A few tips that might help
Never call your dog when there is a chance she won`t come.
Walk with other dogs who have good recall so when they are call, she comes too, and is rewarded. Do this at intervals on your walk
Play with yoiur dog - short, exciting games, throwing in the odd command as you go - like sit to get the ball. So you are fun to be with
Have patience - it will come.

Have you tried a whistle?

I try not to call and let her ignore me but I don't always know when she will respond. When running around with other dogs she doesn't have an instant response to anything.

I can certainly try this but she has been known to spit food out just when she is sitting focusing on another dog even before she is playing because she is so aroused. She gets so excited at times she is actually shaking.

I can control her on a long line before she is allowed to play but she knows once she is off line she is unreachable

I have tried everything from stern to silly and sometimes it works and sometimes not but never when she is chasing.

She is shepherd by name only by nature I would say she is a cross between a collie and a retriever i.e. the chasing instinct and the self reliance. I could walk home and she wouldn't miss me. I have had to chase her when she has walked off with other dogs many times so I am very careful where I let her off. Most people are helpful but some owners have just carried on walking towards the main road with her tagging along behind which was frightening. She has no guarding instinct and everybody is her friend. She never barks except occasionally to entice an on lead dog to play.

I'll have a look at that later because I have to change from Firefox to Internet Explorer because I can't watch videos on Firefox for some unknown reason.

Thank you all for your help. I have never known a dog like this and I have never seen any other dog behave quite the way she does. At home she is an angel. She is so calm. I decided to teach her the 'hide your eyes' trick yesterday and put a piece of sellotape on her nose so that she would paw it off and what did she do? just lay there ignoring it.

She actually sounds quite a lot like Tango. Tango sees the company of other dogs as a huge reward, unfortunately she can't cope with them running...

We can't let her offlead around other dogs right now as I think that everytime she ignores me...I can add another month at least to her training, so it's just not worth it. She is now far less reactive on lead and will look to us a lot when she sees another dog, but will still go into full on bounce mode sometimes and yes, she shakes too.

Personally (and it's probably just me) I don't think that's a nice head space for any dog to be in...to see another dog (or another anything) and get that excited...it can't be pleasant for the dog and certainly they must feel a little out of control themselves. So I am working really hard to let Tango know that actually, they are not that exciting, actuially,I am much more interesting than the dog is, because i have treats and a stupid voice and a toy. It is still a work in progress...but things are improving, slowly but surely. As well as doing onlead work with other dogs with her I am also working on her recall at home, she comes to her name...and to the whistle and she looks to me if I say her name, 'good girl' or click my tongue. It does help that she loves her stomach. I do have to ration her a bit though and we have high value treats...and kibble!!!

I know I may never,ever be able to let her offlead around other dogs...I know I have a very long way to go yet.A VERY long way...my next step is working with her in a horse arena we are going to rent...and gradually introducing Cosmo (she can't cope with him offlead and running either) and then other calm dogs owned by friends.

At the end of the day I want her to know that I am there for her, I am interesting and that she can trust me to decide if a dog is able to say hello to her or not. It's a long, slow arduous process and sometimes we feel like we are going backwards not forwards...but we are getting there...whereever there may be. I suspect this time next year she still won't be allowed offlead around unknown dogs..but we'll see.

Not sure if this has helped...but I wanted you to knwo you are not on your own. Just take it slowly....and never,ever let your dog ignore you.

A small point...if other dogs and playing with them are actually stressing her out...why let her play with them? Why not change tactic and teach her to ignore them? Find her 'thing' she will have one...maybe it is touch, maybe she just needs a calming stroke.TTouch when she sees other dogs, not all dogs are motivated by food and toys. Tango responds very well to TTouches when she sees running dogs in the park and gets stressed...I have had her upside down before now, just loving the tickles, why not try that? If she is 'stressed' and hyper...then trying to get her attnetion will be meaningless to her, so don't try...if she gets to that point (and you need to try to stop her reaching that point) then get her moving, run with her, throw treats for her..but let her burn the stress off. If you get her before that point, try gently stroking and calming her...see how she goes...don't 'fuel' her hyper behaviour, teach her to use it by getting her to use her nose, or by running in another direction.


Have you tried doing nose work with her...scenting etc? Maybe you could get her focused on that? It has helped with Tango...the small bits we have done. If we see her getting really hyped we throw treats infornt of ehr so she has to a) run to them) and b) use her nose to find them (it's normally in grass)

The last part is a bit jumbled when I reread it...
Basically if we get Tango before she gets hyper, we will sometimes do the running thing, or sometimes we will TTouch etc, it depends on the situation (and our energy levels)...if she gets hyper (which is happening less and less thankfully) we run...or we throw treats..or both.

I have watched the video and I have done what you suggest. She will come fast immediately in the training hall and when there are no dogs around. She will come frequently when there are boring dogs around. She will not come when there are exciting dogs around.

