I sometimes walk with my sister who has a (now) 16 week old Beagle.  I have a nearly 8 month old dobermann.  My dobe has been let off the lead and I have never had a problem - he very rarely goes very far.  I constantly do recalls with him and he always comes.  He keeps me in sight all the time and waits for me if we have to turn a corner where he will loose sight of me.  Yesterday we met my sister at the park, normally we go together.  We walked round with my sister and her beagle, it then started to rain - my sister had been at the park a while so she decided to go home, but we had only been there about 10 minutes so we were going to carry on walking along the river in the opposite direction - going into the woods to get out of the rain.  Anyway my sister walked off and my dobe followed her - he came back when I called but then he done this again, eventually she was quite far away from me and he was running between the two of us.  I couldn't understand him doing this as normally he cannot bear me out of sight - there were trees and bushes in the way, so for a few seconds he was out of my sight, after him doing this 3 times (and me being absolutely panicked by it) I put him on the lead, we carried on our walk with him on the lead, but he wanted to go with my sister and her beagle.  May be it was because it was not the norm, we normally leave the park together!  I don't know, but I was very concerned.

It sounds like a sociable pack thing that dogs do. But, it also means that they could me more interesting than you are when out on walks. Try interacting more with your dobe when you are with your sister and her dog so that your dobe still wants to be with you more and not them.

I take a ball and he plays ball, also he gets sticks and I throw them.  I talk to him constantly.  When the beagle is there he plays with him as we walk round - but he will still bring sticks to me for me to throw.  I wouldn't know what to do to make it more interesting for him!  Any suggestions!

I keep on being a wet blanket on here these days, but I would suggest using the ball rather than the sticks because dogs have had the most terrible injuries from sticks ...

Lindsay
X

I must admit I prefer the ball, as the sticks are often very muddy!  He does seem to have a thing about sticks, or plants etc.  In my garden he has destroyed 3 of my large bushes, and he often attacks my apple tree, he jumps up and attacks the branches - but I must admit this is not as much now.  He just loves getting sticks in the park - but sometimes he will come over to me and the stick he has is more of a log, longer than him.  He sometimes tries to drag bits of trees along.

I would suggest you do a GREAT deal of work to make yourself more interesting as your dog has just hit the "I am a big boy now and can do what I like" period which generally presages slightly less obedience and less reliable recalls............................

It is a sign of independence which is natural but unless foreseen and catered for can result in a lot of problems.

I'd say it was a mixture of all of the above -a bit of independance and confusion -dobes are creatures of habit and if you changed the routine then he would be confused -if it happens again I would put him on lead till your sister is well gone and engage him in a game to keep his focus on you ;) 

i often walk with family members and my two dogs will often run between us. often on long walks my husband is faster than me and   my gsd cross will continually run from me to him, i think she is making sure we dont get lost!   however if i decide to take a different route or head home she will always choose to come with me.

what would you suggest for a dog that isn't very interested in playing with toys when out? My dog only wants to sniff and do her own thing. She has recently lost her obedient recalls and i really need to get her focused on me, just like the original poster, but its not happening!

Is she not interested in food?

If you take out high value treats that appear ONLY on recalls and NEVER at any other time they will retain their value and ensure that recalls are reinforced.

It is so important that recalls are practised several times daily with increasing distractions so that your dog will ALWAYS come back from other dogs, people, prey, food, fights etc.

Dog recalled - dog put on lead = end of fun behaviour not likely to happen again
Dog recalled - dog given yummy treat = behaviour more likely to happen again

Hi,

What do  you mean by a GREAT lot of work - I go to training classes with my dobe.  I constantly do training with him.  I play with him (most of the time), in fact quite alot as he whinges and whines at me.  I am always chatting to him, and also spend alot of time with him.  I play with his toys with him - he loves to chase and pull with his toys.  It would be good if you could elaborate on "GREAT lot of work".  I think I devote alot of time to him but it would be interesting to know what else I could do with him!!  Even eventually in the evening when I sit down (which is not very often) he will cuddle up with me and have a sleep.  He even moans then, well he gives little groans as he is sleeping.