Hello! So my pup is now 5 mos. and I’m really enjoying her but there’s one thing she’s been doing recently that I’d like to nip in the bud, but I’m not sure how. Whenever we go to the park and she gets to be several yards away from me and I call her, she’ll come running to me at full force, but instead of stopping she’ll run by me and jump at me like a hockey player and “body check” me. I’m glad she’s coming to me when I call her, but sometimes she’ll be covered in mud or soaking wet because she was in the water, and makes me a mess also...and also it’s just not acceptable behavior. I’m not sure how to get her to stop this behavior? Does anyone else have this issue?
Hi @C Dawg, start initially on a lead. Call her in and cue her to sit "Yes" and treat if she complies. As she comes towards you reel in the loose lead. You are not pulling her in but just gathering the lead. Rehearse the sit in front of you. Go for a repetition of 5. If successful move to long line at a another training session. Since you have her on a line she should not be able to run past you. If she does attempt to run past, then either catch her in a stand or run backwards and with outstretched arms that come closer and closer in front of your body, channel her into sit before you. You are going to teach her an incompatible behaviour with running and pouncing at you. If she attempts to pounce on you on the way in, then quickly run backwards a few steps so that she does not hit you. The idea here is to stop the self-rewarding body blows. Only proceed to off lead work when you have at least 90 percent compliance with the desired behaviour. Since you are teaching a new criterion--sitting before you when she returns--use continuous reinforcement. Move to intermittent reinforcement when you assess that she knows the desired behaviour. Until you nip the problem I'd wear clothes that can get a bit of mud on them. Getting her to sit before you is part of an obedience exercise, at least in Australia. But it helps to keep some of the mud off your clothing so it is worthwhile even if you do not want to do club obedience. The problem you speak of is very common in young dogs. Jumping up can be inadvertently rewarded by the handler. Waring: If you are running backwards, you will excite the dog, exploiting her prey drive as a training aid. But you want a strong recall. It's just the last part that needs to be nipped as you put it.
Are you reinforcing the recall with treats? It doesn't sound like it, because a recall which is reinforced with food usually sees the dog focussed on getting the food - not interested in running by you and body-slamming you....
So, I failed to mention that sometimes she does this even when not called. I think she does it mainly when she’s really excited and around water. Today we went out after it rained and I took her off her leash and she went running around me in circles and had a blast splashing in the puddles....a couple of those times running past me she tried to body slam me again. I just moved out of her way... I also remember a few times before when she’s done it while we were out walking at the dog park with her off the leash. We only go when there aren’t other dogs. She’s really good about staying near by on these walks and if I get maybe 10 yards away from her she’ll come at me running (without being called) and try to body slam me. As far as rewarding recall with treats, when I’m working on recall at the park with her I will have treats, but even when I have them, she will still run by me, and then might come back to get a treat. Most of the time she doesn’t seem interested in the treat. I live in an apartment, so she doesn’t get a lot of off leash time. We go to the dog park probably 5 times a week though. Sometimes I think she’s just so happy to be off her leash and that’s how she shows her excitement? I don’t know. Michael, I’m going to give your suggestions a try. Thanks!!
Hi @C Dawg let us know whether it works. One other thing. I try to let her play after calling her and expecting her to sit. I don't want her to anticipate that coming and sitting is the end of off-lead time. Have you tried roast chicken as a special treat? My dogs would never run past such a high value treat. Lol.
Ok, well this is a pretty urgent thing to work on - because you can't train a dog if you can't reinforce the dog. What type of treats are you using? I don't recommend dry, pet store treats. They are no where near as tasty as fresh food. Instead, use really squishy disgusting stuff for a good recall - like tinned sardines, smoked mackerel, paté, any leftover meat you have etc. If this doesn't see a HUGE improvement, then you have a lot of work to do involving food motivation. Do you leave food down for her all the time? What is she fed for her meals? It sounds like she is trying to play with you, like she would with another dog. Many dogs play rough and enjoy body slamming as part of play. She is off her leash in the dog park, right? So 5x a week? Or do you mean off leash in other areas besides the dog park? In urban areas in the US, it can be hard to find areas for dogs to have any off-leash time at all besides dog parks. Frankly, I don't think it's any life for a dog But I would recommend, if you live somewhere like this, that you work out ways to achieve decent on-leash exercise. That may be running with your dog - which is a whole sport called Canicross: http://canicrossus.com/index.html Or it may be cycling - or bike-joring, as it's called: https://www.neewadogs.com/pages/bikejoring Try to work around the leash laws, to find ways to achieve sufficient exercise on leash. There is also tracking - done on a tracking line - which will use the dog's brain and scenting abilities, and tends to leave dogs tired even though the physical exercise is less. Try to think outside the box.
Without being able to see what is actually happening, my first thought is that she is "running past you" because she is not checking her speed until she reaches you, in other words, you are the finish line where she slows her pace and then returns to you. Have you taught "slow"? We use it for a lot of activities; for example, we live in a two story home and the puppies are - after 12 weeks of age - taught to go up them with the command "slow"? We then use this for going out doorways, entering a truck using the ramp; any activity where their excitement makes them move faster than we want them to or faster than what is safe for them. Our Dreama was the worst at that and would do as you describe, circle around me and then body check me from the rear. Not only did she do this on recalls but whenever I returned home from being out and about. I started using it first upon my returns home with my hand out as she reached my hand she would slow down to get that pat....when I realized it was working then (with such high excitement) I took it to recall training. (The treat comes after the pat; it is held in the other hand.)
