Jack won't come back. (A rant.)

[kassabella]

Good idea with the toy. I used a ball for Gems. Tess and Erns it is food. Erns until the call of the wild is too strong for even food then he freedom is over.

Yesterday at the dog park Tess vanished. A few seconds earlier she was with Erns in the stream. I thought oh not again. Called and called, then went from this is the last time you are both in the park together, to I am starting to worry. I had just clipped Erns lead on ready to put him in the car and go and look for her when she came bounding up to me. She had come out of the stream on the other bank.

I think the extra training with the can has worked wonders as she hasn't left the park all week. Now she will run away tonight. lol.

[Red Fraggle]

People have all sorts of wrong advice. You have to take everything with a grain of salt and decide what's helpful for you. In the two weeks since I brought Wembley home, I had an old lady at the vet's office tell me I need to watch Dog Whisperer because Wembley got a little excitedly barky at her dog when they came in (I had him for 2 days at this point and he was 3months old). I had my next door neighbour tell me I should let Wembley off leash to play with his dogs who were running across the street to poop in the neighbour's lawn (he lets his dogs have free roam of the neighbourhood and never attempts to clean up after them. My yard is full of their crap all the time) in the dark, on a street with barely any street lights. I told him I'd let them play in the back where it's safer, during the day sometime. Just yesterday, the plumber told me his dog was house-trained in two weeks because he'd scream and rub his nose in his accidents then throw him outside every time he had an accident. I said the rubbing nose thing wasn't necessary and it probably only worked because he doesn't stay with and watch his dog outside. It wouldn't work for Wembley because I actually stay outside with him and he wouldn't want to pee in front of me.

My advice to you- don't bother justifying yourself to these people. A simple "My dog isn't ready for that" is enough. If they argue with you about it, feel free to start giving them unsolicited advice about how to train and care for their dogs. Then keep doing what's best for you and your dog.

[3TailsWaggin]

You might be interested in Susan Garrett's Recallers seminars. Google it. She is doing one now but it's closed. But I'm sure she will do more. Her methods really work. Basically you need to incorporate a lot of fun and games into your training and use them to mark behavior. It's a lot like clicker training but with more fun/games involved. You can also look on youtube and watch videos. A lot of her "students' post videos of the work they are doing with their dogs and you can figure out the training methods being used. I swear by these methods. Remington and Ferrari will break off playing with other dogs to come when I call them. It's amazing training and fun. Check it out

[Bookwormbiker]

I always keep Duke on the leash. When walking in the state park this past week we encountered a woman walking her husky and lab off leash. She proceeded to tell me I should let Duke off leash, dogs need to run. I told her I didn't trust him to come back, there were too many sights and sounds and he becomes "deaf" on these walks. She said I should take him to a Petsmart for obedience training and that's where she took her dogs. I didn't reply to this. Later in the conversation she told me about the husky running away and gone for three days and finally returned. Her Lab obviously had an old injury to it's hind leg and when I asked about it she told me she'd been hit by a car. She took it to the emergency vet and they wanted to put pins in it, but she told me "dogs are animals, so I brought her home and she healed on her own". I decide that I'd heard enough and went on my walk.
I decided I knew my own dog best and I became "deaf" to her advice. I love my dog too much to take that leash off him in the woods because somebody else thinks he needs to run because he's an animal.

[deidra]

Like others have said you know your dog best so let it go in one ear and out the other if someone says something. Bentley is just now learning that coming back to me is a good thing. He earned his right to have a little off-leash time then he murdered Santa and was back on a leash. Now he gets a little time off again but since I live by a highway I am very strict on how good their recall has to be and when I whistle once sometimes twice they have to come to me. He is still on a long lead most of the time. The only time he is usually allowed off the leash is iff we are at the pond. My uncle has a few acres out in the country he gets to run on a lot also. But most of the time he is on the four-wheeler with me. If he's not then he is agonizing the neighbors cattle.

Tank has good recall but when it comes to recall I never trust a dog 110%.

[tammyhuffman]

Squeaky toy works well with Maxx also, for a while and then he ignores that also. I just keep reminding myself he is a baby and he will grow up someday and for right now I am in NO hurry for that to happen. I will take all of the frustration that comes with a puppy and just enjoy it. A glass of wine every now and then helps too!