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Subject: Roaming, ignoring "come" command

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Helenb

Posts:1

11/19/2009 3:29 PM
Hello all, I have a 4 year old GSP rescured from a shelter in Iowa. He's a great dog, he gets soem long walks in the woods and mostly stays close by, occaisionaly when he gets on a scent of something he goes crazy and will disappear off into the woods only to turn up a phone call later from a nearby house!! I can tell when he is about to disappear and there seems to be nothing I can do to stop him, he completely blocks me out!! I don't really want to have to use a shock collar and have tried a load whistle to try and distract him but nothing seems to work so far. Any ideas?? Apparently he as given up by his owner who bought him as a bird dog but he wasn't workign out.. I wonder if he my react better to a command used in the bird-dogging world instead of "wait" or "come" - anyone got any other commands I could try him on???? Thanks...

Texas Belle User is Offline

Austin, TX

MH
Posts:7844

11/19/2009 4:23 PM
You just need to train the recall. The word doesn't matter (I use come for a formal competition recall and here for when I am hiking. They have two different meanings for my dogs), but the training does. He knows he doesn't have to listen to you if he doesn't want to. So I would go back to the beginning and retrain his recall. Do not call him when he is off leash until he has it down. Use a check cord as that will put you in control. And at the end of the day you may need to use the ecollar to reach out and let him know you are still in control when he is off leash. There are several long discussions on the forum on teaching recall, so just do a search. They are probably both in the General section and the Training section.

Bev Quarles, the Pointer Sisters (Belle and Halo), the Outlaw GSP (Johnny Ringo) and the little Princess (Fauna) Yellow Rose GSPs "A dog has the soul of a philosopher." - Plato

snips

n.ga.

MH
Posts:413

11/19/2009 5:47 PM
For a 4 yr old that has already developed some bad habits, I would definetly get a shock collar before you add him to the "lost" threads.

brenda

TessaGA

Georgia

MH
Posts:2387

11/20/2009 10:02 AM
I second what both Bev and Brenda said - start from scratch with the recall on a checkcord, gradually adding distractions to see what his threshold is, then add e-collar to the mix IF you know how to use it (if not, hopefully there is a pro near you that can help). My GSP always had a decent recall but if the distraction is too much to her liking (deer, birds) the recall goes to hell...so we added the e-collar. It's been a tremendous help. How is his "whoa"? Can you "whoa" him from afar until you get to him to leash him? If not, it's something you could work on. May not fix your problem, but it's a very useful command.

To live without dogs would mean accepting a form of blindness. [Thomas McGuane]

pixie bee

MH
Posts:4450

11/20/2009 11:50 AM
Teaching the recall and whoa will help but it will not cure this dog. He is a self hunter. IMO, the e-collar is the only way,thing is,the previous owner may have already tried this and it may turn out devastating results for you. I would proceed with caution when introducing the e-collar,have him on a check cord. Make sure he knows the recall and that the correction is for disobeying. If he bolts you could be in trouble. His drive is greater then the need to obey you. He simply prioritized and well, you didn't come in first place.

"Time with my dogs clears my mind, renews my faith, and lets me see the world as it is. My only regret loving dogs as I do, is the misery of their early departure." Robert G. Wehle

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