Retriever running away on walk!

supermezzo

Oh - just had a thought (memory in fact). Our latest one was really car sick for months which made recall in the park a nightmare as we had to drive there and she was so sick/queasy that there was no way that she would come back for food. Eventually, we opted for a variety of squeaking toys and suddenly, we were the bees knees in the park and recall fell into place. It's all about being the best thing since sliced bread as far as your dog is concerned, and about always being one step ahead - not easy with a retreiver, I know.

P.s. make sure that you take 2 toys with you so that when he's gone to get one, you're not left empty handed with no incentive to come back.

MrsTinks

What would you do when you have recall sorted 99% of the time but not if there is a b!tch in heat around and you no longer think about it? Then you go walking one day and the other side of the field, across the road happens to be someone walking their b!tch who's in season... would you rather have him done and him not have the same hormones driving him towards that b!tch and almost certainly get run over (not to mention potentially get you in a lot of trouble with the owner of the other dog who's hopefully sensible enough to keep a b!tch in season on the lead... when your large dog has his way with her and gets her pregnant... a problem if you're talking a purebred b!tch used for breeding... )...
He may be calm now but that isn't the only reason for neutering a dog! I'd only keep him intact if he was a breeding dog and not just a family pet.

RedBern

Tine - he's intact at the moment but booked in on Tuesday morning - he is a fantastic pedigree but as we're not going to breed from him we've reluctantly decided it's time he was done. I know we've still got to work on the training, but perhaps the lure of his hormones will lessen and we'll regain the upper hand again..... which at the moment it doesn't feel like we have.

supermezzo

Surely you wouldn't be walking your b*tch if she was in season, especially if she was for breeding purposes?

pboae

Redbern, hopefully it will make a big difference in him.

supermezzo wrote: »

Surely you wouldn't be walking your b*tch if she was in season, especially if she was for breeding purposes?

You'd be surprised, I regularly meet people walking in season b!tches. Thankfully my dog has no interest in them (even before he was done) because I wouldn't stand a chance of being able to stop him.

I've seen a dog narrowly miss getting hit by a lorry because he flew through a hedge at the side of the park and straight across a road, because someone was walking an in season b!tch on the other side. It actually crossed the road OK, but then the b!tch's owner kicked it back into the road and under a lorry. The dog must have laid flat or something, because somehow the back wheels missed it, and it survived with only cuts and bruises.

MrsTinks

supermezzo wrote: »

Surely you wouldn't be walking your b*tch if she was in season, especially if she was for breeding purposes?

You'd have thought so wouldn't you? But firstly you might not know she was about to go into season but a dog would be ableto smell it and yes some people WILL walk their pedigree b!tches when in season... infact I see no reason why they shouldn't because surely owners of intact males keep them under control?

RedBern - I think that is a fantastic decision! There are lots of benefits and if it makes it any easier then my friend who's a vet has a beautiful pedigree dobie... his father did very well at Crufts this year and her dog looks like a better dog... much to the breeders dismay he's been "done" as to them he's a pet and no matter how good his breeding they didn't want to breed him. He used to chase my b!tch everywhere as well as all other b!tches whether in heat or not (mine has been done since we had her...) and would try and hump her and EVERYTHING else in sight. He was near impossible on recall once he'd caught a wiff of something but we went for a walk today and whilst he's the usual bouncy nutter he always has been he just didn't try to hump my dog and he was nowhere near as interested in the 50,000 scents around but instead was quite content to play with Kira (my dog) and run around after the ball... She is so glad she castrated him because he was becoming a nightmare that couldn't be let off the lead - he no longer tries to fight other dogs, if he shows any interest at all it's only to play

RedBern

thanks for this reassurance Tine - it was his 3rd birthday yesterday (trip to vets - some birthday present hey!). He has been a pain to walk recently, and had a ruck with a staffie yesterday when the staffie growled at him.

MrsTinks

Give it a little while for the hormones to get out of this system and I bet you that that will be a thing of the past Obviously it's no replacement for training but I think if you'd taken him to training whiost entire there would have been fur flying... I think he'd benefit from some dog training lessons with other dogs - as much for the socialisation as the actual training... And you'll probably find that you'll have more confidence too especially when you're around other dogs - and if you do the kennel club good citizen awards then one of the things is recall away from other dogs... Which is exactly what you want at the moment I think?
Best of luck and let us know how he gets on? Please???

RedBern

the deed is done - poor Floyd looking very sorry for himself and barking with a very high yap!

On Monday afternoon (before he went to vets on Tuesday) I spent 20 minutes with him on the lead walking backwards and forwards in front of the open farm gate, with two black lab !!!!!es barking at us. Eventually he got the hang of it and was able to walk past, ignored the girlies and didn't pull me. Walked down onto the meadow and across to the river and he stayed with me for 200 metres and then set off back towards the gate. I was so fed up I just carried on walking - and turned to see him about 300 yards away heading through the gate with a cheery wave over his shoulder.:o So I continued my walk and 5 minutes later he appeared chasing across the field to catch up with me...so he is well aware what he's up to .... anyway - he's resting now but roll on next week when the training re-starts.

pboae

Ahh he'll be bouncing around again in no time.

I'd try and avoid the b!tches for a few weeks though if you can. When my boy was done my behaviourist said that as much as possible I was to avoid situations he found stressful or challenging for the first month because his hormones would be all over the place and he might over react. She said it was best to let them settle down before starting the training up again, so that I didn't accidentally teach him to be even more over excitable and hyped up in those situations.