I am going to talk about letting blue off his leash to run in a somewhat enclosed area, thought I would put that out there right now, so don't get mad at me!
Met my new neighbor Rachel and her dog Hank. Hank was found in a dumpster, no bigger than the palm of your hand. Hank was very close to death, but he was nursed back to health and is now quite the little guy! Hank is a mutt, definitely has some beagle and some chow in him, not sure what else... Size wise, he is about the size of a beagle. Anyways, we were out one morning, Hank is very good off the leash and he was jumping at Blue and running away, well Blue went after him and came to the end of the leash. He turned to me and looked back at Hank running away. I thought, you know, Blue can barely stand it when I leave the room, I know he isn't going to run away. So I let him off the leash and the games began. Blue did a damn fine job of coursing Hank. Now, Hank is used to playing with big dogs but not ones who can turn on a dime like he can. Blue was always on his heels and Hank could not get away. It was quite a sight and I knew Blue was having a good time, Hank really wasn't too sure what to think... Needless to say, I think I am going to use these times to get Blue ready for some real coursing on the field this fall.
Now a little story about how this dog forgets nothing! I walk Blue on the same field where we let them run, one morning, about a week ago, Blue came across a chicken bone. He picked it up in his mouth, I yelled at him and he dropped it immediately. Tonight, I let him off the leash and he headed away from me, got a bit further than I would like so I followed him. The entire time, his head was about an inch from the ground. I said to Rachel, "There was a chicken bone over there about a week ago, he is going to find it." She said, "Yeah right..." It wasn't a minute later and he had the bone in his mouth, he looked straight at me after he got it. I jogged towards him, he dropped it and I tossed it into the bushes. The dog never ceases to amaze me!
Ok, now you can yell at me for having him off leash... :)
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3 comments:
I am going to educate... not scold :-). Dogs shouldn't be off leash unless they have been systematically trained and rewarded to come when called.
I'll admit to working and hiking my greyhounds off lead, but I do not do it until I have trained, reinforced, and proofed the recalls. I make sure I can call them away from other dogs, people, and other distractions first. You never know when you may encounter an aggressive dog and nothing is worse for that responsible person holding the leash to have their dog attack someone's friendly, unleashed, untrained dog. Or you may encounter a dog phobic who completely freaks out when your friendly dog runs up to them.
Greyhounds, especially, are not born listners. You have to teach them. See link for more recall info.
http://www.neversaynevergreyhounds.net/come.html
Jennifer Bachelor
First, Hank sounds like a wonder-mutt and a heck of a survivor!
I'm not going to scold, either, but I will say that you'd probably have a blast training recalls with Blue, then you'll feel safer letting him off lead in controlled situations. It really is fun, and when you get to the point that he's really good at them, maybe Rachel could help you do partner recalls. :-)
Bruno is really good at recalls, even though he doesn't come running back QUICKLY, he always trots back. It would be more fun if he would come tearing back toward me, but I'm just happy that I know he'll come when I call him EVERY TIME. Now I need to work with Hoover!
Oh my, this makes me a nervous wreck!! I've been on too many midnight runs searching for lost hounds. You can call me Nervous Nelly, if you want!
I've also chased Sugar down the street while I'm sure she was laughing at my inability to catch her as she trotted down the street and I was running at full speed (whatever that was). It ain't fun!!
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