I don`t really know where to put this question but here goes....................I had a brilliant training session yesterday evening with Murphy, he was focused, responsive and did everything 100% Towards the end of the session we were "winding down" with some simple 50 metre sit and stays with me being slightly out of sight before whistling him back. On the last exercise, at the 2 minute mark I whistled, cue Murphy crashing through the undergrowth (not following the path!) followed by a lot of wimpering and Murphy appearing with a BIG section of fur missing off his flank just behind the ribcage and in front of the hind quarter Eventually I managed to coax him back to me for inspection, thankfully he had not broken the skin and further following his track it looked like he had caught the broken end of a branch!! The dilemma I have now is that he is very reluctant to come back to me Is it just a case of softly softly or will he associate the incident with the recall? Do I just train around it as if nothing has happened? Or is there a better way to overcome this issue? TIA for any advice.
Poor boy . I bet that hurt! Can't see the photo I'm afraid? A year ago harley was injured by another dog and it happened as she was recalling back to me. She didn't come near me for at least 20 minutes after it happened. For a few days I did the softly, softly approach - threw treats to her every time she came near me. After those few days I went back to normal training and she accepted this as she came every time I recalled her. This is just my personal experience, I'm sure others will have different suggestions though
