Training compromised since daycare started

variety

My 8 year old cross-breed is very obedient and responds immediately to commands. She has never been the type to approach people or other dogs and prefers to stay close to heel.

However, since she started going to daycare 3 weeks ago, when we're on walks she approaches other dogs and is not responding to the Stop or Wait commands (she doesn't know 'Heel'). She's off the lead. I've now cancelled the daycare until I can get her under control again.

She is medium-sized and although she's never ever been agressive in any way, owners are often wary of her approaching.
She's not interested in the smaller dogs, only ones of her size or bigger.

How do I stop her doing it? I've tried re-training on the long lead, with treats when she comes back immediately on command.
Thanks, in advance..

Knine

variety wrote: »

My 8 year old cross-breed is very obedient and responds immediately to commands. She has never been the type to approach people or other dogs and prefers to stay close to heel.

However, since she started going to daycare 3 weeks ago, when we're on walks she approaches other dogs and is not responding to the Stop or Wait commands (she doesn't know 'Heel'). She's off the lead. I've now cancelled the daycare until I can get her under control again.

She is medium-sized and although she's never ever been agressive in any way, owners are often wary of her approaching.
She's not interested in the smaller dogs, only ones of her size or bigger.

How do I stop her doing it? I've tried re-training on the long lead, with treats when she comes back immediately on command.
Thanks, in advance..

From what you have described I reckon your dog never really realised how much fun other dogs were and the fact she stayed right by your side out on a walk makes me think she was a tad anxious/nervous of other dogs.

So what has happened is she went to daycare, got to meet and socialise with lots of dogs and she realised this was actully fun and now she looks forward to meeting and socialising with her own kind while you are out for a walk.

I would go back to basics with her and do a bit of work before you head out with her and reinforce all that she knew before and use really tasty treats, something that she really likes but never normally gets. I would also give her more opportunity to socialise with her own kind so the novelty wears off. At first when walking I'd leave the lead on her while doing some training work and go from there.

I would stick with the dog daycare if it suits you otherwise as she probably craves the interaction with the other dogs.

Sigma Force

Also keep her on a lead at all times anyway, if she's going to daycare she will be off lead anyway and that can be the time she can run around with no lead.
She doesn't need to be off lead when out walking even if she her recall improves, the fact that she will be off lead later on or before hand in daycare means you don't need to feel guilty that she's on the lead in public.

variety

Knine wrote: »

From what you have described I reckon your dog never really realised how much fun other dogs were and the fact she stayed right by your side out on a walk makes me think she was a tad anxious/nervous of other dogs.

So what has happened is she went to daycare, got to meet and socialise with lots of dogs and she realised this was actully fun and now she looks forward to meeting and socialising with her own kind while you are out for a walk.

Spot on! That's exactly what I reckon, too. She's happy to wander off when there's no other dogs around but would always (well, she used to) run back to heel when she spotted another dog - unless it was a Golden Retriever, she adores them for some reason.

Sigma Force - I know I shouldn't feel guilty for having her on the lead, but it doesn't mean I don't.:o
She's on a short lead for walks (the long one is only for training) and tbh when we walk they are for her, so stopping to sniff every two seconds rather than a brisk walk. So off the lead suits me better since I can go on ahead and get a bit of exercise myself.

I'll go back to the basic training. I have no problem with her 'chatting' to other dogs, but I really need the recall so if another dog is on a lead I can call her back to clip her back on her lead. I'll let you know how I get on...

Thanks, guys.

tk123

Our guy is the same - he goes to daycare too and likes to say hello to other dogs. What I do is just practice his commands when we're out. So in the mornings when he's off his lead and I call him back to me every now and again and give him a treat and praise. When he's on the lead and say he stops to sniff at something I'll take a few steps away and call him to me, praise and treat, or if he's on my right side I'll give him his 'round' command to come to my left side. Make sure the treats you have on walks are high value too OP - they need to be worth it to your dog for them to drop what they're doing and come back to you The jackpot at the moment for our guy is gravy bones (I snap them into 3 pieces so he doesn't get too many of them) :pac:
Also never call her back in an angry voice or scold her if she doesn't come back to you on the first call.

variety

tk123 wrote: »

[...]if he's on my right side I'll give him his 'round' command to come to my left side.

Nice one. I'm always looking for more commands to teach her - she's still eager to learn. Old dog = no new tricks my ar$e.
I wanted to teach 'over' but OH refused- said she might start jumping up on tables, sofas, etc. :rolleyes:
Usually I just point and she goes, but she'll enjoy learning a new command, thanks! (I presume the left is because traffic is normally on your right?!?)

tk123 wrote: »

Also never call her back in an angry voice or scold her if she doesn't come back to you on the first call.

Learned that very quickly. And also not to just call her name and expect her to stop, turn around and listen, but instead to call a specific command (to be fair, that's only a recent thing I've learned in the past 18 months).

tk123

variety wrote: »

. And also not to just call her name and expect her to stop, turn around and listen, but instead to call a specific command (to be fair, that's only a recent thing I've learned in the past 18 months).

:pac::pac: There's a few other dogs called Bailey in our park (my mam picked our guys name - it was a trick to soften her up to the idea of getting the dog :D lol) and when other owners call their Bailey back our guy runs over to them too and sits waiting for his treat! :pac::pac: