she is pushing me

[gracie's_dad]

Gracie is just about 1 year old and is quite a good dog most of the time. her digging has dropped off, but that is becouse she is not out side for too long unsupervised. but she has got a new "trick" i could use some help with...

while walking in the fenced dog park she will take off after something, and when i call her, she will look over her sholder at me, make eye contact, and just keep going. this is a new twist, she has always stopped and returned in the past.

when she does return, i make her come to me and i put her on her leash for a while. it seems to work for a while but she will see a ball or chuckit, or what ever strikes her fancy and bang...like she was shot out of a gun.

where have i gone rong and how can i fix it?

[CaelinTess]

You may want to try rewarding her for coming when you call. Putting her on a leash for a while is not a reward from the dog's point of view.

 

I think that if you call her to you, give her a treat, and let her go or call her to you and initiate her favorite game, she may start to look at you as Fun Person With Neat Ideas instead of Boring Dude With The Leash.

 

Ideally, dogs are not off leash until they have a great recall on a 50-foot longline or something. That is not realistic for me, so I have come up with other ways to get Tess to stay put while I put her leash on, mostly wearing her out with ball until she is wants a drink of water. Then I put her leash on at the water bowl -- but not every time. Lots of times, we have another game. So she does not associate the water bowl with the game ending at all.

 

Allie & Tess

[gracie's_dad]

for her the treat is a ball, she does not respond too well with food. it is all about the ball!

 

other then the last couple of mornings, i have not had to use a leash in the last few months. she would alway come when i call her.

 

thank you for your input and i will try to comeup with some creative ideas.

[CaelinTess]

If she is all about her ball, you might try a ball attached to a rope and see if she will tug it. A brief fun game like that is a good reward for coming to you, then you let her go again.

 

Other than that, maybe just practicing your recall at home until it is perfect again will help.

 

Allie & Tess

[Lucy Goosey]

Also practice calling her to you and rewarding her when she is NOT actively engaged in going after something appealing. What she is saying to you when she looks over her shoulder is "Yeah, I hear you, but this over here is more interesting!". Get her into the habit of thinking of you as the most interesting thing in town. She might also be checking to see that you're still there.

 

Another thing you might try is moving quickly away from her. Call her once, and start moving off rapidly. When I was having troubles with Lucy going after ducks in the pond and turning her ears off, this is what I did. I'd just call her once, then take off down the trail out of sight. She ALWAYS came when she saw that I was leaving. If I just stood there on the bank calling her, she'd just keep going after the duck. After a few reps of calling-once-then-leaving, every time I called her, she started automatically turning back toward shore when I called her name. And of course, whenever she came to me, even if I had to make her think I was leaving to get her to come, I'd reward her like crazy with mostly praise, petting, and a small treat. Then I'd say "OKAY!!!!" and we'd race back down to the pond.

 

As far as food, what have you tried? I've found that most dogs can't resist garlic baked liver.

[Alaska]

Welcome to canine adolescence. If you have teenagers, you should recognize the symptoms.

 

It's a stage. You (probably) won't be able to "fix" this overnight. Just be firm and fair and consistent and eventually you will (probably) find yourself living with a well-mannered adult dog. Meanwhile, you will (probably) find that Gracie tests more of the limits that she was previously happy to live within.

 

My point is that you (probably) don't need new training methods so much as the patience to keep applying the old training methods during what can be a rather trying stage. I don't think this stage can be rushed through, alas. Enjoy

[gracie's_dad]

Originally posted by Alaska:

Welcome to canine adolescence. If you have teenagers, you should recognize the symptoms.

that is exactly what it reminded me of. funny I, miss my grown kids so I get another dog to keep me company and active. and here we go again, so to reward me for treating her so good she abuses me, just like my teenage daughter did. thankfully she will grow out of this just like my daughter did. hopefully sooner then my daughter did. I could not wait another 4 years for her to come around.