The Best $250 We Have Ever Spent!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Last night we took Lucy and Sophie to Bark in the Park at the Cincinnati Reds game.  We got downtown early as to avoid the rush hour traffic and were just walking around a little bit.  I'm not sure how people downtown have dogs, because finding grass for a potty was a challenge.  We finally spotted a small area of grass (ok, I was being nice, it was just weeds).  We crossed a 4 lane down town street and were walking through the weeds to get them to potty.  All of a sudden Sophie's prong collar came undone.  (I have no idea what happened as I checked and rechecked that it was secured when I put it on her).  Anyway, she turned and looked at me and took off.  I can't even come up with any words to explain how I felt at that moment.  I instantly started after her thinking I can't let her get to the street but she was running so I said I have to stop and not chase her.  I stopped and screamed SOPHIE STOP to her.  (Don't know why I thought she would understand STOP, as it isn't anything she was every taught).  She turned around and looked at me, and I heard Mike behind me say Sophie COME ... Our recent training kicked in and I dropped to my knees and started clapping my hands excitedly saying Sophie come, and much to my total and complete amazement, she started at full speed running right to me!    I am so very thankful that we have been working on the COME command for the last couple of months as a result of the training we started in February!  We had never tested it outside of the back yard, but I feel a slight bit better.  I won't stop working on it as it could have gone the other way and I don't even wanna think about what would have happened because we were just on a tiny little piece of a lot between the Ohio River and a 4 lane City street!  It had disaster written all over it.  So, if your doodles do not have a 100% recall, please please start working on it today!  Don't put it off another day as you never know when you will need it.  This is also leading me to more practice to get off of the prong collar and onto a collar I feel more comfortable with, as that is a situation I don't ever want to be in again!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

OMD, you must have been scared to death.  It certainly does point out how critical the recall is for our dogs......it can literally save their lives.  Whenever we're in situations with traffic we link the prong collar to the regular flat collar with a carabiner...this was a great trick that Bruce Girl taught me.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

great idea ... I will definitely do that.  She did spent the rest of the night with the leash hooked to both her flat collar and the prong with just the buckle, she it prevented me from really utilizing the prong so my arm and shoulder got a workout.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I think that's why the special leash might be good. The part connecting it to the prong collar connection is shorter and engages first. The backup only comes into play if the prong collar fails.

http://leerburg.com/flix/videodesc.php?id=748

I wish I could figure out how to braid one of these since my doodles mostly use the paracord leashes I braided for them.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

http://www.kollarsbykathryn.com/

[F, Calla & Luca]

Thanks Nancy but I wanted to do it myself . The carabiners should do the trick though.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Spud's collar has broken probably because I am not strong enough sometimes to make make sure it was fastened correctly and the carabiner worked just fine. 

How ever  you do it, just do it and be safe.

[F, Calla & Luca]

That's a good motto!

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

oh how scary, thats any dog owners worst nightmare. im f=glad she dint run of and everything turned out ok

I need to work on Coopers recall, it has got so bad i wont let her off leash any more

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

What a scary thing to happen, but I am so glad she listened and came back. BruceGirl talked about a way she connects the prong collar to Gavin's regular collar, in case this happens. We bought a clip for Fudge and attach it to both collars, because she is the one I know would bolt if given the opportunity. Thank you for a good reminder to never let up on training. Once again, I am so glad Sophie listened. BTW, I cannot imagine taking my dogs to a ballgame. I find that amazing.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

It was a lot of fun.  We met Mike/Ann/Sheba and Duke there.  Trust me though, there were some dogs that should not have been there.

[sandy b]

Oh my!! I'm so glad this turned out Ok. Just shows us we need to constantly work on recall.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

OMD, I am so glad Sophie came back to you! I can't even begin to imagine how frightened you must have been. The bolt broke on JD's leash once here in our quiet low-traffic neighborhood, and I was panic stricken!

Thank you for reminding all of us how important that recall is, Sheri. It really can save their lives, which is the whole point of the training.

Hug your girls for me.