Happy Pets

The biggest problem most dog owners have is getting their dogs to return to them on command once the dog is off the lead. But so many owners cause their own problems on this exercise, I’m not surprised their dogs don’t wish to return to them. Let us first view the faults, in the hope of preventing you from making the same mistakes.

Why your dog won’t come back to you

The first and simplest reason your dog will not return to you on command is that you haven’t trained him thoroughly in the garden. If he won’t come when called in the confined space of his own home, he certainly won’t in the freedom of the fields. In the main, owners with untrained dogs are full of excuses. Week after week, owners come to me saying that the methods don’t work and the dog will not do such-and-such an exercise. What they really mean is that they are unable to train their dog. Far too many people walk about like dead lettuce leaves, talking to their dogs in uninterested undertones. It’s a wonder half the dog population don’t shoot themselves with sheer boredom! The first law in dog training is to get your dog interested in you and to sound enthusiastic enough for your dog to leave his exciting smells and return to you immediately. I think nothing of leaping up and down in the park, clapping my hands in the air, shouting, rolling on the grass and pretending to have the most marvellous game. That never fails to get my dogs racing back to me.

The second most common fault is that at some time the owner has made it unpleasant when the dog has returned, either by nagging at him to sit, or telling him off because when he returned he jumped all over them. If you must adorn yourself in finery and best clothes before exercising your dog, you deserve muddy paw marks all over you. The best way to deter your puppy from returning to you is to nag at him for jumping up, or even being violent with a young puppy and hitting him on return because he didn’t come back at the first call. Dogs have very long memories and once you’ve hit a dog for returning to you, he will never forget it.

From my five dogs, I can tell you of various reasons for a dog not returning to his owner. Katy, as a young puppy on her first few walks in the park was fascinated by strangers and would often follow them, regardless of my calls. I admit to being quite annoyed about this and my first instinct was to run after her and lecture her in no uncertain terms about the penalties for disobedience. Luckily, I thought carefully first. Katy was a very sensitive puppy. If I were to use harsh words while she was with a stranger, would she think strangers were something to be afraid of? Remembering that young puppies can’t concentrate for long and have only room in their little minds for one thing—and that once it’s off their owner it has to be gained by physical contact—I approached her quietly and carefully and stroked her, spoke her name a few times and then backed off, calling her and offering a titbit. She immediately forgot the stranger and ran back with me to the other dogs. This happened two or three times and each time I repeated my tactic. Within a week or two, Katy would return to me immediately. Her name called in an enthusiastic manner meant I had a titbit in my hand for her and, as far as Labradors are concerned, food overrides everything.

Food is certainly Buttons‘ main interest in life. She came to us at a year old, more or less untrained. She is the total opposite to Katy, completely dominant. In fact, Buttons is the nearest thing I’ve ever met to a chauvinist dog. Given the opportunity, she would drag on the lead, bark and growl at passing dogs and run off in the fields. Needless to say, she is never given the opportunity to misbehave. With Buttons, I constantly think ahead to be sure of being one step in front of her. Many dogs like Buttons have what I call an obedience barrier. Within so many yards of their owners these dogs will always obey, but beyond a certain point they are completely deaf to any commands. If you are the owner of one of these dogs, you must assess the distance of your obedience barrier and constantly keep your dog within those bounds. Buttons will always return if she’s within her barrier. Once over the line she is gone, off in search of food. Despite the fact that Buttons is always vying with me for leadership and, given the opportunity, will be disobedient, she is extremely intelligent and watches me constantly while on our walks through the park and the woods. She looks for a lapse of concentration on my part and then she instantly makes for the nearest rubbish tip hidden away in the woods, where she will forage for what she thinks of as tasty morsels. No amount of chastising or threatening works. The only thing to do, instantly and always, is the offer of food. I constantly carry a pocket of titbits and keep Buttons within range.

Dogs like Buttons are much harder to control than those like Teak, our German shorthaired pointer, who will wander completely out of sight but have no obedience barrier and will return instantly on a call or a whistle. A `Good girl’ of praise is quite enough for her. All my dogs, except Buttons, came to us as puppies and were never allowed to be disobedient and were trained correctly from an early age, so problems like the ones I have with Buttons never developed. Every dog is trainable but it is far easier to start from puppyhood.

The third reason your dog will not return to you is that he is far more interested in playing with other dogs. In the case of a male, he will probably spend much of his life, if left entire, in search of a female companion. You could never break an entire dog of wanting to seek a bitch and, therefore, it is far easier for you, and kinder for your male dog, if you have him castrated. I do not make the sweeping statement that all male dogs will constantly run after bitches, not at all. It depends entirely on their temperament and your ability as a dog trainer, but I am trying to point out to you the easiest and best methods of having a well-behaved dog.

Now I have informed you of all the faults and problems that you could have, let us begin correctly so that none of these faults occur.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 3:58 am and is filed under Dogs, Puppies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.