I am in need of the expert advice that is available on this forum! Five weeks ago I rehomed a 3½ year old retriever bitch and I’m having a problem with her. For the first three weeks things were more or less fine but for the last two weeks she has been taking off on me. I live in a remote area and we walk in a huge wood just at our back door. There are no fences, and no people, and lots of deer, badgers, rabbits, foxes, exciting smells etc. She has taken to disappearing and not returning to me. She now knows where we live and she takes herself home, usually 20-30 minutes after I lose her, although she has been loose for up to an hour. Other than this she answers me reliably, even when she would rather not (and this is progress because she was not disciplined in her previous life). She is strong-willed but she is an affectionate and honest dog, highly intelligent, and not at all sneaky. The problem is simply that she has lived all her life in a crate in a little house in a town and now for the first time she has freedom and space, and endless exciting things to investigate and/or chase. She is not a bad dog, she will stick with me and answer me, and basically she wants to please, but inevitably the excitement level exceeds the obedience level, down goes the nose and she is away like the wind on another adventure. This is now happening almost every time we walk. If I don’t get on top of her a pattern is going to set in and it’s not acceptable to have a dog running wild up in the woods. I’d really appreciate some advice on what to do. I have tried endless strategies, and I am nearly at the end of my tether. Keeping her on a lead is not a long term solution. :)

hi kazdap.......its inevitable.once we realize that dogs are not geared toward a verbal dynamic naturally ,we can start to solve the problem...remember they dont have a particular section of the brain that proccesses language....hence we need whats called ''muscle memory''.basicly the ability to ''wag the dog''...they need a physical cue connected with our voice...we use a fabulos tool called a ''pager collar''..or telephone collar as i now call it...it is a remote collar that vibrates like a phone pager.you use it to create an invisible leash and as a consistent cue that is no effected by distance.........essentially..you can teach the muscles to tell the brain what to do quicker than you can teach the brain to tell the muscles ........thus making it second nature to react to your voice

Dear Kelly,

Many thanks for this info. Where do I find out about the pager collar? How do you use it? And how does it differ as a stimulus from using the whistle? Please tell me more, I am very interested. This is basically a nice dog and I really want to persevere with her (though I've told her she is on the verge of going back where she came from!). Thanks a lot. :)

hi kazdap........its a type of training as much as a tool..but you have the ability to make the collar vibrate in conjuction with your voice with your hand held remote..as a ''muscle cue''...whistles are auditory cues which are harder to teach muscle memory with....we use the collar to create an ivisible leash and the pager becomes sort of a ''helen keller ''device for the dog....we must first make them ''collar literate''but once thats done the results are amazing......go to www.dogtra.com...look under the pet section.the gold 200..i am working with the guy to revamp the site [i told him he has too many men.too many hunting dogs]and going to make some two minute video clips .it can be so hard to explain stuff in this format...and this is conceptually so different than any previous methodology..they have an old saying here ''you'll never have to worry about someone stealing an idea if its original.''you'll have to ram it down their throats....i found this out............but technology effect every part of lives why should dog training be excluded..remember with the help of behavioral science and technology we can master any behavior...dogs are not superior to us in those areas..where as in foot race they have us beat hands down..........

Hi Kelly,

I've tried the dogtra website, something's wrong, the home page is okay but none of the other pages are opening up.... just my luck!

Kelly, the website has come good, just very slow...

hi kazdap....don't pay attention to the training info on the site.its ridiculous.....the guy who makes the collars is a tech guy not a trainer....ive written a paper entitled ''understanding pager collar training ''that will be on there soon...i will tell you that coming when called has the most practical application of any commands,without it were in trouble........people ask me things like ''whats he gonna do if -------------[fill in the scenario]..i tell them'' its an animal it could do anything''' we have to have skills in place before hand.and we need tools for reinforcement.

Here's a UK site selling them. I don't know anything about them myself but at least they don't look cruel like the electric shock collars.

Thanks Isabel,

It's obviously a better direction to pursue than the electric shock collars.

BTW, I should have taken you up when you offered yourself for rescue a while back, this is the dog I finally got. Or would you have run away on me too??!!

Ah well, better the bitch you know :D

hi guys...oh i went to that site,it wasn't the same type collar....we need to realize that technology is such we can use a remote collar the same as a leash .the analogy to a leash would''like be trying to make phone calls with two cans with a string streched between.''.its hard enough to communicate with people at any distance much less a dog.this type tool factors out that problem....but they must develop this ''muscle memory ''if we want them to act outside their inate behavoir patterns....i.e stoping pursuits ,control at a distance.when out of site..the times when it really matters....

Welcome to my world!!!!

Seriously get yourself to training classes, and treat her like anew puppy that has never been taught anything.

Start by calling her in the house, the garden, enclosed area, then the park.

I am sure some more advice will be forthcoming.