She just ran and ran...

[Frances Pendrous (Horan)]

Hi everyone..Scary time for my husband. Last night whilst he was walking our 9 month old, usually very obedient girl, the links came out of her pinch collar (she is over 80lb and very strong) and she just bolted. She ran across a busy road and headed home. He was calling and calling and she just kept running. Apparently, her tail was between her legs so she was scared but she kept on going. About a mile later he eventually caught up with her. Now my question is how on earth does one train them not to bolt..Frankie is a really smart puppy (as are all these doodles) and knows most commands but I am at a loss where to begin with this. We did take the puppy training classes but do you think we should do the more advanced?? I already was questioned a shock collar when taking her over the park as she gets distracted and wont return but after reading all the advice, decided 1) no shock collar and 2) no more off leash over the park, but I never anticipated her doing a Houdini on us whilst out walking...Please, please advice needed as to lose our girl would be to lose our heart's desire as we both adore her. She does not bolt out of the front door...she just greets the person, goes onto the front lawn, sniffs then returns very easily, so I know there is hope yet...Thank you for your much needed help in this matter.

[Kathy Spyker]

I use a Halti on Lilly It has a second clip to hook onto their collar just in case they would get it off. When Lilly wants to take off I act like I see a kitty and call "Here kitty kitty" and SHE comes every time..lol

[Natasha]

Is she going through a fear imprint period?

It's tough to expect her to respond to your commands if she is in flight mode. Seems like you need to figure out how she got out of her lead and try to minimize her exposure to scary experiences (if she is going through a fear period) for a short term fix and then work on training for the long haul. Things happen - she'll be fine.

Anyway, we use the following commands for situations as described above:
1) Come. This one is the least likely to work if he's being stubborn or is distracted. As he's neared 2, he is better at coming when called but it is his weakest command. We go off-leash on hikes and when we call Rouser with "come" he'll always come back in view. Now, he's SUPPOSED to run up right in front of us and sit, but he won't do that when we're hiking so we use the "touch" command when we really want him to come right to us (like to put his leash on him).

2) Street. Street means that we stop and he sits before we cross the street - no matter what. We always do it so he always does it. This is easy to teach. On your walks, every time you are at a corner say "Street, Sit." I find that treats help in the beginning. Then, as you are waiting, say "Good Street" and pet her head until the light changes and/or you are ready to walk. After two weeks, you can stop saying "sit." You want to use street for a specific purpose (stop before crossing the street) so this command won't work if she's just running away from you in a park.

3) In motion down. This is a more advanced command but it is a life saver. Our trainer spent 6 weeks to really cement this command and taught it to us in stages. Basically, you lead your dog into a down stay while you continue walking (and say "down, stay" as you are doing it). You will need a trainer to show you how to teach this as you need your dog to go into the down front paws first (rather than rolling into a down from a sit). It helps the dog understand that she needs to immediately down which also reinforces that when you tell her down while she's walking, it means down RIGHT NOW. Also, we were taught hand and voice commands so you can signal from a distance. It is important to return to your dog to collect her rather than to call her to come back to you when you practice this command so that she understands that when you use this command, you mean STAY.

Finally, no chasing games (even though they are fun) and no running after your dog. Turn and walk away or walk calmly toward her with your eyes down and with a disappointed look on your face NOT saying the dog's name until you can reach her and correct her behavior with a strong, "NO." She doesn't seem to be playing in this circumstance, but that happens and you don't want her to think that this is a fun new game. I know it's tough to imagine not chasing your dog, but if she is scared, your panic and running reinforces that there is something for her to be panicked about and that she is doing the right thing. However, I understand your husband's response and, of course, you have to keep her in your sight. Tough call, huh?

Good luck and don't worry. She was spooked, not disobedient.

