Want to know frantic thought going through Clark’s head as he chased Rosco down the street?

[Adina P]

"This dog has GOT to get trained!

(There might have been some more colorful thoughts too… but this is a family site!)

There is nothing more scary than your beloved dog being in danger and STILL not paying attention to you when you frantically call him.  We were really scared for Rosco.  He was chasing this little chihuahua and NOTHING we did could make him stop.  Where he ran was only determined by where this little dog ran.  So they all ran across a busy street THREE times before the little dog ran into his house with Rosco hot on his heels.  Us humans were just a distraction from his chase game.  Cars?  Danger?  Ha!  There’s another dog to chase!  

Clark was now more motivated than ever to make sure our dogs were trained.  It really had been a matter of life and death… and we were lucky.  Not trained.  Lucky.

We are doing a live webinar on dog training this coming Sunday evening with an internationally known dog trainer.  Doodle Kisses Spring Training 2014!  It will be Sunday evening May 26 25 (oops!) at 6:30 PST (9:30 Eastern).  It will be live and you can ask questions, give feedback, or just make snide remarks. We want for you to fix any dog training problems you might have.  This webinar will get you started.

We recently ran a survey about dog training and, not surprisingly, a good recall was also your biggest concern.  The “magic wand” dog training issue you wanted to cure was:

“Come! 100% of the time.”, Better recall!”, “Instant recall”, “A consistent and reliable "come" response”, “100% reliable COME!”... it goes on and on.

Over the next couple of days we will reveal the top dog training problems you guys reported in your hundreds of responses to our training survey.

Do two things today:

1) Block off the time Sunday night to join us all in a big webinar about dog training with a real expert.

2)  Tell us your horror stories about what has happened to you because of your dog not coming when called.

I’ll tell you the next biggest training problem from our survey results tomorrow,

Adina

PS.  Why do “horror stories” and “near misses” make such good stories after all the excitement has died down?  Let’s hear yours.  :-)

[F, Calla & Luca]

So glad Rosco is OK. Recall is really the only command that's important to me but it has been an issue only when prey, squirrel, snake rabbit...is in the yard. Calla got loose when a nameless DK member took her for a little walk Sunday. Of course I became aware of a galloping Calla was barreling toward me with other DK members screaming her name. She wanted her mom : ) But the park we were at is huge and if she didn't hone in on me that could have been scary. I find when I am out in the world the dogs don't go too far. But it would be grand to have a rock solid recall. I will tune in : )

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Recall is not one of JD's problems, but I will make every attempt to tune in. :) 

[ClarkP]

This was my nightmare!

I was scared silly because cars and dogs just don't mix.  I was yelling at Rosco... LOUD.  And he was just fully into chasing this other little dog and completely unaware of me, cars, anything.

Get this... I ran out into the street thinking "the cars will see me and stop".  Stupid right?  It worked, but how crazy would that headline have been:  "Local man hit by car while chasing his dog who was chasing a dog".

I was scared.  I was humiliated.  You try yelling frantically and running after a dog who is dragging a long cable and uprooted tie-out stake.  All in front of your neighbors and people who have stopped their cars to avoid running over you.

I'd like to see a video of it.  I'd laugh at it in another month or two.  :-)

But the reality is that Rosco's lack of solid training put his life at risk.  That's a pretty serious reason for better training.

/Clark

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Couldn't agree more, Clark. It's nice to have a well-behaved dog, but the main reason for training a dog is to keep them safe. :)

[Jennifer and Jack]

My little guy got out last week or so...my father left the door open so. Jack decided to go say hi to his neighbors. I am stuck in bed and all I here is " where is Jack " oh crao Jack arguing between my dad and step mom...I was frozen in my bed...we have a lot of fighting dogs in our neighborhood....I couldn't think straight.

My friend Marcus called to Jack and said "come on Jack let's got home and see mommy and he stopped what he was doing and came..... Has their bed a cat, prank their dog or anything else ..I know he would not have come!


I will try to tune in too.

[Diane and Alma]

This Youtube video of Fenton the dog chasing deer while his owner calls him always makes me laugh.  That dog probably never gets off leash now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU

[Pam Thomas]

I just watched it and am still laughing

[Jennifer & Truffle]

Thanks so much for organizing this, Adina.  

I'm not sure I'll be able to listen in - I'd love to, though.  Will the webinar be available to watch afterwards for those of us who can't attend?

[Deb's Yarrow and Schatzi]

I'd like to know, too.  I'm expecting my mother-in-law from overseas on the 26th....forEVER ... pray for me. ;)

[Jen, Lachlan, and Declan]

My horror story: Many years ago, a previous dog - Scott, the Border Collie. Pretty well-trained (he had a CDX and an HD after his name), but no dog is ever perfect. Early one morning I took him outside to potty - in the front yard of a little place I was renting that had no back yard. Fortunately this was very early in the morning because his sharp ears heard, off in the distance, the baaaaaa of a sheep.

Down the hill and across a busy highway he flew, me steaming after him screaming at the top of my lungs. By the time I caught up he was in a pasture and had a flock of sheep bunched up in the middle. On the other side, leaning against the fence, was a man with a gun who would have been well within his rights to shoot my dog right there.

I'm screaming "Please don't shoot him!" The guy yells back, "Don't worry, he's fine - he knows what he's doing." I swear I shook for days after. 

I don't think I've ever let a dog off-leash outside of a securely fenced area since. And we practice practice practice in hopes of making the response to "come" a reflexive action just in case.

I'll add my thanks, Adina, for organizing this. Hopefully I'll be able to be here for it.

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

Okay, here's my contribution. I don't even like thinking about it, as I was terrified that I would never see my wonderful Wally again. We were visiting a relative when Wally was about three-years old. He was in her backyard (supervised) playing happily with a neighbor's dog. The two yards back up to each other creating a very large combined area, without a physical perimeter fence. As they were playing, a group of four deer came prancing through the area where the two dogs were romping, and exited out the other end and into the street. The deer ignored the dogs, but Wally ran after them and disappeared. It happened in a flash. It was as if Wally never even heard me ordering, "Stop" or "Come." After a few minutes, which seemed like hours, he finally came racing back to me. I now have an emergency recall word, which I practice with him and Charlotte monthly. The food reward is so desirable that I hope it will cause them to choose to come to me if I ever need to use it in a real-life recall setting.  

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

Adina, I'd love to participate, but am going to be hosting guests for the holiday weekend, and won't be available on Sunday night. Is this webinar going to be recorded for viewing after the fact?