Hi, Molly is my bearded collie x about two and a half years old.  I've had her 18 months and she's really settled and happy.  During the week we generally walk in two places, the local fields and the golf course, we've been doing this since I had her, so she's really used to them.  Her recall is not perfect, but she's not too bad either.  Last Friday my partner took them (Molly and her son Max) for a walk in the afternoon on the local fields, there was a neighbour and his dog on there - Molly and Max know them, and also a bloke trying to fly a large model aeroplane. Moll was fine and then all of a sudden she took off, no amount of calling her got her attention and she flew past the neighbour and his dog and ran back to the road - he saw her go.  As you can imagine my partner was horrified, got Max on the lead and hurried back to the road but she was gone.  Luckily she was waiting at the gate at home to be let in - having crossed two roads to get there! - she was lucky not to be run over. I assumed she had been spooked by the bloke and the crash diving aeroplane and took comfort in the fact that she actually came home which must mean she's happy here, just thought it was an isolated incident and made a mental note to put her on the lead when anything out of the ordinary was happening.  Sorry this is a long post - but this is the strange bit.  I took her down the fields again yesterday and when we got to the field where the incident happened, she got down like a border collie almost crawling along and kept turning round and looking at me, I was just about to put her on the lead, but she turned round and came back to me and walked the entire length of the field practically glued to my legs and not looking happy at all, she kept looking over towards the next field which is ploughed and looking nervous.  Soon as we got on next field, she cheered up but I kept calling her back to me to make sure she wasn't going to bolt again.  She obviously sensed something??!!??  To tell you the truth she's a clever dog and I kinda trust her judgement, so much so, it's spooked me and I don't fancy going down there again on my own!  Anyone had any similar experiences? - could she just have got the scent of a fox or something? - she's not frightened of their poo though - loves to roll in eau to fox!

It doesnt sound too spooky to me......she has a scary experience with a plane, something she would not be able to understand. Coupled with being out "alone" having run home, she must have been pretty shocked. Its no surprise that she was also spooked today....she is scared that the nasty scary plane wil come back! It will take her a while to get her confidence back....nothing more spooky than that

The exact same thing happened to me once with my crossbred bitch -and all it was was some teenagers walking past us. (They didn't even DO anything.) For some reason it spooked her and she went all the way home. Across a road and everything -I was terrified. It didn't matter at all to her either that I had another dog with me. Ever since then, just to play safe, I always put her on the lead if people walk towards us there. It does suond to me though that with Molly it was the plane.

I took her to the woods on Saturday - she was absolutely fine, then to the park on Sunday - again absolutley fine.  I'm pleased you think it was just the plane.  I'm going to venture down the fields again at the week-end when me and partner are together - I've been imagining allsorts - expecting to find a dead body in the hedgerow or something!

Just remember that fear travels straight down the lead to the dog....she will pick up on your fears and be frightened too........Be confident.  And from what I've heard, dogs are not scared of dead anythings....if it was a body your dog would be trying to find it, not get away from it. :D

Thanks for the advice.........I acted on it and went to the dreadedfields  - just got back and all is fine.  She kept turning round looking at me, but I just made encouraging noises and through the ball etc. Got another problem to deal with now - Max cut his pad yesterday!  The joys of having dogs!

Very Beardieish behaviour they are too clever for their own good sometimes!!

You're not kidding!  They are fantastic dogs and never cease to amaze me.  I've had dogs all my life, a CKC in particular that broke my heart when I lost him age 13 and a half, but these two............ well, they are just so brilliant.