Welsh fox hound (recall problems)

Our welsh fox hound is a 2 year old rescue dog, never been hunted & is our adorable pet. We have had him 3 months & he has settled in very well with us, the only problem is that we cannot let him off his lead & we feel he needs a good run off his extendable lead, has any one got any ideas?

Welcome to Dogsey & welcome to the mad world of hounds.

I have a foxhound he's a cross between a Welsh and an English foxhound.

Recall is the same as most dogs really you just need to keep training,the only thing is with most hounds is when they do run away they can go for miles.

I do manage to let Craven off the lead,but it is only when he has a very playful dog to play with,as soon as he starts losing interest and looking round he goes back on the lead otherwise he wil just go.

Luckily Craven is not interested in hunting,he just wants to play with other dogs,but will run a long way to find a dog to play with.

His recall is getting a lot better,he is nearly 2 and I have had him since March last year.

Just keep practising on the long line and if you can find a secure field practise there(but make sure it is fully secure as if there is a whole a foxhound will find it).

Any questions just ask,as there arn't many foxhound owners around.

fiona

Hi, this is the problem with the majority of foxhounds.

What you could do apart from running with him, biking with him, cani x etc is that you could use his scenting abilities by tracking him, so that he uses up both his mental and physical energy.

You may not be able to compete with your dog in WT (as you cannot let him off the lead) but you could enter Schutzhund competitions or just track for your own amusement.

There is swimming as well.

Hi, my dog is not a foxhound but just wanted to say how much I empathise Mine's a rescue too and can only rarely be off leash at present as his recall is so hit and miss. I totally know how you're feeling about wanting him to enjoy a real run and stretch his legs!

Don't know much about Foxhounds apart from the elderly lady owner we see regularly who frightens me as she has her 2 off the lead with no recall whatsover in the main car park on the heath near a main road! EEEK!

My Kerry Blue has a high prey drive but is extremely food motivated so will recall away from bunnies and cats for a food reward. The long line seems a good idea though if you aren't confident he will come back.

We had a foxhound and she became better over time.

It helped sometimes to scatter food around and always have good food on me. However you need to read the dog and know when it is likely to head off on a scent. Once she had decided to go that was it.

She was fine in boring places or on the beach but not good in woods!

She had been on the streets for ages loose.

rune

As others have said recall can be a real problem with pet foxhounds, (even the working ones sometimes go AWOL and get lost) and there have been some good suggestions as to how to give her onlead outlets for her energy.

Does he use his nose? If so I have known some hounds who are better if the owner becomes the quarry, to be sought out, rather than the person (trying ) to walk with them.

Can you encourage him to play hide and seek around the house and garden and then transfer it to outside, maybe start with him on a line with someone else holding it, until you are sure he will reliably seek you?

Being pack hounds, you may also find things improve if you can walk with some other dogs, so he is motivated to stay with them, rather than to go off seeking new playmates?

If you can engage his natural instincts, e.g. hunting and running in a pack, you may find it easier to keep him around you, rather than going off to satisfy those instincts.

The Huntsmen use food, and importantly the competition from other hounds, to keep hounds interested in them, plus it is much easier to keep up on a horse!

Hi, and congratulations on being the proud owners of a Welsh foxhound! It is a breed that rarely finds its way into peoples homes.

I had the greatest pleasure of 6 years with a Welsh roughcoated foxhound, who came from rescue at 2yrs of age.

I can appreciate how you feel in wanting your dog to enjoy himself off-lead, and I went through the very same emotions, but my foxhound was my third dog who was unreliably obedient, as foxhounds are, and I can only give an opinion in that I would always place my dog's safety and wellbeing first, way above any wish on your part for him to run off lead. It really is not worth the risk and worry and you would never forgive yourselves if your dog ended up on the road. Once they run off, they can go for miles, and have negligible road sense.

The foxhound has strongly developed instincts to lock onto a scent and IGNORE anything else. That is normal, and what he was bred for, and as much as you attempt to train your dog, you will have great difficulty in overriding that instinct when out in the wild, local park, wherever.

I believe it is important to work with breed characteristics , and adapt accordingly, rather than trying to shape these dogs into something they will not be. Obedience in the home is one thing, but I would beware of any dog trainers taking your money and telling you otherwise.

I used a Gentle Leader, medium size (not a Halti - they give a poor fit) and a pair of adapted horse bridle reins (strongly stitched in the centre join) for a lead - twice the length of a usual lead, as I never did get on with an extending lead, nor long synthetic leads. My foxhound was more like a bullock at times when he got excited (hence the halti) but usually exceptionally well behaved on the lead. (only after putting in the hours of training, as he was a wild thing in the early days)

Tracking on-lead would be great for him and worth looking into.

Certainly, go out of your way to find a safely fenced area so he gets a run off lead now and again, but in the meantime find places to walk that you both enjoy, and have fun with him, giving him as much exercise as you can.

Your dog is still young at 2yrs, and with 3 months of ownership it is still early days for you all. There are other hounds/scenthounds and breeds that do not have 'obedience' or trainability among their strong points, so you are certainly not alone.

Wishing you all the very best. Carolyn.

Tass's suggestions are very good imo.

With dogs like this I would only feed him when he recalls (no other time) and only play with him/make a fuss of him when he recalls, the rest of the time be a bit cool with him.

I would also recomend you get him into chasing a lure and cover it in a scent he likes, this can be a prompt and reward for recall, a scent chase with food reward at the end.

So for the lure training.
Call him, when he looks at you, drop it and run in the other direction , let him chase/catch it then when he's finished playing with it give him some food.

Btw the behaviour you want to mark (good boy) is turning towards you. This is the start of the recall and neatly takes him off the scent as well!

A couple of interesting ideas that you could use as well are.

Long line, that he drags and you randomly step on the end of and call him. Keep him on the flexi at first while dragging the line then as he gets good lose the flexi.

If he runs off on scent some gundog people use vaseline around the nose to stop them scenting so well, never tried it tbh lol.

Some people have success with spray collars as these interupt the scenting activity.

Adam

Have you looked into finding a secure area for him to run around off-lead? Some places have dog exercise areas that are competely fenced in - all you need is an extra helper or two to stand guard at any entrance gates to keep an eye out and shout if people are about to open the gate.
Alternatively I know a few people rent out paddocks for off-lead dogs, which might be worth looking into.
Sometimes you can find empty tennis courts or similar in parks - you may not be able to use them during the day but early in the morning or late at night may be possible.

I definately agree with using mental stimulation to tire him out as well, lots of people think dogs just want to run until they're exhausted, but making a dog use its brain can tire it out just as much as a good run around.