vangorm
Well-Known Member
Hi guys! I'm new, so I hope I explain this properly.
I have a three year old poodle mix that when we adopted, did pretty well. She had to be housetrained which wasn't too hard and she didn't know any commands, so she was basically a blank slate. I even changed her name(not that she responded to her old one).
One of the big things I needed to teach her early on was her recall as we don't have a fenced yard and I wanted her to be able to play/be trained outside with Bella(the older dog) without a long lead getting in her way. She caught on pretty quickly. She loves fetch, so I sort of built off of that and she would follow me around outside, come when called, etc. despite distractions. One day I had her outside and we were playing and she shot off. Maybe she got bored of the game, maybe she heard something, who knows. But she had -never- done this before. When I called her, she didn't come. I went to go get her and she made it into this big game of chase. I'd get close and she'd do the little play stance(butt up in the air), and run off again. I know it's reinforcing it by chasing her, but she doesn't respond to commands to come back, I've tried bribing her with treats, toys, and even running the other way to make it a 'follow me!' type of chase game. Our best chance to get her is to chase her until she's peeing/investigating something or until she gets tired and lays down. It's dangerous though. We don't live in a heavily populated area(we see maybe 6-7 cars pass our house a day), but she's run by a main street before and has nearly been hit.
The weird thing is that now I can trust her off leash again if I let her off the leash. For instance, if I have her sit before I open the door, open the door, walk through the door, call her outside, and tell her to 'stay close', she will. She'll play fetch and won't venture outside the yard. If she gets out by herself(ie. she slips outside while we get a delivery, etc.) she'll run outside the yard and the same chase game happens. I've also noticed an association with the leash means that she has to stay close. I've dropped the leash a few times while walking her and she won't go out any further than what the leash allows. Now what's interesting about this is that when Annie goes out to pee during the winter, it's on a long lead(I have an auto immune disorder and can't be in the cold too long). One time I had her in a sit-stay while I put the leash on, gave her the release and she ran to go pee.. Apparently I didn't hook it on correctly and the leash fell off. Of course, I panicked but I didn't try to chase her in case she started the game again. Once she peed, I called her back and she came without an issue.
I'm not sure what else I can do to stop the door dashing. I've done on-leash and off-leash work in the doorway and on the doorstep. As soon as she slips outside without our permission, the obedience goes out the window. It's just so bizarre to me that she can have perfect recall in a dog park(I once called her when she was in the middle of a game of chase with another dog and she stopped and came immediately), but she doesn't come when there's nothing to play with or do.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
I have a three year old poodle mix that when we adopted, did pretty well. She had to be housetrained which wasn't too hard and she didn't know any commands, so she was basically a blank slate. I even changed her name(not that she responded to her old one).
One of the big things I needed to teach her early on was her recall as we don't have a fenced yard and I wanted her to be able to play/be trained outside with Bella(the older dog) without a long lead getting in her way. She caught on pretty quickly. She loves fetch, so I sort of built off of that and she would follow me around outside, come when called, etc. despite distractions. One day I had her outside and we were playing and she shot off. Maybe she got bored of the game, maybe she heard something, who knows. But she had -never- done this before. When I called her, she didn't come. I went to go get her and she made it into this big game of chase. I'd get close and she'd do the little play stance(butt up in the air), and run off again. I know it's reinforcing it by chasing her, but she doesn't respond to commands to come back, I've tried bribing her with treats, toys, and even running the other way to make it a 'follow me!' type of chase game. Our best chance to get her is to chase her until she's peeing/investigating something or until she gets tired and lays down. It's dangerous though. We don't live in a heavily populated area(we see maybe 6-7 cars pass our house a day), but she's run by a main street before and has nearly been hit.
The weird thing is that now I can trust her off leash again if I let her off the leash. For instance, if I have her sit before I open the door, open the door, walk through the door, call her outside, and tell her to 'stay close', she will. She'll play fetch and won't venture outside the yard. If she gets out by herself(ie. she slips outside while we get a delivery, etc.) she'll run outside the yard and the same chase game happens. I've also noticed an association with the leash means that she has to stay close. I've dropped the leash a few times while walking her and she won't go out any further than what the leash allows. Now what's interesting about this is that when Annie goes out to pee during the winter, it's on a long lead(I have an auto immune disorder and can't be in the cold too long). One time I had her in a sit-stay while I put the leash on, gave her the release and she ran to go pee.. Apparently I didn't hook it on correctly and the leash fell off. Of course, I panicked but I didn't try to chase her in case she started the game again. Once she peed, I called her back and she came without an issue.
I'm not sure what else I can do to stop the door dashing. I've done on-leash and off-leash work in the doorway and on the doorstep. As soon as she slips outside without our permission, the obedience goes out the window. It's just so bizarre to me that she can have perfect recall in a dog park(I once called her when she was in the middle of a game of chase with another dog and she stopped and came immediately), but she doesn't come when there's nothing to play with or do.
Any ideas?
Thanks!