Any tips on how we can train our 7 month old Border Terrier to come back when he sees another dog when we are out walking. In the last couple of weeks he has started to run away to play with every dog we meet. When there are no dogs about his recall is pretty good (and we practice it alot) but he becomes stone deaf when he sees another dog.

Sometimes running in the other direction and making a lot of noise distracts them and makes them curious as to what you are doing and more interesting than the dog :) :)

Daisy

JMO but the only way you'll train him to come back with the distraction of other dogs about is to train for it while he is on lead (perhaps a long line).
With a breed like say a GSD that always has one eye on it's owner and the other on it's surroundings, running in the opposite direction can work....most terriers I know though would turn around and wave back at you whilst carrying on in the opposite direction! ;) (no offense meant)
Also JMO but if his recall is iffy at times then he hasn't earnt the right to be off lead yet.

Yes - but how do you know that their recall is that good :) :) You can't tell until you try :) My pup is pretty good in most situations - but IMO it is counter productive to keep them on a lead too long (I mean that they should be pretty reliable first, but you have to try it out in a 'real life' situation). We practised recall with the pup from day one at home and in the garden and let her off the lead (with care) from about 15 weeks. Admittedly, she did have our older dog to follow and she is an Aussie, so not a hound/terrier. If I could see a potentially dangerous situation, I would put her on the lead straight away. We do walk where there aren't lots of other dogs and we do know most people/dogs, which is an advantage.

Daisy

Thanks for your replys. I have thought weather we were expecting too much for a seven month old terrier to come back when there are distractions which are much more appealing than us! I think we will have to try a long lead for a while and then only let him off when we have spoken to other dog owners and confirmed that they are happy for the dogs to play together. It seems a shame to keep him on the lead when he has such a fun time charging around but I realise that not every one wants to meet my dog!!

<<<You can't tell until you try.....but IMO it is counter productive to keep them on a lead too long (I mean that they should be pretty reliable first, but you have to try it out in a 'real life' situation>>>

That's true again, Daisy :)...but it could also save his life one day (roads, cars, aggressive dogs etc) if he's not reliable in the first place.

Liz, I think you probably are expecting too much of him at 7 months old if you haven't trained for distraction.
Apart from a long line, there are other tricks for up your sleeve ;)

Can you whistle? You can whistle (with or without aid, I have a dog whistle for if they are too far away to hear my call, not often) every time you feed your pup his meals/treats. If he's in another room and you whistle, he's bound to come looking to see what you're up to....done every time you feed meals or treats and he'll come to learn that you whistling and him coming to you is in his favour....just make sure that when you try it outside you have a pocket full of goodies ;) Whistle, dog comes back, treat, send dog away to play, and repeat often. I must admit it does work best with food orientated gannets though! :D A whistle works great because sometimes the tone of our voices when calling the dog to heel isn't always whet it should be.

I think that a problem is the different types/breeds of dogs. Some may never be that reliable anyway. It is a question of knowing your own dog/breed and what may distract them. I found with my older dog that if I recalled him before he had a chance of getting to the distraction, he would come back, but if I left it and let him go further away then I had no chance of the recall. This seems to work well with my puppy, calling her to me before she has the chance to run off. Sometimes I then need to put her on the lead until the 'distraction' has passed and sometimes she will remain under control without the lead. I always avoid roads as she isn't 100%, and only let her off in the fields that I am familiar with.

A friend with a GSD was told by her breeder never to let her dog off the lead until he was 1 year old. Now at 7 years old, he won't go more than a few yards from her and frets if she is not in sight. On the other hand an aunt's beagle was never let off the lead, as it would only come back when he felt like it :)

Daisy

Hi, I know your go state the obvious! :rolleyes: What about doing to training classes who just deal with the "coming back" to you training? I can't think of the name of it but were I live there is a class that use a field and it does work quite well? I am sure someone will know the name of it? Good luck Julieann xxx

That's a good idea. I have never heard of that type of training class. It is easy (relatively) to train a dog in your own home or village hall. Putting it into practice is another matter :)

Daisy

Yep agree that it's Maturity + Breed in addition to training that can make or break a dog's overall reliability. :) To me, the terriers ( fuzzy, not bull types--have no experience there) are fairly independent and have to have constant work to make them reliable...some will just never be, sadly to say. :( :(

Even now, after 8 years of work and practise, Samma is only about 75% reliable on recall ...which is really good under the majority of circumstances. But I will never count on her to be offleash near any road except.........

Her amazing talent for a wonderful "stay" in certain specific situations. She will remain on our front stoop while I unload the car or work in the front yard, no matter the provocation--dogs, kids, cats, etc.. I just don't get it!!!! Still, I watch her like a hawk, despite her odd reliability in this area. :)

As far as "how will you know if you never let the dog off the lead?" train of thought ....let the dog off the lead in an enclosed area like a soccer field to see what happens. And never trust the attention span of a puppy or adolescent dog to keep it safe from areas with traffic. Always remain vigilant. S/he might be trained, but just doesn't have the years to be reliable and it only takes once for a tragedy to happen :( :(
regards,
toodles

Unfortunately we don't have any enclosed areas here :(

We know someone who has a deaf BC. She has never let it off the lead :( It is 3 and a lovely dog), but she has never tried getting specialist help for it, which is such a shame as it would love to run and run :( If we had an enclosed area near, she would be able to let it off.

Daisy

No public tennis courts or school yards near you at all??? Some parking lots are surrounded by three sides of buildings/fences..... They're good during quiet hours or a Sunday... its a thought :)
She could always try training her dog to run alongside of her hooked up to her bike :) There's some products out on the market, she could try out :) I've done that during the summer and the girls love it even though they're much smaller than a bc :)
regards,
toodles

Hello LizE! I've been training obedience for the last 7 years, and quite a few people (including myself!), find that their puppy is doing everything it should be, until it gets to about 7 or 8 months, when it suddenly ignores you if there is something more interesting. Usually this is just a phase, and the first time it happened to me I was quite worried! This time (my puppy is 8 months and has started doing the same when we're out - I can shout my head off and he will ignore me if other dogs are about) - I know it's just a phase he will get over. I do find he is more likely to respond to a whistle (one of those special dog whistles), and he always gets some cheese or sausage for coming back - so it might pay you to train your dog to come to a whistle! Don't forget he hears your voice all day long and it probably doesn't mean anything exciting to him if there's something else to do! The other thing to avoid is to tell him off when he does come back to you, even if he's taken half an hour to return! If you growl at him, he's less likely to come back next time! If he likes toys, use a ball or something - make yourself more fun than these other dogs! If all that fails, you probably will have to use a long line for the time being!

My sister adopted a 12 mth old Scottish Terrier and they have the same trouble with recall!! he has learnt everything they have tried to teach him EXCEPT this!
they went to the local training school who have a field and also recommended a HUGE lead that they can let him run on and practise recall, they have been doing this for a month and it is starting to work ! ..................they have also been to a doggie beach and let him off the HUGE lead and he has returned !!

I was starting to wonder when I should risk letting my pup off his lead as he is OK at recall in the house & garden ! I think I will try thte enclosed field first to be sure I have a chance of him coming back!

jude

Yes, I would try an enclosed field first if I had the chance! Normally with puppies they tend to stay fairly close at first anyway, until they get more confident, so I wouldn't worry too much about him running off.

LOL Hilda, that "phase" you refer to is what I call "adolescence" or the "teenage" growth part in a dog's development..... or as someone on here told me (Jackie?) the Kevin conversion :) :D :)