Walking to heel (or at least not dragging me under cars!!)

Mudbath

Thanks Devils_vixen and Raksha - all advice is very welcome.

Jazzyman - at our dog training class we were always told if they don't come back then start to walk away. This was sooooooooo hard when my dally decided to run out of one of the exits to our park but I turned round and walked back into the park. Eventually I saw her peeping round the corner of the gate but I kept walking. After a few minutes she came legging it back to me. The longest few minutes of my life!!! She's been pretty good since. I guess if your dog knows you'll still be there when she's ready to leave then she will wait until she is ready. I also give our dog a treat or a big cuddle whenever she comes back and i've put the lead on.

I'm sure people with more advice will be along soon.

sarabe

jazzyman01 wrote: »

Help! hope you dont mind me adding to this thread.
I have a rescue terrier cross, she is now 3. Absolutely georgeous and looks like butter would not melt.
Until the summer I could take her out and immediately take her off the lead when reaching the fields (just across the road). She would take off but always come back when called.
Since the summer, every time I let her off she takes off and only comes back when she wants to - usually after 30 minutes but has been longer.
I have tried to take her on extended lead walk for an hour before I let her off, but she still takes off. As the fields are surrounded by hedges/trees it is not long before she vanishes and my shouts are totally in vain.
Practising in the garden, she is fine comes straight away. Any advice please??

First of all recondition her to what the lead coming off means. At the moment 'lead off' means freedom, run away from you.

You need to take the lead off, throw food on the ground, walk away whilst she eats it, take out a toy and have her run to you for a game when she has finished eating.

However I'd put money on it that she will ignore you and any food and toys at the moment. To fix this you need to put in some work on making those three things valuable to her.

You should put her food bowl away in a cupboard and hand feed her all of her food. This should be done outside only, in the garden for a day or two maybe but after that in the field across the road. At meal times put her on the lead and her dinner in a bag or pouch and go to the field, feed her and come home.

When you hand feed her, say her name excitedly and get her to move towards your hand - don't move your hand towards her. Take a step or two back with every handful if you can. She doesn't have to sit or wait or anything like that, she just has to move towards you and eat.

Teach her to play tug, if she doesn't already, and play with her outside only, not indoors. Give her suitable chew toys to have on her own but keep back all of the toys that you can play with together for just this purpose. Every time you have a spare 5 minutes put her on her lead, take her to the field over the road and play with her. Keep her on a long line, play tug for 10-20 seconds, then dismiss her to go sniff, giving her the length of the line to do this and then after a minute or so has passed, animate the toy and get her playing again. 20 second game followed by 1 minute of being free to do her own thing.

To make the tug game more attractive, tie the toy to a length of cord or rope and run away with it bobbing across the ground. Same as for the food the toy needs to move away, not go towards, to attract your dog. Think prey/predator.

Meanwhile for her walks use the long line but let it trail so that she can still be off lead and run but you can stand on it to prevent her from disappearing into the horizon. Don't call her if she isn't going to come to you. If you want her back stand on the line and walk up it to her. Don't use the line to make her come to you either, it must always be her choice to come to you. Once you have her focussed on you with a game then this will be achievable.

The above would be my choice of method for a terrier.

You may find however find that clicker training a recall using food or a toy might suit her better, she may prefer to chase a ball than to play tug although using a ball on a rope is a good compromise because you can throw and tug with that.

Teaching her to respond to a whistle may suit. You would introduce the whistle by doing a toot, toot, toot every time you give her her dinner for a week and then for the second week you would take her to the field and just put her dinner down with a toot, toot, toot and let her eat it at the field (obviously not before or after running about).

However you choose to teach her to want to be with you or to come back when called it is absolutely imperitave that you prevent her from going wrong meanwhile. This doesn't mean preventing her from doing doggy things like running about and chasing stuff and sniffing the hedgerows, it means that you give her access to these things rather than she takes them for herself.

jazzyman01

Mudbath - thanks so much, have tried that with her but when I turn my back and walk away, she takes off in the opposite direction!

Sarabe - I can really see that this might work so will be starting today! Will let you know how it goes - thanks very much