Keeping your dog with you on walks

Hi - I've posted many times on the problem with my boy.

Because of his earlier aggression problems when I walk him in areas where there are dogs he stays on a lead. About 1.5 miles up the road from us is a double field - wide open and free from livestock so as a special treat once or twice per week I take him there and allow him offlead (he remains muzzled).

My problem is he just charges off and spends a lot of time tearing around, sniffing in hedges and copses at an uncomfortable distance. I can just walk down the centre of the field and he will be charging from left to right. He isn't in any danger but obviously it's not an ideal situation and certainly not in terms of exploring new places to take him.

I have no idea how to keep him with me, or within a specific distance - say up to 30-40ft of me. He has very good recall - I shout and he returns, collects his treat and is then off again.

Any ideas?

Difficult. Tonks loves to hurtle about too and if weary somewhere where I don't want her to go too far I just have to keep calling her back. I have whistle trained her, but I have to keep it up regularly and use really high value treats like sausage, venison treats or liver cake. If I see her really scouting for something to chase she goes back on her head collar for a while....until I Seeger calming and the adrenaline dispersing a little!

Is it because you are uneasy about the distance? I daresay that if he's usually on lead, it's a waheeeeeeeeeeeeey time for him. His recall sounds good but perhaps rapid feed him quite a few high value treats when he comes back so that it's not recall-treat-buzz off. Let him calm a little before releasing him again.

Does he like toys? if you are more fun than the environment (easier said than done) perhaps when he's had a crazy 5 mins, you could play. If he's not into toys, lay a scent trail for him, initially with food and perhaps hiding toys?

Another option is to let him have a run and then have a training session. As dogs place train, he should begin to expect it. "Hey, we train when we come here. Let's have some fun together." You could even reward his training with the environment.

LOL, it seems like a great place to train. You could be as nutty as you like with nobody watching.

Probably not a training tip as such but all my dogs have loved the edges of fields more than the middle for sniff and exploring so I have always walked around the edge of them to keep the distance what I consider safe. Doesn't happen now as they are on leads because of Mollies failing sight and hearing and Betty hasn't got the come back when called yet. But we still walk round the edges so they can sniff in the longer grass.

Another thought I had was that sometimes equestrian centres let you hire it out for an hour so your dog can go loopy off lead with complete freedom and you can relax knowing he is safe and won't come into contact with other dogs. I don't think it's usually that expensive....might be a nice treat for you both once in a while!

I think you've got it in one there Julie

Lol sometimes I find it easier to bend to what they naturally do rather than insist they walk where I do. Thinking deeper about it I guess in the wild dogs would skirt a field rather than walk across it unless they were chasing or being chased.

Yes I feel very uneasy about the distance - mostly because if he ran into trouble i.e came across some sheep, another dog, a deer etc. I would be too far away to deal with it. So I feel I'm taking a big chance. The good thing about this field is that it enters on quite a high hill so I can scour for quite a distance and satisfy myself that there are no livestock but I still worry there might be a stray sheep or cow.

He has his boomer ball which he absolutely loves and if he sees me get that out the bag, he's by my side grunting! He then becomes fixated on it and just chases that. My fear is that he'll grow tired of it one day if I don't ration it and then I don't have a lot else to interest him - he loves treats but is not prepared to do anything to get them - he'll take them because they're offered but it's no big deal to him.

Funnily enough I have started training him when out - sit - stay, down - stay, do circles around the bag etc.. and he's happy to perform for me.

The behaviourist recommended I do training when he's out on a walk with me to get him to interact with me, as he is a very self-contained dog. I even took a towel with me this morning so he didn't get his bottom wet when he went into a sit! I'm so soft.

There is an equestrian centre not far from where I am, I suspect they would rent out a field for a small fee. The one I'm thinking about is close to where he used to go to training and he didn't like it at all, so I'm worried he'll have associations, also the only poo he enjoys is horse poo!

I will try that, definitely try that in fact! Some of the farmers around where I live are very fussy about insisting you walk on the footpath, which is through the middle of this field, and soon he'll have crops growing . I suspect though if I walk along the hedges and don't cause damage to his crops he'll probably be ok with it.