Annabelle gave us quite the scare today

[Amy and Annabelle]

Early this morning we got a call from our daughter to come watch the grandkids as her daycare provider was sick. In a hurry we packed up everything and headed over. One thing we forgot was Annabelle's leash. She has been doing very well in training and comes when called...in the house. We have trainer that comes to our house twice a month. But with the weather, all of the training has been inside.Our daughter has a fence on 3 sides of the yard with 40 foot tall evergreen trees on the other. My husband took Annabelle to the back yard to do her business. No sooner had he put her down, that she went running through the trees and into the road. My husband was stopping traffic, trying to call her and catch her. It's like all that training just went out the window, once she realized she was free from a leash. Not even her favorite treats would lure her back to my husband. Luckily, he did eventually catch her. He did go buy a new leash to keep in the car. He probably could have caught her quicker if he could have squeezed through the tree forest like she could.  Just really frustrated with her today. It's like all time and money we have spent on training her has been for nothing.  The little stinker is almost 7 months old. Am I asking too much of her at this age?

[Tracey & Spike]

Don't loose heart!! It's happened to us all. Spike just turned one and we are still going through it. I'm calling it his "box of rocks" stage. Smart as a whip when they are on a leash or in class but the second the leash comes off they forget everything they know and become as dumb as a box of rocks. Come you say?! Yeah right! We've had to resort back to keeping him on a long line if we have people over because he has taken a liking to try and bolt though doors. Something he's never done before.
I think its their form of teenage rebellion. I'm told they smarten up and grow out of it like their other stages. I hope so!! Your not alone! Keep up with the training. We are :)

[Amy and Annabelle]

Thanks, The box of rocks stage. That's a good name for it. I hope she grows out of it too. Pretty scary.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Happy to hear this had a happy ending.  I think that a 100% "Come when called" is something we would all love to be able to say we have, but sometimes there are just other things enticing them to run.  One thing you might try (it worked for us once in downtown Cincinnati when Sophie's collar broke) is do not chase.  Drop to the ground and very excited like call them.  Or act like you are hurt and they should come running.  We had just finshed a training class when this happened and had learned the drop to your knees and act excited method.  When she took off I panicked and originally started after her as I didn't want to loose site.  Mike in the background was yelling drop and so I did and she turned around and ran right to me.  Nothing to get your heart beating more than that second you realize they are loose.

[Amy and Annabelle]

Thanks, I will have to try that. I have never heard of it. Makes sense though.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Unless she's had lots of recall training and practice around some significant distractions, I do think it's expecting a lot for her to have a reliable recall at this age outside of the house.  We did months of recall on long lines in the park before we felt comfortable moving to "off leash".  Even now, I only let them off leash when we're not near a busy road....just in case.

[Kathryn Clark]

I'm sorry you had to deal with this. Our 6 month old, Dewey, got off leash last month on a busy retail corridor in San Francisco! With trains! You know you're not supposed to run but when you're in the moment and worried about them running into the street, what else will you do?! I had at least fifteen people trying to get him to stop as he ran by them until one guy who was getting out of his car surprised him and started talking to him so I was able to sneak in and grab his collar. Nightmare! And so embarrassing running like a crazy person in your own neighborhood! We're working on the long leashes in safe places before we get a consistent recall. I've heard buy a can of baby food for the training, it works like a charm. Good luck!

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Baby food? Now I'm intrigued.

[Kathryn Clark]

Yeah, our dog walker carries around a can of meat baby food in a jar and let's the dogs have a lick after she calls them over. I watched it in action. In a field of twenty dogs off leash, her 7 dogs ran right over in a second. My dog, who was pretty shy around her at first when she came to visit, ran right up to her to get at the jar.

[Gracie, Jade, & Barkley]

Interesting. I am going to try that.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

100%recall is extrembly difficult and I don't know of a 7 month old yet who has it mastered. In fact, most 2 yr olds can not boast 100% recall! All your time and money invested is not wasted. Keep up the good work with consistency and patience. Glad your husband was able to get AB back without any harm coming to her. AB was put into a situation she had not faced before....complete freedom outdoors. She did what most 7 month olds in the same situation would have done.

[Wendy and Myla]

Recall is the hardest and yet the most important command to give, along with "drop it'.  It takes a lot of training and we do it constantly.  Myla is going to be three very shortly, but those are the commands that we are most diligent with!  She always gets a high value treat when we call her and she comes and she always will!  With all of the travelling we do with her, that is one command I want to make sure she understands.  It has been a challenge when she sees deer, or wants to chase a shore bird but we are always working with her on this!  She is really good with it so far, but I do not want her to lapse so it will always be a training thing for us! 

[Debbie and Bentley]

I am so glad this has a happy ending. I can only imagine how scared you and your DH were. I also like that term "dumb as a box of rocks". Bentley is 8 months old, so I definitely can relate. I hope that stage doesn't last very long.