Does Cain walk calmly past other dogs when on his lead? If so has he always done this or did you train it? And if you trained it how did you do it?

Have you whistle-trained a recall. What really does it for Cain?

As you know, Polo has this urge to 'check out' other dogs when they are a certain distance. His recall to voice is about 90% but fails at a certain proximity to dogs. His whistle recall I use for emergencies and to date is 100%.

Tug is Polo's favorite game and I conditioned the whistle to a chase me and have a vigorous game of tug. Swimming is Polo's other favorite activity. Last summer I blew my whistle just before we reached the river . He recalled and got a game of tug followed by being allowed to jump in the river.

My confidence with allowing Polo off-leash despite his issues, is down to my confidence in his whistle recall.

Thanks all Lorraine, thanks for sharing your experience. I do try to mix him with calm dogs when I can but this has to be on lead, I haven't found an environment where I can do it off lead yet. Hopefully this 1:1 will be interesting.

Loki's Mum, I totally agree and the thought has crossed my mind many times. He can be very GSD at times, ball focused, won't leave my side, then he spots a dog and the Akita recall kicks in I guess the difficulty is working out how much can be improved by training and when to just accept his traits. I realise it may be the case that he's on lead forever, but I need to try my best with his training first as he loves to chase his ball so much and I feel sad when he can't. Totally agree with your point though

CharleyMadison, yes Cain is pretty much ok around other dogs on lead. We have a strict set of rules, use the clicker and treats, play the Look At That game and he's knows he can't run off. Off lead, he seems to know that I can't physically control him so he's a bit of a law unto himself. He is much better now on lead than he was, it was just repetition, routine and rules. It's hard to enforce these rules when he goes belting off though!

MaisiesMum, I've had a whistle for ages but not trained it. The recall workshop on Saturday is going to have us put the recall on whistle. I'm hoping to make the whistle the best thing ever

Have you tried him with send aways?

Get him to run away from you (maybe to a toy you have put a little way away, or a treat), then recalling him back, (maybe use a different word ie. if you use "come" use "here"), and have a MUCH better toy or treat waiting.

This way he get used to running away from you, and WANTING to get back to you ASAP. I'd obviously try it with no distractions to start with.

He can do formal obedience send aways. When we're in an empty park it's actually quite difficult to get him to leave me side then he'll bolt. I'll give it a go though and try to encourage him to go away a bit so I can get him back. Problem is that his current top reward (squeaky tennis ball) is trumped by strange dog. Somehow I need to find something even more motivating, but I haven't found it yet

I am lucky I have a tennis ball (although it doesn't trump a car!) mad dog. I think a lot of it is habit and repetition though. If you do the recall thingy often enough when there are no distractions, it may became ingrained enough to work when there are?

Yes, I agree especially if paired with a whistle. It is an automatic response rather than dog/ball? dog/ball? The whistle becomes an automatic = whoopy FUN, that takes the question out of the equation.

I really empathise, as I have a few of the same issues you do. Dexter goes beserk if he so much as hears a horse while we are out walking, and as there is a farm with a riding school two roads away, you can imagine how much fun that is....!

Like Cain, Dex has always gone racing over to anything that catches his interest. In terms of impulse control, I have found that practising 'stay' and 'leave' really helps. We practise at home, throughout the day, and while out walking, and when at the park. However, of course it's much harder for you because Cain can't be off leash very much - I really feel for you.

Have you asked the socialisation class organisers what they think? What do they advise re practising recall/impulse control?

TBH I doubt Dex will ever be off lead anywhere that could have horses or other animals bar dogs. I don't let him off leash in woods, forests, etc because he will chase anything that moves.

There are several dogs at our local park who do all of these things - including a GSD, a very young Akita, and a Great Dane. All off lead.

Sorry if that doesn't help, just wanted to let you know that some of the dogs at our usual park are FAR 'worse' than Cain sounds and a few of them have no recall at all!

Sounds like Cain does what Dex always has done: goes galloping off at the sight of another dog. I know JUST how frustrating that can be!

Does he ever actually get off lead time with other dogs? I know you can expose them to other dogs via training classes , etc., but it isn't the same as quality interaction without leads. I'm guessing the whole area of interaction with other dogs is a bit of novelty for Cain. The less of a novelty something is, generally the less interesting it is.

Do you ever ask other dog owners (of large, friendly dogs of course) you meet on walks if they don't mind Cain meeting their dog(s)?