Lilly's recall is not that great but i would love it to be really good, so do you think it is worth using the long training lead out on walks to stop her from chasing rabbits and deer before she is running away. Will this help her realise she is not supposed to do that? Sophie
Re: Long Lead? Sorry Sophie,you know what I said on your welcome post.....ask your question and someone with more experience than me will answer you .....well this is a perfect example of that ;D Thankyou for asking it as I can benefit from your posts.Dexters verbal command recall is really not bad but I have started to do Pippa's Total Recall exercises to train him to a whistle...so we have gone right back to the start again ....
Re: Long Lead? Sophie, it is very important not to let Lilly get in a situation where she can chase. It is a very self-rewarding behaviour that can be dangerous for Lilly and also is not fair on the wild life. A long training line is a good idea but make sure you are wearing gloves or you could end up with some nasty rope burn and also attach the lead to a harness rather than a collar, that way there will be no injuries to Lilly's neck. ;D
Re: Long Lead? hi there. i have Chaser too. Brodick will go after ducks, squirrels, rabbits, havn't met deer yet but i know what would happen if we did. I have worked through Total Recall with him with great effect, but as Heidrun said I have focused on removing random chasing opportunities, and training him a No command when i can see him about to chase. in terms of removing chasing opportunities i changed where i walked to reduce opportunities, i cant eradicate them but i have taken him away from high chase areas for now. i have also had him on a long line in areas where i know he could chase, doing a lot of interaction and essentially managing his walks a lot more so he is focused on me, and worked really hard on No command. I can now walk him past wild ducks off lead , and if i see rabbits before he does, past rabbits too. this has taken a lot of repetitive work on walks mind you, slowly giving him more and more freedom but not going too fast for him so he fails. he would still love to chase but now knows i dont want him too and wont if i get the No command in ( ah ah for us). long line has been invaluable for this but yes watch for rope burns i still have an impressive scar on my calf!! Im working on Stop Command with both of my dogs too. early days on this still...
Re: Long Lead? Hi Sophie , I bought a long training line for our rescue dog, simply because I didnt know how she would perform off lead . I attached it to her harness and it gave her the chance to stretch her legs a little but every few minutes I would recall her, using tiny pieces of sausage as a reward . After about two weeks of using the long line , I then dropped the end of it for a few days before finally ditching it altogether , its been a real assett for me so hope it will be for you too , well worth it
Re: Long Lead? P.S. dont make the mistake I made which was to use a long line in the woods , had to unravell her from just about every tree :
Re: Long Lead? Thank You for the help everyone. Think i will be trying that then! Although she is a generally calm dog, and can tell if she is on a lead or not so does not react the same way she does off-lead as she knows she has to behave... I am not 100% sure on how to use the lead in that situation because it is very unlikely that she will try and run off, and we don't always see wildlife so the chance may not arise. Would it help having a lighter weight one? Can anyone recommend what type they use? Sophie x
Re: Long Lead? i use polypropylene rope because it floats and brods is in water at every opportunity...you get it from b and q cut to any length you want. however it really burns when caught round human flesh... : i dont hold onto the end, it just trails after him while he lopes about but i dont let him go more than thirty metres ish away from me anyway so there is always plenty to stamp on if required....i spent a long time letting him get nearly to the end then recalling him and he now has a thirty metre ish self imposed zone that he sticks in even when he is off lead... i tend to walk in quiet places and early when doing long line training as its a bit dangerous flying around otber folk/ dogs and if we meet dog pals i take it off. dont want injuries! ive had a fair bit of success recently using a real life training scenario of wild ducks, proactively taking brodick past them on his long line regularly and training him out of mad chasing...
Re: Long Lead? If you can get hold of some light/thin climbing rope that's a good option. It's designed not to give rope burn and it's very strong. Not sure if it floats though...
