Scared Doggy

Hi everyone.

Now when Bella was about 5/6 months old we had this problem, and I was advised on here to keep her on a lead...which I did do.

We have very recently started letting her off again, as she showed no sign of being scared and trying to bolt while on the lead.

The other day around Ferry Meadows, we were by the lake, and a wind surfer was coming in her direction. She showed a few signs of anxiety, so we tried to clip her back on, but all fingers and thumbs and she ran off. She literally ran a good half mile back to the start of the walk. Completely out of sight, with me and my OH running after her like a lunatic. At first we did stand there, and expect her to come back. But she completely bolted, no looking back. Now with this, I saw the signs, so I should have acted sooner.

However tonight my OH was walking her alone, and told me she was off lead on the field. There are some astro turfs nearby, and when the ball hit the side, it scared her and she bolted again! Luckily she stopped when out of sight.

I would like your advice on the best way to treat this. We don't let her off near roads so there is no danger of her running into one when scared.
I just don't understand why she runs away. I would have presumed when scared, she would come running back to me / my OH.

There seems to be no other apparent signs as to when she will do this. She just goes. I don't want to stop her being off lead. So I'd like to see if theres anyway I can help this

Thanks xx

Maybe keep her on a long lead for a while just for safety and hopefull it will break the habit of running off. You could try distracting her from the things that she is scared of with a toy or a treat. My sister has a border collie and when she was young she use to leg it back to the car if she didn't like the look of another dog. We didn't walk her near any roads for a while and luckily she just seemed to grow out of it. Now she just tends to go into the bushes if she doesn't like a dog and comes back out once we have gone passed.

If she's spooked recently I'd suspect that she might be more likely to spook again - at things that may have previously been OK so maybe a bit of extra caution for a bit - long line suggestion sounds good. Onlead/ offlead game (in a safe place) just for practice could be fun?

What a worry for you and it can't be nice seeing your dog bolting through being scared.

If I was in the same situation I personally would keep her on her regular lead and walk her to all the places where she has bolted before and expose her to strange noises. If it was me I would just go and sit somewhere with my dog so that my dog could experience lots of strange noises but sense there was nothing to worry about. I'm probably not explaining myself very well but when my two were young I would take them somewhere different everyday i.e. outside a school, in the middle of town, at a train station, beside a busy road and I would just sit with them and watch all the coming and goings. When we had a huge storm one afternoon I ran outside while there was loud thunder and played with them - they now don't bat an eyelid however loud thunder is.

The more noises and sights that she can experience when on a lead means they won't be unfamiliar if she sees them when off a lead which seems to be when she is likely to bolt.

Perhaps only let your dog off the lead at the moment if she is with another dog who won't bolt, but I suspect when she does bolt she ends up scaring herself even more.

Good luck.