Adolescence and rebellion ...

Holly is just over ten months, and at 9 and a half months I can honestly say that the training had started to pay off, she'd stopped running up to strangers, didn't jump on anyone, and would (after saying hello) actually recall away from other dogs. Sometimes she even walked to heel past other dogs off lead... and then suddenly at ten months she's running off after other dogs and not coming back. Today she ran off and went for a walk with a slightly bemused total stranger who didn't even have a dog with him. When attempts are made to recall her she looks me squarely in the eye, and basically sticks her fingers up and runs off. She does come back eventually, but all the trust I had in her being pretty well behaved is evaporating rapidly.

Is this the teenage stage? I thought that was seven months .. Is she a late developer or do I have a dog with attitude?!!

We love her to pieces, started training with a IMDT trainer at 12 weeks and still go to weekly training classes, and we do exercises with her, rewards etc, but we feel a bit dejected .. where have we gone wrong?!!

 

Sounds like a pretty typical adolescent to me Certainly not a dog with attitude, they just don't think like that . It coukd be that other people, dogs etc. have just become more exciting than you which results in the recall failure, it's difficukt to know fir sure without seeing Holly in action . So you need to become even more exciting for recall - bright happy voice when calling her, even silly voices or noises, call her and when she looks start running the other way, suddenly lay on the ground and make sure you have great rewards readily available. My girl is 3.5yrs old and I always reward recall, recall is too important to be mean and training is ongoing through out a dog's lifetime either training new behaviours or doing maintenance on others.
It may be worth a chat with your IMDT trainer and perhaps a 121 session in the park just for the professional on the spot opinion and some hands on advice and management plans.

 

I’d say now’s the time to get playing on your walks. Don’t think about trying to actually get anywhere, just have fun. Take a bag of toys with you and be the one to instigate play - tug, catch, fetch etc. Molly loves tug and I used to take several different tug toys with me ( I usually just have one in my pocket now) and I also carried a small soft toy tied to the end of a thin rope ( about 5 or 6 foot long) for a version of whippit that didn’t need me to carry a pole / lunge whip.
Play for a few minutes, then release Holly to run free for a minute, then get out something different for another game.

If your trainer is IMDT ask them about Steve Mann’s rucksack walk -it’s a bit different than what I’ve suggested above. (I’m doing some IMDT courses, hoping to become a trainer.)

 

But I have cheese. Cheese, sausage, all the good things and I reward her every time she comes to me ... it's just her urges seem overpowering!!

On the lead she's still really good.

 

Holly generally hasn't been very interested in toys on walks .. we've tried balls, rope tug toys, throwy glowy sticks ... she loses interest very quickly.. she's incredibly interested in toys that belong to other dogs.. ball stealing is a speciality
I quite like the bag of tricks idea. It's clear that at the moment I'm not as exciting as, well, pretty much everything else in the world ..

It is truly mortifying when she goes bowling over to other people's dogs and makes a nuisance of herself.

 

"But I have cheese. Cheese, sausage, all the good things and I reward her every time she comes to me ... it's just her urges seem overpowering!! "

A different treat, something she hadn't had before - king prawns, cat food in a tube, baby food in a tube. I always have a mix of treats so we never know what tge reward is until it's out of the pouch. @Joy 's suggestions for play are also excellent to help you over this training blip. It 's probably safe to say we've all been there at some point so don't despair your training will get you through and back on track

 

Just so you don't feel alone my girl run 200m across a frosty icy field the other week, when visiting my daughter, to say hello to 2 cocker spaniels, or perhaps their lady owner who was carrying a ball launcher . Yes she ignored my call so I started walking to collect her. I hadn't got far though when she turned around and came flying back to me. Yes she got rewarded for the fantastic run to me as I stood in the field giving my non verbal recall and then we just turned around and walked away.

 

Until about two weeks ago Holly would have gone, said hello and then returned to me, or not even gone at all.. still, her recall still works when she's in the mood so I know it's still in there sometimes.

I'm thinking of ways to be exciting. I'm not going to dress as a spaniel or roll in any smells though ..

 

Do you keep toys just for walks - so that’s the only time she gets them? It might help.

 

A squeaky ball a football tiny dried fish and mini rugby ball saved the day when Rory went through a period of this.

 

Maisy does exactly the same thing at 10months, sometimes I see a bit of improvement, get a bit confident in her and then off she goes from one side of the field to the other to another dog, letting me down again.
Her lack of response makes me dread walks off lead and I am looking forward to her walking calmly with me like all the other dogs (!?!)

I have become really good at apologizing and running (didn't think I would be doing as much of either at 53!) but when she is focused on that other dog there is NOTHING that gets through. However, every now and again she responds and she gets a really smelly reward - like dried fish (Sprats from Zooplus) or nice ham. I use cheese as well but it is not as special if you use it too much.

Also I think it depends on the other dog, sometimes she will come away from them no problem, maybe they are boring dogs.
Others she will fix onto and there is no stopping her, maybe the fish will win in the end - we can only hope.

 

It’s arrived!

Keir is eight months old and has suddenly learned the word ‘no!’

Today we went to one of our free run places (the woods). Before a free run I ask for a ‘sit’ and ‘wait’ for 10 seconds or so then use the cue ‘go free’. Today I asked for ‘sit’ and he just looked at me as if he’d never ever heard the word or seen the hand signal before. So we walked a bit on lead (he whined!) and tried again. No sit. A bit more walking and he eventually did it.



His recall is still very good, thankfully - we use Total Recall techniques all the time and our ‘jackpot’ is the small sachets of fishy cat food, which he adores.


.

 

Although a greedy boy , treats never cut it for Sam , his desires meant more than any food ! However , he did adore his tennis balls which he was never allowed to have at home, it kept them precious to him . I`d set off , let him see that I had one in my bag but that he wasn't necessarily going to get it ! At the first sign of impending defiance , all I had to do was show him the ball , sorted , so he would get a few throws of it as his treat , keep the faith x

 

Our Cain just turned 8 months old and we are dealing with something similar. Very frustrating as the four others are bell trained to return inside when they hear it rung. None of them were ever this bad at coming to the door, looking me in the eye, and then running off. Even a high value treat doesn't work on him. He comes back when he is ready.

So, we have gone back to the beginning again. We have a light 10 foot lead that he has attached to him as we go out....when it is time to go back inside, I step on it while he is stationary, get it in my hand and say "inside", walk to the back door and ring the bell for the others. We'll do this for three or four days and then let him out with the other without the lead to see if he has realized "for whom the bell tolls".

Our situation is a bit different as he is in our large fenced in yard, but going back to basics for a few days might work for you as well.

 

We took toys and treats with us this morning and to my astonishment Holly was focussed on the toys most of the way round!! She did go and visit another young lab, but only once he'd got within about ten meters .. she resisted him until then. I must say I was very exciting too, I made new noises and she was very excited and I felt that I had her attention .. so I'm getting some new toys just for walks as has been suggested and I will be as exciting as I can be ...
I do love my Holly,it was nice to have a walk where I felt she was "with" me

 

Same with Rourke Kate! He is obsessed with his tennis ball, all I have to say (so far!), is 'ball' and he comes straight back.

 

Glad it worked for you I used to go out with a rucksack full toys.

 

That's great , and yes, they must be walk only toys , makes them very precious indeed ! Well done x

 

Balls were my salvation many many times !

 

Mmmmmm? Mine too