I really don't understand this. I mean absconding, running away from home. Deliberately opening a door, burrowing through a gap in a fence. I think I get it when an entire dog scents a bitch, or sees a fast, furry animal....but..to try and get out, and then be gone for hours before making his way home, why? You have probably guessed I mean Casper. I get so stressed, frantic when he does it, and always fear the worst. I have been in touch with a previous owner, who said historically he would get out, and often not get back until the early hours. If one of the children left a gate open, he would be gone. Now there seems absolutely no rhyme or reason for him doing this. He doesn't have separation anxiety...only though when apart from Benson, and if he thinks we are out in the paddock, he gets upset then. Does anyone have any experience of this? Maybe it's just the dog we have. He was entire up until he was surrendered at 5.5 years.
Moo is a serial runner. She does it because she likes to find food. she will return to places shes found food previously. shes not driven by anything else. she is very confidant and not worried about being left etc. Shes never run away from home. She does when we walk. I have retrained her in various ways and had some success. She's much better but will always be a determinded clever little dog. Interestingly a guide dog puppy walker i know had a puppy like Moo a few years ago and she the pup was brilliant but had this determination to go. none of my other dogs have ever been like this. I just have to be careful and watch her, she's been such hard work.
I'd say this. I guess he does it because he knows he can, and he's not worried because he's sure he can return home when he wants, and the experience is rewarding for him in some way. It's really horrid when you don't know where they are or what they're doing. My sister had a English Setter once who was always leaving home, she spent half her time driving round the countryside picking him up.
I could tell you some really funny and equally scary stories about Moo. She's had a long career . It was only every for her own pleasure she enjoyed it
I seems like Casper just enjoys wandering. He's always done it & it entertains him immensely. I can imagine how frantic you are though.
There is only ever one reason dogs do anything - it's reinforcing. I suspect lots of dogs would leg it, if they were given the chance to learn that legging it is more reinforcing than not. Casper has obviously learned it's reinforcing to leg it.
It made me feel despair. If she didn't reapear after 25 mins it would usually be an hour or 2 .I knew what to do and were to look and I would have my phone and phone friends who were on the park with their dogs and a whole protocol worked out with my OH. My friend aways says she's suprised Moo got to be old because of her adventurous life style and that I often wanted to kill her. She's the sort of dog who everyone finds funny and loves but now one would like to own.
Homer wouldn't get as far at the top of our road, the Butcher's in right on the corner! He also hates traffic, so safe there. My parents Staffie cross was an escape artist who then taught her young apprentice, a cattle dog cross. My mum would often get calls from the local vet, the dogs were picked up and taken there so often they begun to go to the vet on their own.
Because he enjoys it. New sights, sounds, sniffs, might find stuff to eat, gets to run, gets pats from people..... For a dog, what's not to like?
My Malamute was an escape artist. We could not keep him in a fence unless it was chain link, with concrete under the fence. He liked to range and would eventually come home on his own, but we worried about what he might get into. He chased and killed small animals such as chickens and cats. He took an inordinate interest in sheep but fortunately never got a chance to chase one. Our first Lab, Ginger, was a 4 year old rescue she would get out occasionally and range several blocks. She never got in any trouble, and would come home on her own if we did not find her first. Tilly and Cooper are much better at staying around. If they accidentally get out at home they either stay here, or go to a neighbor's house to visit their dog. We don't let them out on purpose though unless we are watching them. At our cabin we will let them out alone some times. They stay within a couple of houses and usually are back at the door in 10 minutes.
I would love to know why one dog does it and another doesn't. Same training same situations different results besides the obvious. I know Moo is very confidant but the other dogs were too
I suppose @SwampDonkey some have it in their make up more than others. Why do some jump up or mouth when others don't, or have a stronger retrieving drive? And some are motivated by toys, others are not. Some eat poo of allsorts, some don't. I guess we'll never know!
Different dogs find different things reinforcing, and then you add to that what they have the opportunity to learn. Charlie chases balls and dummies but he doesn't chase animals. The simple reason is that I never let him chase animals - ever. Not once. Not even for fun as an 8 week old puppy, I called him off any animal that moved. So he just doesn't chase them. For all he is massively unreliable around balls and dummies, I could walk him to heel off lead through any amount of birds, rabbits, deer etc. Charlie isn't a dog that hunts naturally, and I never gave him the chance to learn that it was fun. So he doesn't do it, ever. If his base temperament had been different, or I had treated him differently, he would be different.
Lucky used to do it all the time, and now hardly ever. For him, it's about finding dogs, usually dogs he is good friends with, and he gets so much reinforcement from running as fast as he can, finding the dog, and playing. This only happens in the woods near our house, not when we walk in different places. I think that he feels safe because it's so familiar to him and he knows the way home. If I wait he will usually come back to me. I've never timed how long it takes for him to come back... not more than 10 minutes. I think for Lucky it is partly because he has very little impulse control and is easily over-excited to the point that he just can't think. Now his impulse control is better, and he is getting calmer as he gets older, he doesn't run off very much. Sometimes people tell me that if he was castrated he wouldn't be so interested in other dogs, but his motivation is play so I'm not sure this is true. I don't know much about the first 7 months of his life, so not sure what experiences he had before.
I would be beside myself if a dog of mine did this. I've been very lucky that they haven't (so far). Brogan was such a homebody that the front door, back door, garden door could all have been open and fried chicken laid down in a trail outside and you still would have found him snoozing away in his bed. Thank goodness. A close friend in Germany, however, has four former street dogs and ALL of them disappear occasionally during walks. Mickey in particular, whom I keep in the mornings when I live in Germany, is a serial absconder. For her, we all figure it has to do with her past life of living very independently on the streets of Romania. She is used to taking herself out, finding her own food and living by her own wits. Despite her cushy life now, it must feel restrictive and make no sense to her that for 8 years she did her own thing and now she lives as if she is in a very posh prison. Perhaps Casper feels the same and doesn't see it as escaping but just normal life of a dog for him based on his past? I really hope he does just nip down to the pub if he gets out again - at least you'd know where to look!
Yes, nature + nurture. Also, dogs don't think ahead like we do. And they have no idea of the danger traffic poses so, to them, they are safe to go. My Cavaliers, both rescued at six months old, were terrible escape artists and I spent a few fraught afternoons searching for them .
We had a little Jack Russell growing up and he gave my mum so many frights with his escaping ways. One day on his travels he stumbled across an older lady in her garden who fed him biscuits and fussed him until my mum found him. After that, my mum had to look no further because you could guarantee, there he would be.. living the life of riley and getting biscuits and tummy rubs
I think this is a learned behaviour. In his life before you (possibly before he was castrated) he discovered that life 'out there' was good and interesting and it is now his default behaviour, as @JulieT said, it is reinforcing. Very difficult for you.
Yes pretty sure it's a learned behaviour. and likely linked to a previous life, where there was no garden, just a sort of small concrete yard in the front of the house. I don't think they ever took him out in the sense of a proper walk. Just a different mentality really with dogs. He doesn't ever hanker to go out, he is very, very laid back at home. Quite happy to sleep the day away, and this is very apparent on CCTV. Just wish I knew what triggered the "rightotimetorunoff" signals in his brain.... Compared to Dougal, who was the foster from South Africa, who wouldn't leave your side, knew the land boundaries, and wouldn't stray an inch past them. We have spend a fortune putting double 5 bar gates at the front of the drive, then the sides, then adding more lengths of wood as he would squeeze through somehow. Such a complicated dog...sigh..
