Brittany running away problem

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brittnamedbooth
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Brittany running away problem

Post by brittnamedbooth » Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:09 pm

I have a 3-4 year old Brittany who was a rescued dog that someone chained to the no kill shelter fence one night. We don't know his history prior to the shelter, but he knew the whoa command so I think he was at one time trained for hunting. He is a wonderful, loving and very smart dog but with one problem. He is my companion dog, I don't hunt so I am not interested in him hunting. In the house he is always within 2-3 feet of me. I have a 4 foot high fenced in back yard with an electric fence on the inside perimeter of the fence. He respects the electric fence boundaries 100%.

But he has gotten lose several times out the front door when someone was not paying attention close attention and off he goes. But he is not running away to escape us, he is just following his nose. After 3-4 blocks we catch up with when he stops to smell something. When he is on a training collar he obeys the whoa command and stay command with only a few beeps. But when he is on one of his mini-escapes with me trying to catch him, he ignores all commands even the pea less whistle which he reacts to immediately in the back yard or dog park because it connects the whistle with small pieces of hot dogs which he loves. Of course when he bolts out the door, he does not have on the training collar.

How to I train him to follow commands on his escapes without the training collar? He is a very birdy dog and loves walks on a 50' check cord more than anything. More than dog treats. One trainer who worked with him at the shelter said that he may never cease to run off when given the chance.

Thanks for any input. For the time being, I watch him very carefully so he does not get chances for his escapes. I don't think he would come back if he got too far away from me. He has tags and id's with my phone # and is chipped, but he does not know much about roads and would be in danger of getting hit.

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Grousewing
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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by Grousewing » Tue Mar 27, 2012 5:13 am

IMO you either need to catch him in the act and correct him or have the e-collar on him as much as possible. Either way the correction needs to be done at time of escape or the dog will have no clue what he is being corrected for.
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jcbuttry8
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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by jcbuttry8 » Tue Mar 27, 2012 5:38 am

Grousewing wrote:IMO you either need to catch him in the act and correct him or have the e-collar on him as much as possible. Either way the correction needs to be done at time of escape or the dog will have no clue what he is being corrected for.
+1

I think I would plan his escape. Put the collar on him and then open the door and leave it unattended or so it seems. Let him role and then give the command and correct. I would do it several times and let the other members of the family give the command and then you control the collar. Make him aware that no matter which voice he hears, he must respond even with the young ones.

Good luck,

Joe

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Ruffshooter
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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by Ruffshooter » Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:24 am

How long have you had him?
Have you done any formal obedience training?
He does not respect your place or power in the relationship enough.
The two previous post are on target for sure.

The dog has no control at the door or fence etc. Train him for it.

As far as him on the run: If he was trained as a hunter then he was probably allowed his head to roll out.. He wants to be out there it is his nature. So why not work on the formal training with the collar and transitioning to off collar. So when he is allowed, to run, you let him. Not when he escapes, do not allow any escapes. You need to get the whole family on the same page.

It is okay for a dog to roll,( in the places you let him but no where else), if you have control. The only way to gain control is by training, starting close and working it out and eventually to different places.

This is kind of one of those Ceasar M. situations.

Good luck.
The best part of training is seeing the light come on in your little prot'eg'e.

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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by cjhills » Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:46 am

When you get to where he is solid on his yard training you will need to go to a bigger area. He will learn very soon that you don't have control at a distance so you need to do everything you can to make sure he don't get loose. Three times starts becoming a learned response. He probably needs some running in a larger area with the collar or check cord. Most dogs come back but some don't so you need some control at the start. At least til you get to know what to expect.
Try very hard to not to give a command that you can't enforce, better to let him run then yell when he won't listen. This is the hardest thing for most of us.
good luck

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sdoliver
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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by sdoliver » Tue Mar 27, 2012 7:36 am

Sounds like maybe he is "collar wise" In other words he knows when he doesn't have the collar on there isn't much you can do. Try putting two or three collars on at the same time. Some times only one collar, sometimes three, sometimes none, Keep him confused as to whether he has the real collar on or not.

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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by DogNewbie » Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:57 am

I think there is a simple solution to this with out needing an ecollar. In fact I think an ecollar is a bad idea in this situation because it's just going to confuse the dog. I think the dog has no clue it's miss behaving when it bolt outside when the opportunity presents itself so you simply need to teach the dog your expectations. Every time you take your dog out a door, whether it's the back door, front door, car door, etc, make him wait until you say he can cross the threshold. All this takes is you going out the door first and if he tries to follow without you're permission slam the door in his face. If he starts to go out the door when you open it again, slam it in his face again. Do this until the dog is standing there looking at you in confusion. At that point you can open the door and either give him a release command that he is already familiar with or create your own and coerce him outside while using the command. After doing this a handful of times the dog will know what's expected and why he's in trouble if he bolts out the door.