[Heidi]

Hi Frances,

That is very scary. I like everything Natasha said here. I've been doing classes with Bear since last September and he still doesn't have "come" or recall down. Maybe 70% of the time he comes back. But I was watching Ceasar Milan and he said big dogs need continuous training for up to 3 years. So I think I need to make the recall a part of an everyday exercise for Bear. I am also going to start training the down stay while walking. We do sit before a street while walking but I like Natasha's better and will also incoprorate that too.

I don't use a pinch collar, I use the gentle leader and Bear doesn't pull what-so-ever when it is on him. If you use one like that I would get something to attach to the leash as Frankie is a big beautiful girl.

Bear is hoping his girl Frankie will be at Bev and Willy's this weekend. Hope to see you there too!

Goodluck!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I use pinch collars but never open or close the links. I found the regular links too hard to open and close for me. I ordered pinch collars at Leashesbydesign.com. They have special closures that are easy to open and close and that have never opened inadvertently. The links on regular pinch collars can be come looser in terms of coming apart with time, I think.

[Linda and Murphy]

I agree with what everyone has said. My trainer stressed that dogs do not generalize. That means that a sit/stay at home does not translate to a sit/stay at another location. (at this point we were beginning agility).
She stressed training Come with a really high value treat (I used Cesars dog food..like cocaine for Murphy)
and I taught him an emergency down (like the drop on recall). Down is the one I use for emergencies I think I will practice it this afternoon!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I like this whistle idea. Interesting....

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I have a friend who uses a whistle to call her very skittish rescue dog; works very well for her.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Jane, do you use a regular or dog whistle?

[shelly]

We actually used a regular whistle and switched to a dog whistle, but I do like the regular whistle better as it is louder. I'm reading this thinking we haven't really practiced with it much lately. Really have to do more with it. Tori got out of her collar once in a parking lot one time when we brought her to be groomed. I nearly had a heart attack, but I stopped chasing her and told my son to freeze and then yelled Look what I found, and Thank God she came to me. Obviously, the down or come command did not work. It was very scary! Just reading this made me realize I definitely have to get back to training....Thanks everyone for the needed reminder!

[Frances Pendrous (Horan)]

So many truly, amazingly wonderful replies to my plea of help. I am definitely going to try and incorporate everything that was suggested, from more "recall practice with 30 foot leashes to "better treats", classes, try double collars and gentle leaders, watching more training videos, etc. etc. Everyone of MY DOODLE friends has given me so much more insight and hope. I definitely want to try the running away from her situation and also the whistle. I would thank all of you individually for such a great advice, but I got so many replies I would be sitting typing for hours. But I wanted to say a heart felt THANK YOU everyone and I promise to keep you posted.

[Debbie and Thomas]

What a frightening experience! One day, I was dropping my doodle Thomas off in a parking lot (Costco) where he was being picked up by our trainer and her husband to go on his group dog run. I drop him off for this but they drive him home when the2 hr run is finished. Well, on this day, one of the other dogs bolted out of the van and then Thomas ran after him. I was frantic because we were in a busy parking lot and he was running loose and he was only 8 mths old at the time. All of the people in the cars could see what was going on and thankfully stopped their cars. I had been working on a recall for a few weeks using chicken weiners as a treat. So all I could think of was to scream "COME". Come and get a weiner! Well he came right over to me, thank goodness. I think he would do anything for food, especially weiners. However it was a VERY frightening experience and I was pretty shaken up. I am sure your husband felt that way the other night. It is a very helpless feeling. I'll bet that Frankie, your pup was afraid too.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

At least she headed home.

I agree with more training. In addition work on the 'down stay' at a distance. Siberian Huskies are notorious long distance runners and are difficult to teach a perfect recall. However, if you don't chase them you can get their attention with a quick firm DOWN STAY. Dogs do not connect down stay with a recall. This save me from many a long scary chase/search for my huskies.

I use "let's go" when I want my doodles to come to me and I have no real control over them and cannot reenforce the come. When I really want them to go I say "let's go -COOKIES" in a yeah yippee voice. This saves come for the off chance I will get really serious about obedience training.