Please help - desperate now!

[glasscompletelybroken]

I posted about this a week or so ago but am now pretty desperate.

We have a 10 month old beagle who runs off on walks with me - not with my DH. This upsets me particularly as we partly got the dog as company for me as I work from home on my own all week. Also I am the person in the house who would most enjoy dog walking but now it has turned into a complete nightmare.

Typical walk yesterday. Went into first field and let her off the lead. She runs about having a lovely time. I throw sticks for her - she brings them back. I whistle her 3 times and she comes back immediately at high speed and is rewarded with cheese. We go into the next field and she disappears through the hedge and doesn't come back or respond in any way to the whistle or me calling her.

This has happened the last 4 times I have let her off the lead and I am now afraid to do so. The problem is that it is me who walks her during the week as I am here and DH leaves early for work. She is an active dog and it doesn't seem right to keep her on the lead all week.

I don't understand why she does it. I could understand if her recall was generally bad but it isn't. She comes every time for DH - even when he whistles her away from other dogs. She comes some of the time with me (and is always rewarded) but then she does this. It's not like a delayed response and if I just wait patiently she will eventually come - she doesn't. I had to leave her in the field yesterday and come back for DH.

If we go for a walk together she will come - it's just me on my own.

Any wise words for a desperate woman?

Beagles are scent hounds and are incredibly intelligent, she obviously knows her recall and will come back for cheese but if she is off the lead and smells a rabbit for instance she's going for it!
She's also at her "teenager" age which is a nightmare with any puppies, they seem to forget everything you have taught them. I would get a long training line just for now so she can still run about and stretch her legs but she is safe and you don't have to worry about her running off. I've heard beagles are notoriously difficult to recall because of their strong hound instincts. I guess the only thing you can do is keep training, make yourself more exciting and rewarding to come back to than a nice smell
Hopefully someone with beagle experience will post soon.

I don't own a dog yet myself so can't pretend to be an expert, but my (farmer) aunt who is VERY good at training (I think she always does "clicker" training) all manner of waifs and strays and who looks after hounds for her local hunt swears by using a lunge reign (basicaly a really long "lead" for horses) for dogs who have yet to learn or who have patchy recall. I know she def does not let the hounds she fosters run free, at least while young, as they are, after all, bred and trained to follow a scent.... Maybe this would help while you work on recall more in enclosed spaces. You would also be a lot less stressed!

Thanks for replying! I think we knew it would be a challenge but it's just hard not to take this personally as she is so good for DH!

I have thought about a long lead but she is excellent walking on the lead - doesn't pull and walks really close - and I was worried having her on a long lead would change this as she may get used to being on the lead but further away from me?

You could always use your normal lead for walking then switch it over when you get to fields/open space where you usually let her off? I would be worried about letting her off if she is prone to following her nose as all road sense goes out the window when dogs are on a mission to find the scent. For her safety I defo think letting her off lead should be banned for now, unless you are in a safe enclosed place away from roads or any other dangers

We used a lunge line for our dog who ran off. They are made of cotton and less likely to burn than the dog leads, although they are a bit heavier. I hope Minimuu comes along soon, as she has many wise words to share on this kind of behaviour! It took us a very long time to get a handle on our runaway dog's behaviour, and I spoke to so many trainers and behaviourists and dog people. We found the most useful help from a sheepdog trainer, although I'm not quite sure what she did!

Just been for a walk - on the lead - and feeling really mean. Think I will have to get a long lead or lunge line. It is an odd thing as when she does it she doesn't seem to be following her nose - she's just running off!

I did get some advice from a huntsman who said you should never ask a dog to do something when you know for certain that they won't do it - as you are just setting up a failure. He says that if your dog has it's nose to the ground sniffing something really exciting then it won't come - you have to wait for that moment when they lift their head and break the focus on that scent and then whistle/call them. I do follow this advice and it does work - except when she gets these "moments" of just deciding to go in the other direction.

livelovelaughvintage - this is what my aunt does (and what I have had to do when exercising her dogs for her!). The switching of the leads (normal to lunge) seems to mean that its one rule (ie walking to heal) for the lead and another (ie not!) for the lunge.

glass I feel your pain! I have a 10 month old springer who has all the knowledge and ability but also the knowledge and ability to lose her head and chase/follow scent etc.

I got some really good advice on here which I am trying to put into practice.

Are there specific places she runs off? I pop the lead on at the places I know she's gone off before and then let it off again.

Having said that DH gets really worked up about it and we started training with a GunDog trainer this week so I'm hoping that will help. He's advised keeping her on the lead and going back to basics until we get it sorted.

alp - no there are no particular places. She can be really good and then she just goes! If I could see it coming I could get her back on the lead but it's not like that. I try not to get worked up about it but it is stressful and it's such a shame as I just want to have nice long walks with her running about and getting nice and tired!