Poor dog, on the lead in the woods...

[SoupDragon]

If one more person says that within my hearing I think I may cry.

Yes, as it happens, walking your dog in the woods on a lead is bloody soul destroying but I have yet to find a treat he is the slightest bit interested in. Squeaky toy? Nope. Tennis ball? No. Owner looking like an over excited child? No. Chorizo? No. Cheese? No. Chicken? No. Stupid fecking spaniel. I know he can do it but not if there is something else he would rather be doing.

Nothing tastes as good as freedom feels.

[misdee]

sod em! he is having a walk.

ralph cant go offlead cos of his stitches.

[Beamur]

My dog would vanish, probably never to be seen again if let off the lead in a wood. Ditto to all your comments regarding treats and inducements.

[PersonalClown]

My two would vanish, never to be seen again.

Too many sheep to worry, holes to investigate, water to swim in etc.

[thisisyesterday]

fools.
i don't know much about dogs, but my friend has a retired greyhound and there is no way she can let him off the lead in the woods. merest hint of a rabbit and she would, quite honestly, never ever see him again.

[SoupDragon]

Thing is, I think they're right, in a way. He is utterly magnificent off lead in the woods, leaping, dodging, coming out with half a ton of foliage in his feathering). However, the reality is that I can't guarantee he will come back and he tends to jump up at anyone he meets.

Today was the first time in a year I've attempted it (signs were good - came back when on lead, click, scoffed chorizo, wandered off) but the lead went off and Dill vanished into the distance with a wave of his feathery tail. This time he was intercepted by a woman with 2 beautifully behaved spaniels who was lovely (incidentally he spat her treat out too, bless him!). So, after that it was back on the lead and he showed no further interest in coming back and ignored/spat out the treat anyway.

It does make walking him a chore rather than a pleasure, especially when you mean judgemental dog walkers.

[SoupDragon]

thisisyesterday, I remember walking him off lead last year and spotting a deer galloping off across a cornfield. Thankfully I managed to get a lead on Dill before he noticed otherwise I don't know what I wood have done!

[OracleInaCoracle]

I feel your pain. we have a gorgeous JRT/westie and his ratting instincts are still very much in force. dh let him off the lead the other day and he hurt his leg dashing into a hedgerow after a rabbit (which gave a yelp and got away) but I do feel like a terrible owner when I walk him, I just dont trust him.

[DizzyDummy]

How strange, I would never think to comment if someone was walking their dog on a lead in the woods, I would just think that the dog had recall issues! 2 of mine are one leads, 1 would disappear after livestock and the other one is a recently rescued dog and I am not confident in his recall yet. Clearly these people have nothing better to do, ignore them.

[misdee]

get a longline soupy. ok u'll spend ages untanbgling it from trees etc, but a good compromise maybe?

[SecretNutellaFix]

I was never able to let my old BC girl off lead. If it was in a controlled environment, her recall was superb. Instant obedience.
Have her out of the house/ garden? Forget it. Having chased her half way around the Pembrokeshire Coast path when she was 2 (she only stopped to fuss an old man on a bike), spent an hour trying to get her back at the beach and trying to launch herself into the middle of the road to round up cars until she was 9, meant there was no way in hell Kes was ever being allowed off lead. A short lead at that.
I do regret that she didn't have that freedom, but I preferred to have a dog who generally behaved beautifully on a lead to one that I ended up getting angry with because she refused to recall. Or worse, injured.

[SoupDragon]

I have a longline but I can just foresee trouble. Dill is bright enough to retrace his steps, following the extendable lead round trees and through bushes (it's rather funny to watch!) but that's considerably shorter. and I put the longline somewhere and can no longer find it

I do need to find it actually, as I'm having the fence replaced in a couple of weeks and he won't be able to go in the garden without it [bitter experience]

I've bemoaned his recall issues on here many times and tried to follow the advice but nothing seems to be working. It all makes sense in theory though!

[Curiousmama]

Agree with longline. Maybe try it in a field first? Amazed cheese doesn't work, my pooch would dance the fandango for a nice bit of cheddar

[ExitPursuedByAKitten]

Things no better then Soup? What a mean owner you are keeping your dog on a lead IN A WOOD. I mean, what spaniel would be interested IN A WOOD. Thankfully, mine has great recall now, apart from where wildfowl and sheep are concerned. I very my walks according to the season.

I am sure things will get better. And tell interfering folk to find mind their own fecking business.

[fruitshootsandheaves]

Half a dead pheasant in a sock often works.


tends to smell a bit after a few maulings weeks though.

I actually think most people who have dogs with a tendency to run off just hide don't walk them in busy places. You only see the ones that are too stupid and ball obsessed to care where they are highly trained heeling dogs when you go out!

[fruitshootsandheaves]

[SoupDragon]

Everything works (cheese, chorizo, tennis ball...) if he wants to come back. . I am not prepared to try out dead pheasant in a sock (apart from anything else, I'd have to catch a pheasant first and for that I need a gun dog... a gun dog who will come back with the pheasant)

I did post on another thread about how the only way I can get him in from the garden at night is to stand at the back door and say, in a normal voice, D-I-L-L. He is in like a shot, expecting one of the children to take him for a walk. [sigh] Before that, I had to hiss "Atticus!" menacingly and he'd come in thinking the cat was eating his dinner. He caught onto that one though.

[SoupDragon]

No, Kitten, no better at all. I thought I'd found The Treat with the chorizo but it didn't work once I'd released him to run free. What sort of dog spits out a food treat??

[Pudding2be]

I have a springer who does what he bloody well feels like misbehaves sometimes and doesn't come back when I call. It got so bad he ran off and out in front of a car chasing a bird. He didn't get hit but put the fear of god in me.

I try to take him places where he can't run off really, easier said than done though sometimes. Have you tried the Gundog club? They run classes to specifically train gundogs and help control them. A bit expensive but they also sell books which helped us train too

Might be worth a look on their website

[Pudding2be]

Fruits - mine is ball obsessed too

[misdee]

i wish ralph was ball obsessed. mind you waving a bandage in the air might make him come back...

[Maelstrom]

Mine is always on the lead, for a reason. She will jump to the neck of a doberman if given the opportunity, she has been known to seek problems from any dog that gets near to her.

I do keep her on the lead for her own good, the stupid dog is a yorkshire terrier.

[fruitshootsandheaves]

mine went through a worrying phase of running home across the main road with his ball back to DH because he throws the ball more often whilst on a walk!
He was on lead walks for a while after he did that twice (the dog not DH)!

[SoupDragon]

This makes me feel much better - I only ever meet beautifully behaved dogs out and about!

I think what makes it so depressing is that there's no glimmer of hope on the horizon,. No small indication that things are improving. It's rather demoralising and makes me wonder what the point is.