We sometimes walk with other dogs and she will usually come at the end when the other dogs are on lead. She used to run in circles just out of reach but now she is on a line she can be caught. The walk is at 6.30 in the morning and not always possible. The other place I take her new dogs keep arriving and the excitement is often never ending. She has no interest in a ball but loves to chase a dog chasing a ball! We spent weeks playing together and made some progress but nothing is as exciting as the call of another dog. I am being very patient and have been working on this for about 18 months which is why I need some new ideas

I have tried a whistle and spent weeks associating it with her meals and treats before taking it on the road but she ignores that as well.

I am sorry to sound so negative but I think I have tried almost everything I can think of.

I just wanted to add, Tango is like this because she wore a shock collar in the past...or at least we assume she did because of the different texture of her hair on her neck and because of her 'issues'....positive training will turn her round and things are improving...but her initial 'negative training is what made her this way in the first place.

Sounds familiar!

OK, a couple of things that we found helpful - no fixes for us I'm afraid but these things might help you.

Firstly the exercise that one of our trainers gave us. It sounds so simple that you might think it won't work - or that you've already tried something very similar. But give it a go as we got great results.

Take half a dozen of your dog's favorite treats out into the garden when there's not much going on to interest the dog and start walking around ignoring the dog completely. In time the dog *should* wander over to you to see what you're up to. Ignore him completely other than to quietly drop your hand and give him a treat. Keep walking and abruptly changing direction - all the time ignoring the dog. The dog *should* keep following you - be patient as it might take a while. At first give him a treat every time he comes to you. Then treat every time he stays with you when you change direction. When he's stuck to you like absolute glue you can start thinking about getting him to do something to earn the reward, but initially ignore him completely and say nothing. When the 6 treats are used up go indoors.

Repeat this exercise twice a day every day gradually doing it in places with more and more distractions. If (as with ours) there's no particular situation that results in distractions just keep them on a training line to make sure they can't ever self-reward.

I suspect you'll find quite quickly that you can really keep your dog's attention - even in the face of extreme distraction. But it may be a long time if ever before you can allow your dog to play with other dogs.

Ours love to play chases too - although that's not their strongest instinct. We can pull them away from other dogs quite easily. One thing we do though is give them lots of opportunity to chase that doesn't involve other dogs. I should add that our trainer advised against what I'm about to suggest but we felt it important to satisfy our dogs instincts - it felt wrong to completely deprive them of the very thing they were bred to do. Have you tried lure coursing or racing? Ours go nuts for it and it may well have been this activity that weened them off chasing other dogs. The nice thing about it is that you (or the event organisor) dictates where they run because they control the lure. We've now bought a portable lure and that allows us to give the dogs loads of opportunity to run and chase without risk of loosing control. It's not commands that keeps them with us but rather the fact that we've got control of the thing they want - the lure! Most dogs like it although I should add that it's the hounds and terriers that really excel. Dipping the lure in something like tripe juice can help add motivation.

Here's a video of their last session at an organised event:

http://www.vimeo.com/7886884

We got our portable lure from America and it cost about £300 but well worth it! You need a big quiet field or beach to use it. Just thinking that if it's the desire to chase that's at the bottom of this then it might be that if you satisfy that desire in other ways other dogs might become less important?

Well I could be very wrong but I don't think she is getting stressed when playing with other dogs. She is shaking when she is about to be let off to play. It's the anticipation that makes her shake. She is fantastic with all dogs and has great social skills and it seems a shame to stop her playing. I have kept her away from other dogs for months but it hasn't made any difference to her desire for them. And then I was advised that it may be that not letting her play is the problem. But letting her play hasn't helped. Maybe if she had another dog at home for company she would be less frantic, I just don't know and it is a big decision.
She doesn't respond well to touch in the training class. She is better at home.
It is good to know I am not alone

If she is shaking she is stressed and hyped up, that's not a good point at which to let her offlead IMO...she will associate the dogs and play with that feeling, the shaking and hyper feeling. You need her to change that association and she should only be allowed to go and play when she is calm. If she isn't calm she doesn't play. Whilst I have no doubt that she is a lovely dog around other dogs, letting her offlead to play when she is so excited she is shaking is, IMO a recipe for disaster...
She needs to associate the other dogs with being calm.

In what way doesn't she respond well to touch in training? Does she not like it? Is it anywhere specific she doesn't like to be touched? How is she if you touch her when out and about?

I constantly treat her on walks when she comes near me. I let her off on a line to be sure I can get her back and when she comes near I treat. She is interested until another dog appears.
I have actually thought in the past of those radio controlled cars that people run on fields as a way of getting her interest (with something attached to make it more exciting). I would be interested in trying this. How would I find out about these events.


That reminds me the one thing I did find that really got her interest was a lunge line with a cloth attached for her to chase round and round. Unfortunately I only have a small back yard so it's not possible to use it there and it's a bit unwieldy to take on walks. I have never tried it in competition with other dogs but it is a bit limited going round in a small circle.