My 10 month old is being naught off lead!

[kid]

like an idiot, I keep giving him another chance and every time, the little rascal goes off until he wants to come back by which time my heart is pounding. He is always in sight but too far away for my liking. I try calling him in a higher pitched voice, I clap my hands, wave my arms, run in the opposite direction but that's not enough.

I'm sure my biggest mistake is putting him back on lead as soon as he does come back to me as that will make him think I'm calling him back to go on the lead. He loves running (springer) but he also loves kids and dogs which isn't great as I have little control of him when he's off lead.

I've booked a 1:1 training session for him next week which i'm hoping will be a miracle worker.
I bought a dog whistle but have yet to try it out of the house. In the house he can't get to me quickly enough!

The little monster is still dragging me down the street when I walk him

Does he get a high value food treat every time he comes back? Eg. A small slice of cocktail sausage. Dried dog treats are not particularly delicious, but a little bit of something lovely may bring him running (in the right direction).

I have to say I still struggle with kids. Patch adores them, and I have to get him back on the lead when I see an excitable toddler. I always bring a squeaky toy on a walk. He only gets it when he is clipped on the lead, and a quick squeak of it normally brings him back to me.

I have a springer too but he is unnaturally good, completely ignores other dogs and people and is ball obsessed so easy to get back.

However my last dog a springer cross would often occasionally run off. He was not interested in toys or treats while out. Hiding in a ditch often worked as he wasn't as confident when he couldn't see me, but I never really got him 100% reliable. Unfortunately he died just after he turned 4 but he seemed to be getting more obedient.

I can only suggest using the whistle indoors before you feed him or give him a treat and he should eventually learn to associate it with a fabulous reward.
Or there is the long lead method where you leave it trailing and can stop him going further than a certain distance. keep calling him back and rewarding him, all time consumimg stuff but it does work.
Maybe find a Gundog club to join and do some gundog work with him, they should have lots of tips. Am thinking of doing this with mine in the summer just because his pedigree is all full of champion gundogs and I feel he is missing out! He is a bit of a clumsy oaf at agility, fast but takes the jumps with him!

I do love springers they are so funny.

I do have a long line but I hate using it for the simple reason it nearly takes his head off when I have to restrict him from running off too far!
I do have a harness somewhere which I guess might be more gentle then being stopped at a hundred miles an hour by the collar?

He will not chase a ball at all, not in the house or at the park. I wish he would as that would be perfect exercise for him. I treat him with a variety of treats, he does have the nasty dry biscuit type treats but I also use cheese, hot dogs or dried liver which is supposedly irresistable to dogs. I'll have to take their word for it!

I see so many other well behaved dogs at the park, it just reinforces that my dog is a monster. When he eventually comes back to me, he runs at me really fast and just whizzes past me. He doesn't even give me a chance to grab him. Its obviously a big game to him! Well, I'll end up having the last laugh as I just won't let him off the lead if he doesn't behave!
I'd hate not to let him off his lead as he really does love the freedom but my heart can only take so much.

Kid, I had same problem with Beagle. I resolved not to let her off lead in park until I had better control of her as she stole someones lunch one day,

I use a survival whistle, and hot dogs and cheese. At home whenever she came towards me I would whistle and treat, this then moved towards me whistling and her coming and me treating.

Did this until she came every time, then took her off to park, on 10ft long web lead, whistle, come, treat. after a few visits to park and I was more confident I left a normal lead trailing on her harness, and let her off, whistle as soon as she was 2ft away, she came, I treat and so on.

It has worked for us, as me calling her showed how anxious I was by my tone of voice, obviously she wouldn't come to me then, whistle is consistent tone. Give her loads of verbal praise and fuss on each return.

Oh, point of leaving lead attached to harness is because when I went to grab harness, she would run off, now I stand on lead while she gets treat, then I pick it up, and off we go.

You Can practice recall, then walk on lead for five mins then let pup go again.

