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Dog Obedience
Ok, my Labrador Retriever is now 19 months old. She is great; we truly love her and she is such a kind soul. She likes everyone and is just great with the neighborhood kids. This is one of the reasons we chose a Labrador.
One of the other appealing characteristics was their ability to be trained by novice dog owners. She did learn all of her commands quickly and has retained all of them from her puppy classes. However, she has started to take off on us when we let her off leash. Her recall is getting really bad. I can keep her in the yard if I have treats with me (she's very food-driven) or when we play fetch with the tennis ball. Other than that, she just wanders off and will not listen to the commands to come back to either of us. She isn't running away from anything or really hauling ****, it just looks like she wants to explore and sniff around. Well, last week she made it out of the neighborhood and almost into the 4 lanes of main-street busy traffic as my wife chased her. Her wanderings are getting to be more frequent; to the point where she is rarely off leash, which sucks.
I sure would appreciate any recommendations as we are concerned about her safety. Also, I would like to hike with her off leash (we were able to do this last summer) but would not even attempt it at this point with her new-found wanderlust.
One of the other appealing characteristics was their ability to be trained by novice dog owners. She did learn all of her commands quickly and has retained all of them from her puppy classes. However, she has started to take off on us when we let her off leash. Her recall is getting really bad. I can keep her in the yard if I have treats with me (she's very food-driven) or when we play fetch with the tennis ball. Other than that, she just wanders off and will not listen to the commands to come back to either of us. She isn't running away from anything or really hauling ****, it just looks like she wants to explore and sniff around. Well, last week she made it out of the neighborhood and almost into the 4 lanes of main-street busy traffic as my wife chased her. Her wanderings are getting to be more frequent; to the point where she is rarely off leash, which sucks.
I sure would appreciate any recommendations as we are concerned about her safety. Also, I would like to hike with her off leash (we were able to do this last summer) but would not even attempt it at this point with her new-found wanderlust.
Replies
Maybe get some professional advice. "Come" is the most difficult command and probably the most important..
Mike
I had a English Setter that liked to range. Took her hiking in Montana her second year and she stuck with me. The next year, however, she'd roam pretty far. She always came back, but on her own schedule. We lived in a cabin on a dead end road, so she could go wherever she wanted without fear of cars, but once she didn't return for 24 hours. It got down to 6 degrees that night - my wife and I were nervous wrecks.
It was Stuck_in_Kansas who gave me advice. I got a shock collar with 5 settings. Only once did I turn it above the lowest (she was chasing deer). The lowest gets their attention without hurting them. I tried it on myself and it's not painful, just uncomfortable. If she ranged, I'd yell for her to come - when she didn't listen, I'd zap her once and she'd turn right around. Good collars even have a setting where there's no zap, just a signal. After a couple weeks, that ended up working for me.
With all that said, however, I'd still get a professional's opinion. Just last October, at seven years old, the little **** got out of the backyard and ended up getting hit.
Mike
BTW my dog is very good at obeying the come command except when he gets out of the front yard. Once his nose hits the ground and he is on the run he is a PIA. I just do everything to not let him out of the yard without a leash. But if someone has an idea that does not involve a shock collar, I would appreciate it.
True for mine as well.
I've done the dog collars with the 5 settings. #5 took my legs out from under me.
Electric fences are no bother if you know how to do it. Put both hands on the fence while wearing shoes. Feels like a muscle twitch.
But the worst was the cattle prod. Did it to myself. Put the prongs on either side of my Achilles tendon. I remember the everything going black and my hip hurt from the involuntary kick, and my throat hurt because I tried to scream but it came out garbled. Almost like the Hulk rammed his fist down my throat and ripped the scream out.
I have a cousin that just got deputized. He said he will let me ride the tazer after he's been on the force a while.
I wondered that too, but it works. They just know. I think part of it is that they're coming to you because they're uncomfortable - but this theory only works if you're good to your dog.
If you're an **** and it works, I don't know.
I knew a guy that caught the electric fence right across the forehead. He said he dropped like a ton of bricks.
Or at the very least donate your brain to science.
At what point did you become straight and declare the therapy a success? :cool:
Unfortunately the last thing to relax on him was the sphincter. He said 3 hours later it was still twitching and tingling.
You may enjoy it.
Anal twitching sounds glorious.
potd
.....
My dog is spoiled. Probably a bit (way) too much and she knows she's part of the family. It's weird, I know she likes us but she sure as **** doesn't live for us. She is her own dog and very, very independent. Not cuddly at all either. I sometimes hear that Labs really like to please their people. I honestly have no idea what this even means.
So, does the shock collar have a small remote? If the dog is really bad can I hook it up to a portable generator?
Also, regarding contacting an 'expert': We did her two puppy courses through Petco and the girl that is the dog trainer was great. However, even when we take the dog to Petco now she knows she is going to get treats from her, so she would walk through a wall of fire to come to her.
Also, I think the dog needs some training/repetition in an environment where she isn't sure we are doing a training session (ie. getting treats).
When he stops harassing Sherb.
I want another German Shepherd.
And I still miss Frank, my dachshund.
My setter was schizophrenic - when she was outside, the only thing she wanted to do was get on birds, but when she was inside with me she was as cuddly a dog as I've ever had.
Joe has a lab. He should chime in.
(asking for a friend as part of his therapy program)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Labrador-Shooting-Dog-All-Around/dp/1893740013
http://www.amazon.com/Hey-Pup-Fetch-Up-Retriever/dp/0811707997/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433161038&sr=1-1&keywords=hey+pup+fetch+it+up
http://www.amazon.com/Tarrant-Trains-Gun-Dogs-Bill/dp/0811717232/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433161085&sr=1-1&keywords=humane+ways+to+get+top+results
I only use the shock collar during hunting these days. Just in case she tries to chase after something other than grouse.
Short update, yesterday we hiked with her for about three miles. Middle of nowhere and nobody on the trails so we had her off leash most of the time. I had a baggie full of treats so she would only roam so far and responded well to commands. Today was a different matter. She was the hell-dog.
As far as professional help, what should I be looking for?
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