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!

[Dori & Rua]

Oh my...I truly can't imagine that split second when you could only imagine the worse.  I am always afraid something is going to break (even though Rua is 17lbs, she pulls like a sled dog sometimes when we get near streets) and she will run off. I haven't done much practicing of her recall living in Omaha because we never went anywhere.  But, being in California is a whole different story.  I let her off leash for the first time at a Doodle Romp on Sunday (only because she was the ONLY dog on the whole beach on a lead) and what happened?  Carla's dog Izzy took off towards the parking lot after a bird, and Rua followed.  Carla called Izzy, she came.  I called Rua, she didn't come at first.  So, back to working on recall. 

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

OMD! What a heart stopping moment!  So glad it all turned out okay!! Keep up the good work with the recall training!!!

[Donna K & Quincy]

Bad girl Sophie, no wait, good girl Sophie. I am so happy that she made the right decision, it must have been so scary. I only use a flat collar and when we are out walking and a few times that I have dropped the leash, Quincy stops dead in his tracks, nothing we've trained, he just does it. I don't think we would be so lucky if he saw something that he was interested in at that particular time. Quincy's recall is great without distractions, with distractions not so much. We have been working with heeling off leash and he does well except for an occassional side trip for sniffing. It is a work in progress but we'll keep working on it. We actually use "here" when we really want him to come, he seems to think come is a suggestion while here is a command. We have also been working on having him sit and wait for the OK command when we are ready for some off leash time, he does well with this. Thank you for this post, we do sometimes tend to get complacent until we get a wake up call.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

JD is just like Quincy; he stops dead in his tracks if I drop the leash, and I never taught him that. His recall is also perfect when there are no distractions. But, I know that if he saw another dog, he might take off like a bat, so we continue to work on this.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Donna, we use come, if she doesn't come immediately we say "come NOW" sternly and she always comes.

She also stops dead in her tracks if we drop the umbilical leash, she truly attached at the hip.

[Carol and Banjo]

My heart stops just reading this!   I'm so happy for you that Sophie is safe.  Jane, thanks for the tip re: attaching the prong to a flat collar.   We have a top notch prong collar...but it has come off on a few occasions - fortunately never in a dangerous situation!   Total recall......I'm not sure we'll ever achieve that - but I thank you for the reminder of how important recall training is.

[Camilla and Darwin]

How terrifying! Recall is something we should all constantly be working on with our doods I think. 

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Oh boy... I'm not sure either of my dogs would have passed this test.  Definitely something we need to keep working on! Our 8 year old Golden has never been great with recall but we have been lucky that he also doesn't have a lot of interest in straying very far from us.  However, his poor recall has inspired us to try and do much better with Rooney but your post has made me realize I have done very little training in that regard lately.  I need to get right back on that right away!

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Oh, and I am also so happy that your story had a happy ending!  Good girl, Sophie!!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

OMD - my heart was racing reading the story I can't imagine how you must have been feeling.

I have to say it, so proud of you for remaining calm and remembering your training. I tend to freak out  and though I have never been in this type of situation I will remember you and this story.

And hey, just gotta say it $250, our training sessions are $70 for a 5 week...either way money well spent.

Daisy does know the "stop" command and so far it works every time, but like you I have only used it practicing in the backyard.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

It probably works out to about the same.  The $250 was for both dogs, 8 weeks, 2 hours each session for a private trainer. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

A bargain I think. It would be a lot more here. When Luca was a pup he was $40/ hour for a group lesson.