Murphy turned 2 and now he likes to wander

Hello Everyone,

Its been a while since I have been on here as work commitments etc ate up a lot of my time, but have been lurking for a bit again.

As some of you may remember we have a wonderful fox red lab called Murphy. Who though not going to win any obedience trophies has always been reasonably obedient and trained until recently.

Recently when being walked off lead he has taken to running off. For 45 minutes or so of his walk he will wander not too far, running about over the sand dunes and coming back to see where you are, he will just take off over the dunes and not come back.

We live 500 yards from a country park and beach areas where lots of people have barbeque's etc from spring through to autumn. These people leave lots of food lying about and being a lab he cant keep away.

Though he runs away with out the food temptation as well, it can be to roll in fox/deer poo, rotting fish etc

We end up having to follow him, and no amount of shouts, whistles or tasty treats will temp him back into range, and then after about 10-20 minutes he comes to us and will quite happily walk home by our sides from there.

We have tried keeping him on his lead for a few walks, and still when we let him off he seems to be behaving as normal, then the head goes up and he sniifs, then hes off. If you shout as he runs away he stops, turns looks at you then runs off again.

We are about to try going back to basics with his clicker training and working on recall with a training line, but everything else we tough him as a puppy, including recall works perfectly 1st time, in the house, the garden, or when hes close to us outside.

Till he decides hes off and running and the nothing will change his mind, till he decides hes coming back.

Anyone got any suggestions??

Graeme

Can't offer advice I'm afraid, but maybe he's found a girlfriend.

Don't let him off lead at all.
Use a flexi or a long line.

Agree keep a flexi lead on and do re-call all over again, rewarding him with bits.
Is he neautered, although IMO all mine have gone through that.................teenager years hun.

I agree with what has been said above. Sounds like an age thing. They go through a stage of forgetting any and all training they have been given. I am where you are right now so Ivan stays on a long line and is rewarded with praise when he returns to me when I call him. He is not interested in any type of treat when out. He is 20 months old and entire. Hope this helps a little xx

I'm having a bit of this with my Shady at the moment. She always had spot on recall, but suddenly she has taken to nose down pick up a scent and trots off on the trail totally deaf to my calling.
I have to run the other way to get her attention but she is getting braver and braver. So this weekend I am getting her a harness and long line and we will be reinforcing some recall.
She has a Flexi but is such a big strong dog I find the big handle in my hand difficult to hold securely, especially when you get hot and it gets slippery. Shady is 3 next month so don't know what her excuse is

Exactly what I was going to say. It sounds like long lead time. The more the behavior is 'allowed' the worse it will get. If you stop the whole thing by putting him on a long line and working on recall you should be able to get him back under control. Me and Chance have been having to re work things lately also and he will be two here come September. Its like he 'forgot' everything. LOL

I might go as far as connecting two long lines so he thinks he's free and working a recall like that too.

I know a lady whose setter eats stones so he wears a basket muzzle when out so he can`t pick up and eat stuff. This might help while you`re working on recall.

We have tried the long lead for over a week, without letting him off and he is fantastic, recalls every time, instantly.
Thing is he never gets to the end of the long line.
After doing this, we tried a couple of walks letting him of for a play when at the beach, and he will play fetch into the water, quite happily, always coming back and always wanting to chase the ball.
And just today had him out off the lead for approx 1.2 hour with no problems, then decided he was off, didnt turn back when shouted just ran away.
Went after him, and found him, shouted, he came over but stayed just out of arms reach and wouldnt come close enough to catch.
Do we just continue in this way, until his recall is back?

I feel sorry for him cos he always looks so depressed when being walked on the lead, and want to get to the point where we can let him play with all his doggy friends on his walk without worying about him not coming back.

Graeme