Hi, Just wondered if there are any tips that I should be doing to try and not let charging off to other dogs become a big problem. Our little lad is 14 weeks, so early days letting him off the lead. He’s still got his safe radius where he won’t stray too far and he does spend a lot of time close to me getting lots of treats and playing games. But a couple of times another dog has been close enough to us and he has gone (at speed) to say hello. And I know this is a huge self-rewarding problem if I let it happen to often. I’m trying to work with Total Recall - so I haven’t been calling him back. Just either gently walking in the other direction (once I know the owner is ok with this) and then once he looks up and notices and starts heading to me - then do the recall and huge fuss. But is there anything I should do in that split second where he clocks the other dog and I guess makes the decision on whether to go or not!! I know I shouldn’t call him then (in case he ignores) but I feel like I should do something to help him make the decision I want….just don’t know what to do at that crucial point!!! Any ideas would be brilliant. We live in quite a populated area so will always meet other dogs and I’d love to have a dog one day that doesn’t just charge up- maybe a dream too far, but gotta try hey! Thanks in advance Karen
It’s a good question. Everyone will have slightly different answers. I wait until they’ve got a pretty solid recall before I try calling mine back from other dogs. So, at about 20 weeks I do so, but after they have had a play - then a big treat - then back to play. My aim is that they never get the idea that the whistle = the end of play. Keir is six months old now and today happily came away from a ten month old Doberman he was playing with and having a marvellous time. I haven’t yet called him back before he says hello unless the dog is a really good distance away. I wait until they are about eight months old before I expect a turn around before they say hello. Mollie is 13 months old now and her Recall remains 100% in all circumstances. All credit to Total Recall.
It's very difficult when they're off lead. When my puppy was little, I would make myself as interesting as possible as soon as I caught sight of another dog and before she did. If it was off-lead and obviously friendly (or if I had a chance to ask the owner), I would say "say hi" to release her before she ran to it. If I didn't have time to find out if it was friendly, she got put on lead or I just hooked her harness until I knew if it was a "yay" or a "nay" (and, in any event, she didn't get to meet all dogs). Of course, there were times when she ran over before I could stop her, but that's going to happen unless you use a long line all the time, and that's not my idea of fun She very quickly got the idea that she didn't get to greet until I'd said "say hi" - this applies to humans as well as dogs, and both on or off lead. Of course, she sometimes gets over-excited and forgets herself, but she'll eventually remember and look at me to "ask" if she can say hi.
Thanks both - really helpful and much appreciated. I hadn't thought about getting him to go and play again after he'd come back so I'm not always the bad guy - great tip! And I like the idea of a 'say hi' cue - even if I can slip it in just before he tears off I'll work a bit harder on being super interesting as soon as I clock the dog and hopefully get his attention before he notices it and then guess sometimes I can do the 'say hi' and sometimes not...hopefully Thanks again
