me a lead called the gencon all in one and it has made walking him an enjoyable experience. she also helped me to train him on the whistle properly and taught me the trick of running the opposite direction when i want him to follow me.

Hi - without meaning to hijack the original thread, can you tell me more about this lead? My 1.5yr old springer is hard work on the lead, am using the halti but think he doesn't enjoy it much (though at least I can manage him, he's big and very strong).

I'd be interested to hear more about what the behaviourist told you.

tazwaz

if you google the gencon all in one you'll find a pic of it. its like a halti but if it comes off his nose (which it did quite often at the start) at least i still have control at his neck. it can hurt his nose if he pulls on it so after our first training session he didnt pull as frequently. i was one of them people that the dog was walking and not the other way round... my fella seriously strong and i'm only a small girl so i was getting pains in my shoulders from pulling him back and if we met another dog on our travels it was hard work, he'd pull me across the road.
the trainer was brill and would highly recommend her if you were in the waterford/clonmel area. its all about training the owner bacause its our fault unfortunately.. he's a different dog after it. there was 8 dogs in our group and we had to walk between them all as part of the training and after the 3rd week he'd just ignore the dogs.
i have loads of print outs from the course if you want to pm me your address i can post them to you. dont have a scanner sorry.

sneakyST

As he's a hunting dog have you taught him to retrieve?

We have a Springer / Jack Russell cross and we bring out her ball with us on every walk. She doesn't take her eye off the ball at all and spends the whole walk retrieving it (until she's too tired, then she'll lie down for a breather before starting again!)

You can get furry pheasant toys which make a pheasant sound when pressed which you dog might like to retrieve, it might tire him out and excercise his hunting instict at the same time while making sure he sticks by you.

peasant

sneakyST wrote: »

As he's a hunting dog have you taught him to retrieve?

excellent suggestion

flynnboy

Hi everyone

Thank you for all of your very helpful comments.

He is about 2 years old we think, he was a rescue dog and as far as we can tell he is about 2 years old.

He may be a 'hunter' as far as breed is concerned but I've never seen a dog less interested in bringing things back no matter how furry or feathery it might be. The most he will do is sniff it for a second or two and then buzz off. I get quite jealous when I see people out walking their dogs and seeing them throw sticks and stuff and watch their dogs playfully bring them back:(

He is a joy in the house and we've never had a nicer more loving dog and he's a real character. I just wish he wasn't such hard work when we are out with him. On a lead he's not really too much of a problem and yes we have an extendable one, he can pull but not too seriously and after a few minutes of pulling he realises it's a waste of time and stops.

Yesterday I took him to the beach again because I could see that the tide was way out and so the dunes were not in close proximity. I made sure I was down by the shoreline and so I was able to get him back without too much trouble as soon as I saw him heading for the dunes. When the tide is further in he is then closer to the dunes and it makes it a little more difficult to keep him away from them and heading over the top and out of sight.

I don't think I am going to go down the electric collar route. Personally I don't believe they are particularly cruel as I have treated myself to the 'shock' of one a friend has, I put it on high and I can honestly say it was just a powerful tingle, I certainly didn't jump and reel away or anything. However I don't believe that this is the solution for this dog and this problem. I think I will go and see a vet and ask about castration. My real concern there is I would hate to see his playfulness or character in the house change. My other best option is to try the recall and treat, he does like his treats and of all the suggestions this one make the most sense and I think I might stick with that for a while. I don't think however anything like this is going to stop him wanting to head for the hills.

Thanks again for all of your kind advice

flynnboy

Sigma Force

Don't mean to nag but eventhough he was away from the dunes he still should be kept on a lead until you have full control over him.

Also neutering will not change how playful he is or his character, he may be more calmer but that will come in time anyway as he gets older although because of his breed he will always be lively. Neutering does not change a dogs personality it's an old wives tale.

JJJJNR

Same problem with my Jack Russell, brought him to the beach one day and he was gone in 20 secs.. took me 30 mins to find him.. haven't let him off since, although I'd love to.

Have tried the retrieve trick to no advantage, hes also a rescue dog.

ironictoaster

My dog (Jack Russell) always runs off as well, I can't take him off the lead. The minute he see the front door or the sitting room window open, he's gone. I have him neutered as I assumed he was always in heat or something, but he's still the same. If he escapes, he does not come back.

I live near Mulhuddart, he escaped one day and I found him 5 days later in Coolmine! I have no idea what to do with him.