I have taken him to a park and left the long lead trailing on the floor. He started legging it to the gate where a young child was standing. I happen to know the child and his mum and she knew my dog was harmless but even so, I didn't want him to knock her child down. So I stepped on the lead and my poor dog did a flip in the air. I felt so guilty, I haven't used it since.

I first introduced the whistle to him by blowing it and then treating straight away. I have progressed to blowing it anywhere in the house and he will come running and get a treat. I haven't tried taking it out yet, purely because I always forget it! I'll have to keep it with his lead or poop bags as I never forget them.

I have strict instructions in the house that if anyone blows the whistle, they must give a treat. I have so little trust in my dog plus I am nervous of other dogs hurting him. I had a yorkshire terrier before and he was seriously attacked by another dog. It took me years to get over the shock and I have only been able to walk a dog by myself in the past year. DH always had to walk the dog before then. I freak out much less frequently now compared to what I used to be like!

Thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it as I want my dog to be happy and healthy but I also don't want to have a heart attack each time we go to the park!

You're going to know this anyway, but he will pick up on your stress, my beagle was without a doubt, I was frightened of her running of and getting lost more than being attacked as I am confident she could escape and out run anything but a greyhound.

She is slim, muscle, and very agile as she is working beagle, not show.

Beagle did same with her neck, that's why I have moved to harness plus she pulled on collar. I won't let beagle off if I have forgotten whistle! To scared, she will sense my nervousness.

I understand why you feel the way you do, you've not had pleasant experiences, but do give the whistle ago outside, people are amazed at how beagle does an immediate turn and flies back to me! It's been worth all the hard work to see her run off the lead. Go on be brave and try it, but put harness and long line on first to test response.

will do, just need to find the harness which is hiding in the cupboard under tha stairs. Who on earth thought a cupboard under the stairs was a good thing? Do you have any idea how much junk you can fit in one?

I need to sort it out anyway, I bought a stand to go in there so I can at least pile the junk up in some kind of order!

I have a cupboard under the stairs too, we call it the black hole!

Anyway good luck and let me know how you get on, off to bed now, got to go to the office tomorrow.

ok, night night.
I have to take kids cinema in the morning. Shame the film I told them we are watching isn't showing after all. Nevermind, I'm sure they will enjoy whatever I take them to watch

We saw Rio and it was very good.

Kid if this was my dog I would spend at least two weeks working very hard on lead work and not let him off lead until that is better.

Walk him on pavements alongside a wall (hopefully on one side of him). If you have tried all methods it is now time for the no nonsense method! I would actually train him to walk behind you rather than to heel if he is a real puller.

Put him behind you and the second his little black nose comes past your knee turn into him and you may need to stamp your foot. He should go backwards -say nothing but carry on walking, his nose will again come forward and again turn into him very quickly and then stamp in his foot with a loud ahah type of noise say nothing when he is in the right position but just keep walking.

Now you will have to do this every time and for a while. He will be as tired from a lead walk like this as from a long run as he will have to concentrate hard. Do this on a collar and lead, no harnass and no head collar.

During this time you can work on his recall in the garden, blow the whistle and then always give yummy treats. After a two or so week period of intensive training you should see a huge improvement. However this will need continual correction and practice he is a gun dog after all!

Thankyou minimu1, your training method is something I haven't tried yet. We walked to an enclosed park this morning and he dragged me all the way there. Once inside, he was happy to run off lead. I tried the whistle but he ignored it . It didn't matter too much ad the park is completely enclosed but it showed me he wouldn't listen.

