Unfit Dog Owners

sammy_kaye18

pboae + ameliarate

Thank you for the comments. Im going to make sure I work on his recall from now on.

Hes usually really good with recall if its just us (thinking the obvious) then theres no need for the recall really - but if we see runners he comes back when hes called otherwise he tends to go running with them.

We rarely see other dogs up the walk though which is why i let him off the lead straight away as it was habit to do so.

Feelign quite ashamed and embaressed with myself now - does anyone have any tips on how to do recall with him? Hes doing clicker training still at the minute because his previosu owners lied on their application when they put him in the homing centre so hes got sit, bed, beg and stay.

Im going to go and sit shamefully in the corner now.:embarasse :embarasse :embarasse :embarasse :embarasse

pboae

Aww sammy_kaye18, don't feel bad. I used to let my old dog run up to others, because I knew he was friendly. I just didn't realise how it could affect other people. Now I am on the other side of it, I wonder how I ever missed it!

With recall, the main thing is to practice it all the time. So call him back frequently on walks, for a treat or a game, so that he gets used to being called back without a reason.

You can also teach him hide and seek, so let him off lead, encourage him to 'find' you, then reward him. Build up to making it harder for him to find you. Until eventually you don't warn him that you are going to hide, he has to notice that you've done it, and then come and find you. The aim is to make it into a great game, but one that he has to be waiting for, because if he misses it when you hide he won't get to play. It's a great way of encouraging dogs to pay attention to you for the whole walk.

If his recall is pretty good already you could also consider training an emergency recall. So for that you will need some ultra impressive special reward (I know someone who gave their dog a whole chicken once, but she did do all her feeding through training, you don't have to go to that extreme) but it's better to give a different reward each time.

Then it becomes something that you only do very occasionally, maybe once a week or less, just to remind the dog. But you should find that he comes pelting back when you give that command.

beachbeth

Some people are so irresponsible! I know of someone recently who was walking their Cavalier and a lad with 3 huge dogs (a foreign breed similar to ridgebacks) was walking his 3 offlead. They attacked the Cavalier, throwing it up in the air and tossing it about. Even though it was taken to the vet and had emergency treatment, it died. What was this person thinking of to allow 3 such big, aggressive dogs loose!!!!:mad:

I have 4 Cavaliers and walk them in my local park sometimes (not on my own). I always take the view that any other dog is potentially aggressive, whether big or small and keep my dogs away from everybody. Even though most dogs I meet are lovely, I think its safer to assume they are not. I let my dogs offlead if there is no one else in the park or if they are really far away so as not to be a problem. The minute anyone starts to come near with a dog I put my dogs leads back on. The only time I allow my dogs to say 'hello' is if my dogs and the other dog are all on a lead and I can see the other owner is happy to do this.

However, one time I suddenly realised a Collie dog had sneaked up to us without any of us realising. He was making stalking movements and then lay down on his belly as though he was about to pounce. I quickly began to put my dogs leads on and then one of my dogs also spotted him and started to shreik! Ive never heard her make a high pitched noise like this and she was obviously terrified. I really think the Collie meant no harm and he certainly didn't attack but my dogs were barking and shrieking and upset. The owner of this Collie was a little way away chatting to someone and taking absolutely no notice at all. She may have known her dog was harmless but he was still frightening me and my dogs and she should have called him back. I had to leave the park quickly to get out of the situation but I wish now I had confronted the lady.

GracieP

beachbeth wrote: »

However, one time I suddenly realised a Collie dog had sneaked up to us without any of us realising. He was making stalking movements and then lay down on his belly as though he was about to pounce. I quickly began to put my dogs leads on and then one of my dogs also spotted him and started to shreik! Ive never heard her make a high pitched noise like this and she was obviously terrified. I really think the Collie meant no harm and he certainly didn't attack but my dogs were barking and shrieking and upset. The owner of this Collie was a little way away chatting to someone and taking absolutely no notice at all. She may have known her dog was harmless but he was still frightening me and my dogs and she should have called him back. I had to leave the park quickly to get out of the situation but I wish now I had confronted the lady.

That does sound like the collie was getting ready to round them up. When my springers were pups a collie in the park tried to round them up and my parent's collies would try to round up anything. Handy when our rabbits escaped as one of the dogs would round them into a corner and then bark to let us know he had them. My parent's current dog even rounded my husband up last year when he was dawdling crossing the road.:rotfl:

I do think though that dog owners should have to do a test when they've had their dog 6 months and if they fail the test they should have to do a course, at their own expense, followed by another test.

ameliarate

Beachbeth that story is horrific, it makes me want to cry. I can't imagine how the owner of the dog must have felt.

beachbeth

ameliarate wrote: »

Beachbeth that story is horrific, it makes me want to cry. I can't imagine how the owner of the dog must have felt.

The owner is elderly and recently lost his wife. The dog was the only thing in his life. Its awful! Ive since found out that the owner of the three dogs is planning to breed from them (they are 2 males and a female). He said he will muzzle the female but will still let the boys offlead!:mad:

eve1962

Mine is a border collie cross. She totally ignores other dogs but adores people, especially kids. She will drop her ball or stick by their feet and then waits in crouching position a few yards away for them to throw it. She's helped numerous kids get over their fear of dogs and has become a firm favourite of practically everyone she has come across. We got her at 18 months a terrified wreck that had been beaten and abused and eventually left abandoned on m25. So please don't blame collies, when loved and trained there could be no better breed of dog to have around othr dogs and people.
(sorry- realised it sounded like a lecture!!)

beachbeth

Don't get me wrong, eve1962. I love Collies. They are so bright and quick! I love watching them at Crufts doing the flyball etc. I don't blame the Collie itself who stalked us. I blame the owner for not calling it back when she could see that my dogs were distressed.

My dogs don't know that Collies are usually nice and that there are other big breeds that are likely to attack. All they see is a bigger dog - they can't differentiate personality-wise between the breeds without having personal experience of them.

Not all of my dogs react like this and if I had just been on my own with one of my other dogs we may have tried to say hello to the Collie. But my eldest dog, who I had with me, just panics when confronted by a big dog like this and, of couse, it just set the others off to panic too.

I would love to meet your Collie and throw sticks/balls for her. She sounds delightful!

eve1962

Hi Beachybeth. Yes she's a real sweetheart. As I said she isn't in the least interested in other dogs. She has plenty of willing (human) victims on our walks to play with her:rotfl: But inconsiderate collie owners do annoy me. They should never acquire one if they aren't willing to keep them fully occupied on their walks. They need to be stimulated all the time or they will make their own entertainment, perfectly natural behaviour such as herding instinct which can be intimidating if its not understood. They are working dogs after all, that just happen to make an excellent loving family members.

daisykinn1

beachbeth wrote: »

The owner is elderly and recently lost his wife. The dog was the only thing in his life. Its awful! Ive since found out that the owner of the three dogs is planning to breed from them (they are 2 males and a female). He said he will muzzle the female but will still let the boys offlead!:mad:

Report him under the Dangerous Dogs Act.