[Sandy]

Ben is a Labrador and nearly 2 years old, we got him when he was 9 mths old, from a young family who could not deal with him but he is a very clever dog, he was castrated at 6 mths and had been going to obedience classes.
Ben picks up things easily, opens doors, sits,stays, lay down, paw etc and is very good at recall BUT, he gets a look about him and then runs off, usually everytime we take him somewhere in the car. I think I have written about this before but am really hoping he grows out of it but could do with some more pointers.
1. I am sure he associates the car with the end of his walk but on 2 occasions I have taken him somewhere, drove somewhere else and he has still gone off after the second session of car journey.
2.Last time he went off, I got into the car and started it up and he ran back.
3.Steve has been taking him out on a long walk with Islay and he never goes off but last night, he was kept on the lead as a farmer had put sheep very near where we went and I am certain he would not chase them as he is not at all interested in chasing anything BUT he would love to run around the field eating the poo!!
4.He ran off last week and kept running across a very busy road and I was powerless as he would not listen to me and that time he was next to the car and just going to jump in when he decided to run off, my heart was in my mouth as he could have caused a major accident as he is a heavy dog..

IDEAS???

[Jackie 2]

Sandy it seems as though you have 2 problems here.

One, he runs off during a walk.

Two, he runs off just as you are putting him in the car.

For No: 1 Walk him on a lead only until you are rock solid about him not running off. If hes as clever as you say he will learn pretty quickly. Never chase him (chasing becomes a game and rewards the dog for running away) but about turn and quickly walk/run to somewhere safe away from him if he runs. He will follow you.

For No: 2 Keep the dog on the lead and run him to the back of the car. He will either jump in or bang his nose, ether way you still have him on a lead. He will jump! 
Then hook the lead to the dog guard and shut the car door.

[doganjo]

I know Ben very well.  He's a wonderful dog, full of bounce.  He's been doing this virtually from Day 1, and I think it will be difficult to change him.  A course of obedience lessons might do it, or send him away to be trained (Charlie?) I have a breed that hunts at 150 to 200 yards each side of the gun, and they have to be let off only in areas where I know they are safe - the Dam and peppermill. I'm lucky I have an acre they can run in most of the day, as well as large outdoor grass runs.

My sister's Lab used to run off when he knew they were getting near the car but would come back during the walk for a treat if they called him, so what they did was park the car in a safer area and walk him away from it, then walk him back to it, then away again - both on and off lead, and giving loads and loads of tasty titbits - big bits chicken was a favourite, then keep calling him back throughout the walk, putting him on lead and treating, walk for a bit, then let him off again.  He is a big lab too and is too strong for Helen to keep him on a flexi all the time.(He pulls and they've never managed to stop him)

Not much help I'm afraid, maybe back to basic obedience, treating him as a puppy might work.  Good luck.  See you soon.  May pop in today, will be out later.

[Sandy]

Thanks for that, Steve takes him and Isaly for a long walk through the forest and back in the evening and he has the same routine and comes back everytime and even stops at the correct place to have his lead put on so he can be very good. I thought about taking him with the rest on the lead, then getting to where he goes on his walk and dropping him and steve off!!!!! I do think going the opposite way and pretending you don't care works, thats probably why he jumped back in the car when I started it up and another time when I bumped into Anne and drove to the next point/laybye, I drove back again and he was s at waiting!!!  but sometimes he runs full pelt awy and I doubt he cares at that time. I read a few articles and they said about the constant praise and treats, one thing we used to do with Bruce, a previouse dog, is pick up a stick and he focused all the time on retrieveing it so his attention was always on us!!!!! Ben is still young and still sucks his blanket so fingers crossed!!! THanks again.

[Sandy]

He was good tonight, we decided to take all four dogs and go forward to a large pond, then put all 4 on the lead before we turned around and it worked!!! I think Ben may catch on but we will only do it occasionaly and the older dogs give the pups a bit of a run and it's fun to see them all!!!