The walk back was better, not too much pulling but continually walking in front of me.
I am happy to do the training as the way I see it, I've got him for the next 14 years or so (all being well that is. I can't assume after what happened to Moby)

I'll stick with the collar for a while. I didn't fancy sorting out the cupboard under the stairs just yet!

don't use the whistle outside yet. It sounds like he will learn to ignore it.
I am a bit of a crap trainer TBH! but I really hate my dogs pulling. A halti works fabulously on my collie but has made no difference whatsoever to either of the spaniels I have had!
I tend to stop if mine pull and make them come back to heel or walk backwards until they do, you look a bit silly and it sometimes takes 10 minutes to walk 200 yards, but it is working.
Have you tried hiding to get him back? I am often found in ditches hiding from my dogs, my current spaniel is usually too quick and is back before I find a good place (hiding with a collie doesn't work, she always gives me away!) but it makes them keep a closer eye on you.

I haven't tried hiding when out but I do in the house. He is very attached to me and will cry if I leave him at someone elses house. He also feels the need to sit on me rather than just next to me.

I am nervous when he is off lead and the thought of hiding from him is scary. I need to be able to see him at all times otherwise I get scared that I'll never see him again. I need help I think! Lol

Kid - do you walk Teddy in any parks with trees? When my collies are being less than attentive, I hide behind a tree where I can see them, but they can't see me. If I feel they are going to far away, I stay hidden but call them. They turn around as if to say "whateva", realise they can't see and come running back to see if they can find you. My confident collie puppy was beginning to develop an attitude and I found that playing hide and seek has really helped. Now she always makes sure she knows exactly where I am. Collies are not gun dogs, though, so it may take a lot of perseverance!

Another thought - do you run? A friend has a Springador (Springer x Lab) and it started to wander off and ignore her at about Teddy's age. She decided to give him a job as her running partner and he has been much better at staying with her.

Yes there are trees in the park I usually walk teddy in so I could hide from him. Next week I'm due to meet up with the lady who will be having him while I am on holiday. We plan to meet for a walk in the forest, I'm dreading it as I met her last year with Moby and he got lost briefly but it was enough to scare me. Moby's recall was much better than
Teddy's. Maybe he would have developed this attitude that teddy has had he still been alive.
Or perhaps I am giving off negative vibes because of my fear of losing another dog?

I'll try hiding from him in the morning and see what he makes of it!

I'll do it in the enclosed park so I have no fear of him legging it while I'm not watching. Plus it's slightly further away so more lead walking training can be done.

My nephew is dog sitting for me overnight tomorrow. I know teddy is going to be naughty as he'll wonder where i've gone. I won't be away too ling and it's not like a stranger is looking after him.

Hi Kid - hope you and Teddy enjoy playing hide and seek this morning.

Another thought re the lead. Have you tried calling Teddy , putting his lead on, treating and then taking his lead off? I do this fairly frequently with my pup and she is now happy to have the lead put on because it signals treat time! If he won't come to you at all in the park, perhaps you could try it in the house/ garden first until he associates lead with treat time?

We played hide and seek and he was so funny.
I let him off lead (in the enclosed park so I was feeling braver) and while he was sniffing at something, I hid behind the tree and called him. He finished sniffing before having a look for me. As soon as he realised I wasn't in sight, he started running around the bush border. I kept moving around the tree to keep out of sight and kept calling him.
When he saw me, he came pounding over to me.

I tried to sneak off to hide again but he was by my side most of the time so it was hard.

I really need to stock up on some more treats, he is getting through them so fast at the moment. I know the liver cake one is meant to be great for them, but there is no way I am liquidising any liver. I have some chicken in the freezer, perhaps I'll cook some for him.

Went for our 1:1 training session today and it went well.
Teddy made me look like a liar as I said he doesn't chase/play with balls or toys. He decided that today he would play with them!

We did a little hide and seek in some bushes and he was perfect at finding us.
We also did some lead work but its going to take a lot of hard work before he improves on that, but I'm willing to put in the hard work.
I'll be using my long line to work on the recall. I have to teach him that I am far more fun, interesting and important than any dog or child he might meet.
I will also have a list of activities to follow for him. He will have about 5 toys just for outside and he won't get the same toy everyday.

I am so glad the nicer weather is here as we will be spending a lot of time over the park!