Tim

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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by Ruffshooter » Tue Mar 27, 2012 11:29 am

Tim; You are correct about going out the door but not the rest of the problem which is the dog running and not coming back. The dog is not running away but going exploring and hunting.
If the dog and owner are introduced to the ecollar and do the transition work they will be fine.

If they are just shocking the dog as it runs away then that will create the problem.
The best part of training is seeing the light come on in your little prot'eg'e.

Rick

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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by DogNewbie » Tue Mar 27, 2012 11:59 am

I agree with that. I just didn't get the sense that that was what was being suggested by the ecollar posts. Sounded like they suggested letting the pup run out the door and zapping it when it has no clue that running out the door in the first place in a no-no. I would say getting the dog to understand proper door expectations is priority number 1, which, IMO, should never really be need to be overlaid with the ecollar. Getting the pup to respond to commands with distractions, however, is a training issue, like you said, and can be corrected with cc and eventually ecollar.

brittnamedbooth
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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by brittnamedbooth » Tue Mar 27, 2012 6:55 pm

Here is some more info. We think he is 3 - 4 years old.
When on a 50 foot check cord and e-collar all it takes is a verbal whoa and he stops and he obeys the stay command even if I walk by him and keep walking.
In the dog park of about 3-4 acres he is off the 50 foot check cord and with the training collar and he obeys the whoa command, stay command and here command to come to me.
In all the above cases he obeys the command without beeps most of the time. beeps and vocal command are needed some times. Rarely (like once in 20 outings or less) does he require a correction shock.

He does wait at the door threshold most of the time, he only bolted out the door once when he had the opportunity and saw a dog by our mailbox.
Once up at the lake, I forgot to tie him when I went down below in the cabin and I came up two - three minutes later and he was gone. But just 3 slips away smelling and exploring.

I guess part of my problem is the fear of taking him to a large open field and working with him on the training collar and off the check cord. My son has a Field Springer who never runs off. Do you think it would be good to take both dogs to a field and work on the training of my Brittany on the e-collar?

Oh, there is one other issue. When he started limping about 8 months ago, took him to the vet. They took an x-ray of his back left leg and the large bone had been previously fractured and was healed, but the bone was not set properly. Thus the vet said this was causing joint inflammation. The vet told me to limit the exercise to 20 minutes a day and I have him on anti-inflammatory pills, joint supplements, and science diet dog food with joint supplements and pain pills.

So it could just be due to these medical restrictions I don't need to run him off the check cord. But still in my mind, I know how much he loves being out in the field and woods.

Earlier post concerned his aggressive nature towards all dogs. After about 3 visits to the dog park, getting pinned to the ground 2-3 times cured him of that behavior and now he gets along with most dogs.


John

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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by DogNewbie » Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:10 pm

I think it sounds like he needs more training in new environments. Could be that he associates the commands with your yard and your parks you frequent. I would guess training in new places would help him understand that commands must be obeyed no matter where they are given. A second dog may help but it also may simply create more distraction right off the bat. That being said he also needs to learn that he has to obey commands even when other dogs are around so you'll eventually want to work on that anyway. Over all it sounds like you have a dog that's coming along nicely. I would just keep working with him is many different situations. Good luck

Tim

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Re: Brittany running away problem

Post by Sharon » Tue Mar 27, 2012 9:14 pm

brittnamedbooth wrote:Here is some more info. We think he is 3 - 4 years old.

He does wait at the door threshold most of the time, he only bolted out the door once when he had the opportunity and saw a dog by our mailbox.
Once up at the lake, I forgot to tie him when I went down below in the cabin and I came up two - three minutes later and he was gone. But just 3 slips away smelling and exploring.

John
All 3 of mine would bolt out the door if it was open , I wasn't there and there was another dog on the lawn.
We solved this problem with a dog once by setting him up a few times.The door was left open and my husband hi around the corner outside.. When the dog left, my husband hollered and grabbed the dog. Didn't take too many times. (I have a scary husband.) I don't like to use the e-collar in the house.

Your concern is understandable. Don't just release him in a field. When he is coming 95% of the time in the back yard, move to a larger enclosed area . Keep increasing the area until you try a field.
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