Hi not posted very often on here. We have an almost 4 year old intact male lab (4 in January) and we have never had an issue with him as far as females goe until last week. Late morning I always walk him to a woodland park near our house where he is off the lead whilst we walk through it. From around half-way through the park area he starts to really follow the scent of something - normally it is foxes or squirrels but then he bolted at full speed out of the park onto the pavement which is next to a very busy main road. I managed to see him when I got out the park, then he suddenly stopped, turned around and came back towards me but carried on past me and took a path back into the park where the owner of the female in heat managed to grab him and hold onto him. The female dog is around 8 months old in her first season and a huskie. When my dog became aware of the scent, the female dog was nowhere near us (if anything not even in the park and over 500m away. When my dog was with her, all he did was sniff, didn't try to mount her, although she was very encouraging . This is the first time he has ever done this and I'm now worried that he will do it again whenever he smells the scent of a female in heat. Is there anything I can do to address this ? He has great recall at all other times so that isn't an issue
To be 90 percent certain you can teach your dog to come when around bitches in heat. Contact a breeder and find out when a female dog goes into season. Offer to pay the breeder for the employment of the environmental stimulus. Have your dog on long line so that you can prevent a problem to the bitch. And begin to teach your dog to come. Use the highest value reinforcers as judged by your dog. Reinforce with jackpots. Progressively over the sessions perform the recall closer to the bitch. Keep reinforcing successful recalls.
