# Blowing me off? Or how not to...



## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

Balto is a very good dog, has his CD and we are almost finished with his RAE. When he was a little tyke, he stayed close to me off leash, however, he's 3 years old now and has decided as long as I'm within sight, he's close enough. But he does check in with me. 

I'd really like him to stay closer to me when he's off leash. Any suggestion on how to train this? His major distraction is chasing birds. In the video below he is chasing birds on the beach in Texas. You can see how far away he gets, then he comes back to check in, and runs out again. 

Lately, I've just kept him leashed on a long line. My Malinois stays close to me, but she and Balto have races, which is why she's running with him in the video.

Now that I think of it, it's either because he is chasing birds, or racing with another dog. Otherwise, he does stay pretty close. An animal communicator told me that he said he likes to do anything that has running involved. 

So, first mission is to train him to stop chasing birds. Any other suggestions?

You can see in the beginning of the video he's pretty close and just checking out the water. Later the bird chasing starts.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

great video and NICE Beach !! Mine to like to chase each other up and down the beach, and my gsd is always cking in,,my aussies,,well my female, is rather in her own little world ! 

Masi is really good about sticking close if I tell her to, whether it's birds, strange dogs, squirrels on the other hand she does like to chase, but has a pretty good recall/call off on varmints like that..

Here's a short story on my aussie who is living on her own planet..went to a dog show, that had huge open grounds, I mean huge,,we were about 1/4 - 1/2 mile from the entrance, and I let her out to potty with my sister's dogs..Well one of those ground birds popped up, and off she goes,,no amount of yelling was getting that dang aussie to come..My sister was having a fit, saying GO GET HER,,well heck the dog was almost to the entrance and I needed a bullhorn by that point,,I said, "maybe she'll meet us at home!" (we were in another state!)..I then yelled COOOKIEEEE...of course she turned and made a beeline for me,,what a witch! gave me heartfailure! but I did give her that cookie 

Back on subject,,I've just taught Masi a "stay with me" command, and "here" for her, means by my side..soooo I'm lucky lucky, she has a pretty good call off/leave it..


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I have two different commands for my dog - "here" and "come". "Here"
means to get back to me, closer. "Come" means to sit either directly in front of me, or directly into the heel position. Both require imediate response. 

I use here when (off leash) he is too far away (I also use a short whistle). If I'm off leash and something catches his eye, as soon as he bolts I'll say "Here". This will bring him back to me.......most of the time, he is only 10 months old.


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

Yep, he's just blowing me off. I guess I have some recall training to do. And time to start remembering the treats when we go out.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Somedays when I feel like Hondo is 'blowing me off', when I tell him "Here", I'll squat down and while he is running back I'll be praising him. Just the same as I did when he was a little puppy. He'll run right into my arms. 9 times out of 10 he'll be really vocal about it and excited. We'll play a bit and then I'll get up and continue walking.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Hm.......................

If I want my dogs to run and get exercise, as long as they come back when I call (and this has alot to do with my ability to see them (forest vs. field) I will let them get pretty far away. I want them to tear around like maniacs to get all tired out.

But I do have commands that I use at some points during these times. Like if a strange dog is coming towards us, I'll call my dogs back and have them stay 'close' until I determine if it's friendly or NOT. I just use a 'slow' or 'close' command. If they ignore me I have them 'sit' until I figure it out.

I will admit I use e-collars on my dogs when we hike, though I rarely have to activate them. It's more a 'just in case' if they suddenly dart off and are going too far for me to have some control (running deer cause this). This way I KNOW I have distance control on the dogs. Because I want them to run and get away from me so they can go full speed. 

If I really need to control them, I just put the leash on. Otherwise I just have a zone around me they need to stay in (which can be pretty far, once again, I need to be able to see them) and if they go outside of that, I call them, turn the other direction and they should run right back to me. 

If I am consistant with paying attention (this is key, I have to pay attention  ) they quickly learn what 'distance' I am comfortable with. They know me enough that they almost always stop at wait for me to catch up when they are at the top of a hill or in a curve, cause otherwise they know I'll be calling.


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## Fast (Oct 13, 2004)

BlackPuppy said:


> Any other suggestions?
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzDzkH9AOOM


Get a leash.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I am also with Maggie,,As long as they have a good recall and stay within sight, the can run their little butts off to burn off some energy..

Masi is always checking in, even if we are trailing it, and she takes off with one of her little pap friends, she will turn around and come racing back to 'check in'..pap in tow


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

IF I have a good reliable recall (and I do with the e-collar and my paying attention  ) then it's not about keeping my dogs close when out doing off leash activities. If my goal is exercising, then they have to get away from me or there is no room for them to run and stretch out at full speed.

If, instead, I have to have them close then that's a 'control' issue with NO PLACE in my exercising plan. If it's for a brief time I just use the recall to get them back. Then either 'sit/down' them for whatever amount of time needed. Or put their leashes back on.

When I'm consistant and dependable with this, my dogs are lke JakodaCD OA's because they know it's THEIR job also to keep track of me. So they contantly have one eye out on me (I'm very unreliable because always seem to be running in the opposite direction just when they get focused on something else... so the game of 'Catch up with Mom' is something they all enjoy (and it gets them BACK).)


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