My heart stopped for a few seconds!
They were having good fun catching a disc. Then Laika got bored and went to roll in the little snow that is left. I was keeping my eye on her as we talked next thing I know she jumped up and started to run. I swear I saw her think HOTDOG! in the parking lot by the field is a vender selling hot dogs and two days before I let him give her a hot dog. The road is right there!!  well he caught her thank goodness. But I didn't do anything; I was so over whelmed. I don't believe in physical obedience. But that was life or death I am thinking I should have least given her a good shaking. How can she learn?
I know she shouldn't be off leash until she listens but that could be forever that isn't much fun or exercise! seriously the guys that have dogs that listen; guess what they physically teach them. Those dogs listen! Any thoughts... I cannot take her there anymore. which is sad. |
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| You can't discipline because to a dog it would be for coming when called, not the act of running away.
There's the answer, make sure she's trained to come no matter the distraction. Also train her to lay down and stay no matter the distraction. An example of that is a dog caught on the wrong side of the road will want to rush across traffic to get back to you  If the dog is trained to immediatlely drop and stay by voice and hand signals, then you can rescue the dog.
Yes, running free is good exercise but you may have to come up with something else that keeps her on leash. Chewie can tell you about sled pulling  |
| Seriously who's dog comes every time no matter what. I am not trying to be disagreeable. I don't believe in beating. But really does everyone that lets their dog run in a dog park believe their dog will come back every time you call them. Especially a breed that is low on the trainable area. We don't have Labs or Border Collies here. They aren't as easy. That is why she has been through 3 classes of obedience and will still have another. We do other exercise like skijorning. But a good play with another dog is wicked fun and exercise. Well I will back on Monday; curious to what other have to say on this issue. |
| I have serious issues with letting dogs off leash. I have had 4 yorkies. Out of the 4 only one could be trusted off the leash, but she saw a cat once and ran off, but came back. My 3rd yorkie Misty,wasn't very old, we let her off leash right over the far end of the park furthest part from the entrance. Something scared her and she headed for the entrance, no way could you have caught her. Luckily someone came in the park and grabbed her. Our last sheepie used to hate being off leash. We let her off in safe places but she wasnt happy.
I wont let these 2 off leash unless it is 100% safe place. My sister has a large garden and she has just had it fenced off so when the weather is a bit better we will go there to play. In the Uk there are no dog parks that are safe I wish there were. At least 2 of my friends have had dogs that have ran straight out of parks into the road and died. So perhaps I am not brave enough to risk them off leash, but I would never ever forgive myself if anything like that happened. |
| Hi,
First hugs to you for your big scare! I relieved a scary incident that happened to me from reading your post. When Merlin was 5 months old I took him to his twice daily romp at the offleash near my home. The park is completely fenced but some stupid jogger left the gate open and apon going around the trails we emerged back back at the beginning. Merlin saw someone across the street and dashed throught the open gate. Two oncoming cars in both directions - there was no way he could avoid being hit. I screamed and covered my eyes not wanting to see. I didn't hear the sound I dreaded and heard the fellow call to me from across the street who had grabbed him. To this day I don't know how he avoided being hit but it shook me up badly so I could relate to the fear you felt. Now I take Panda to a different park which is 17 acres in the middle of a large urban park - also fully fenced about 10 mins from my home. The other park I spoke of is only 3 blocks away, but the city located it next to a fairly busy street. After the incident with Merlin I never felt confident using it that much. I think I got lucky with Panda as nothing absolutely nothing distracts him when I call him - he comes running. He could be in the middle of playing with 2-20 dogs and I call him but once and he's at my side. If he gets too far ahead of me around turns at this huge park I yell out "wait" and he does. This park is used by hundreds of dog owners and I see the regulars (about 40-50) of them. The dogs get used to owners calling them but not all come the first time. I think the difference is except for bunnies running around the only other distractions are dogs and their owners. The sight hounds are the ones that have the most difficulty coming and the odd scent hounds as the park is frequently by wildlife at night. Merlin is a different story -sometimes he needed to be called a few times in order to stop playing with other dogs and come. He does come but should come the first time. I've also heard what Sheepie Boss mentioned regarding: if a dog got safely across the street only to see their owner on the other side and dash across, only to be hit. It's why in some obedience classes they will teach you hand signals for the "down" position if your dog is too far away or there are noise distractions, such as traffic. The hand signal for down keeps them safe until you are able to get them. A running cat, squirrel or other possibilities can certainly cause even the most well behaved dog to chase but working on obedience and repetition to enforce the stay, down and come no matter what the distraction, again like Sheepie Boss mentioned. The higher you go in obedience the more they train regarding distractions and will get the owners to place dogs in the sit or down positions and purposely have distractions to see if the dogs get up. Happily when food was offered to Merlin and I said stay..he was the best dog in the group. Anyhow, this is great practise for the dog to listen implicitely to intructions. Show dogs also get used to the crowds, other dogs, ect as they also have gone up through the obedience ranks. You could get a long extendable leash and practise the come when the leash is loosened and give her lots of praise when she comes. I'm a big advocate of obedience. Good luck to you! Marianne |
| Funny this topic came up. We take our dogs down the an old air strip, to let them run...... well we found out so do others and they ran to the next dog that was farrrr away because he was barking. The lady got hers on a chain... ours wanted to play... hers not to sure. Everything ok... but they did not want to come back deaf ears, not sure if I will take them back Taking jerky were ever we go good bribery, I hope. |
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