[Sandy]

Brilliant, Ben did not run off again, mind you we put them all  on the lead and walked them all back to the car after a nice walk in the Forest. I just hope Ben dose not learn that he is on the lead before we turn around on our walks, he is a very clever dog but he started to get that look in his eyes so we gave him some ham and put him on the lead so fingers crossed!!!  I was going to take the camera but did not and missed a great photo, they all were swimming in a line, Isaly first followed by Ben, then Rohan and Rhum!! so cute

[doganjo]

I haven't been to Peppermill for a while because last time they were doing the road up - have they finished now?

[Sandy]

The road is full of stones and bolders so not too good for walking, also next to the bit of the dam where we used to throw things for the dogs, the farmer has cut out some hedges and put stock fencing up with sheep in the fiels, so now no good for us and Ben would get into the field to eat all those tasty treats!! shame as I used to pick loads of fruit from there and there are also hazle nut trees around there too!!

[Birdie Wife]

Sandy it seems as though you have 2 problems here.

One, he runs off during a walk.

Two, he runs off just as you are putting him in the car.

Three, he won't come back when you call him 
Does he have a favourite treat that you could use only with recall training? I make liverbread and tunabread, which goes down a storm - recipes available online. Have a look for some guidance on teaching a solid recall too - maybe using a whistle, as some dogs respond much better to that than vocal commands.

[Sandy]

Thanks, I will look at the recipe but his recall is very good, he has also been great just lately and is also good when out for his walk with my partner and our other female dog, we only had a problem when we went out further in a car, he would be brill all of the walk, we always take treats and just been given the idea of cheese spread!! anyway, we call all our dogs back regularly or tell them no when they go off somewhere we don't want them to go, Ben listens all the time then (only when taken in the car) sawitches off and gets that look in his eyes, he can see us and knows he is suppose to come but he firsly gets just out of grabbing distance!! Once I had a bag of crisps with me so first I scrunched it, he looked interested, then I dropped some and he would not come near!!!  The last few walks have been great, we walk freely then we put him on the lead to retrace our steps, fingers crossed he has not caught onto that yet!!!!! Now I shall have a look at that recipe!!! Thanks again  P.S. still think he will run off ofter livestock if given a chance!!!!

[ballingall]

I have to confess my first collie could not be relied on when going for a walk to come when called until she was over 3 years old. Until she was over 2 she was hardly off a lead- a long one. Eventually it came right, but it took so long. The contrast I have, is that I have her granddaughter, who is the best behaved dog I have ever had. I learnt a lot of lessons from that first collie about training!

Good luck with him

Beth

[Sandy]

I think it's about the dogs charactor!!!! Islay has never been a problem, even as a pup she would never pull on a lead!!!! Ben has seective deffness like a lot of males!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sandy]

Ben has not run off for weeks, he IS a lovley boy and with Isaly in season probably too knackered to run off

[Kaida]

When doing recall training with him did you ever hide, so he had to find you?  Sometimes helps them think they'd better keep a closer eye on you next time.

An idea that's supposed to be very effective is when you let the dog off the lead, act like you can't get away from them fast enough, like you took them off the lead deliberately to lose them.  It puts the responsibility firmly on their shoulders to keep up with you and keep an eye on you.  It has to be done every time you take him off-lead for a while until he gets it, but it might be worth considering.

My cocker once decided she was more interested in continuing free than coming back when called.  I got a really intense look on my face and crouched down staring hard at something, like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.  She came over to see what was so interesting, and I grabbed her harness.

My cavalier went though a phase of not coming back too.  Best thing for him was to yell excitedly a high pitched "Yippeeeee!!" and run in the opposite direction.  He soon caught up to see what the fuss what about lol.

Hope some of that helps a little.

[doganjo]

Another tip that may help others - I train my dogs the command 'this way' when on a flexi.  I let them go to the end of it, then turn the opposite way from them. give a tug,  and call 'this way' till they  are at the other end, then do the same again - so they are zig zagging to and fro.  Then when they are 100% turning without being tugged round, I add in a double beep on my whistle until they are doing that 100% every time.  I also train the instant stop on the whistle, in much the same way.  THEN and only then do I let them off lead.  Mind you they do have relapses every now and then which is why I don't ever let them off where they can get access to roads.  Maybe I'm paranoid