Dog keeps running away on walks

[Circle3]

Hi, I have an 17 month old Labrador. He is very big and strong. He's not aggressive but is a bundle of energy and very scent driven. As soon as I let him off the lead in the park, he's sniffing the ground frantically. I'm scared to let him in the large open space of the park as he bolts across to the other side, zig zag sniffing the ground and doesn't come back when I call him. I have a bad knee so getting to him quickly is difficult. He's ok at recall without other dogs around, and we have done lots of training in this, but it seems we are going through a bad stage.

He can become very excited and whimpers and whines when he sees another dog. He's intact and I suspect he is running to find a mate. But surely all the female dogs in the park can't be on heat. I try to entice him over with high value treats, but is totally not interested even when I hold the treat right near his face. Walks are really no fun anymore as I have to put him on the lead and he's so strong!!

Will this get better? Does he have hormonal cycles and he may calm down soon? Is this just typical teenage behaviour? Or is it time to get him castrated? Also, he's super territorial at home, barking at visitors at the door.

The vet suggested that castration can make dogs more aggressive as they act 'in fear' and can be very defensive. And also more prone to disease. But the situation, we are at is extremely hard work and distressing. I'm fairly sure the answer is obvious, but just wanted to hear what other owners have done in similar situations.

My eldest lab can go off the lead fine but my youngest aged 6 just can’t do it. He loves us and loves food - but he can’t come back - end off. After a long 2 hours without him when he was 2 years old and trusted with no one around for 5 minutes and he buggered off for 3 hours -I just said no and he hadn’t been off lead since. He doesn’t expect too. I have 1/2 acre though and he enjoys playing out there.

Try chemical castration and see if it helps.

It's not forever, so you get to try out if the suprelorin will take those urges away. It takes 6+ weeks to take effect, but I know a few people who've tried it and been pleased with it. Both have rare breed dogs they eventually want to breed from but the implant helps them keep a lid on this behaviour until that point.

Until then, prevent the dog practicing the behaviour. Lead or long line only. And training. Plenty of entire dogs are fine in everyday life but you need to be the centre of their universe and the most exciting thing on the planet so when you call they are there, immediately.

It’s not just about exercise, it’s equally about mental stimulation/training- 15 minutes of mental enrichment tires a dog out just as much as a 45 minute walk.

BUT exercise is important.

We have a male Labrador, he’s nearly 3, and for reference on a typical mid week day he gets:

• 2.5-3 mile morning walk, this is a mix of on lead and off lead probably about 50/50.
• Breakfast given in the form of a kong, snuffle mat or lick mat (mental enrichment).

• At lunchtime he gets a 30 min walk (or an hour if we are both in the office as his dog walker does an hour with him), if it’s me doing his lunch walk it’s 30 mins again mix of on and off lead as we go round the local park.

• Evening walk is 3-4 miles, sometimes a mix of on and off lead, other times all on lead.
• Evening “treat” of a frozen kong usually.

Thanks. Chemical castration sounds like a good option. And I will up the mental stimulation game. He has a filled kong each day but will try other options.

Its good you're trying do something about this issue.

I have a 3 year lab, and when she's in heat she stays on the lead. But I worry about dog owners like you who have an uncontrollable dog off lead. What am I meant to do if your (very heavy) scent-driven dog finds my girl on a lead and your are no where in sight? I'd be furious that's for sure, and my girl would be traumatised (or worse pregnant!).
Please keep him on a lead, or get him neutered.

Just keep him on the lead. I would have thought it obvious.

You could get a long line so he has the space to run and you still have control.

he might not be looking for a female, some dogs just get the scent of something nice and are off.

enclosed fields are a good option for a decent off lead run with no worry about running away, but still practice recall there so it’s always being taught/learnt.

I think the advice with dogs, especially bigger ones, is to get to 2 years before castration so they have the full benefit of growth hormones on their bones. But he does have to be done when he can. All the dogs I have had also seemed to really mature between 2 and 3 years old, so you are almost there! Agree long line for now, unless you can take him to one of those hired fields that you can rent.

I agree with the people who have said don't let the dog off the lead unless and until his recall is absolutely bombproof, @Circle3.

Dh and I recently had the experience of a dog running out in front of us in the fast lane on the motorway. Luckily there was no traffic around, so we stopped, got the dog into the car, and drove on. The dog ended up with the council dog wardens, at a shelter, and we found the owner via FB - but they had let the dog off the lead, and he had just taken off, not stopped, no recall, and ended up on the motorway.

If it had been busy, the dog could have been injured or killed.

This is the advice we are following although we have a small dog so he might be fully mature at 18 months.

He’s 17 months, you’re in the midst of adolescence. Unfortunately, adolescence for labs and especially male labs lasts a while (at 3.5 years and maybe, just, coming out the other side). You don’t have to let him off lead. A walk with good mental stimulation is a good option, so this can be training. Adolescence is all about pushing boundaries, so you go back to on lead walks and really reinforce the basics, training all the way. He’ll get better for a bit and then he’ll relapse again for a bit. Every time he relapses you go back to basics.

We castrated our lab about this age. It helped a bit but mostly it’s just pushing boundaries.

Get a lunge line for horses and use that as an extra long lead (they are 25-30m or so), it'll be cheaper to buy an equine one rather than a doggie pet shop one (same sort of thing just double the price IME)

@Circle3 for mental stimulation, try the Lickimat by Tuff Buddy (on amazon) or those puzzle balls into which you can put a few kernels of kibble and he has to roll it in a certain way to get them out. Also try fabric snuffle mats, where you hide kibble kernels under flaps of fabric, in pockets, etc but supervise him because if left unattended the fabric can also end up being eaten (ask me how I know! 😝)

Try the five things rule. He needs five mentally or physically stimulating things a day (you can ignore this if you’re off on a full day hike for example) only one should be food based and you need at least one physical (ideally two) and at least one mental activity a day.

So food based might be a kong, licky mat or slow bowl.

mental activity would be training sessions, learning or practicing skills, scentwork, obedience, dog sport, etc. I’d also probably put sniff heavy short walks in this category.

Active sessions would be things like long walks, some of the dog sports, canicross, physical play.

And then other things that would count as a thing but don’t really fit into the above descriptions are things like grooming, t-touch, stimulating environments.

Dog should not be off lead without 100% recall at all, unless in a secure location where you know for a fact other dog walkers will not be. This is incredibly irresponsible. This is how incidents happen. Just because your dog isn’t reactive, nervous or aggressive doesn’t mean others aren’t. It’s unfair to other dogs and their owners to have your dog sniffing around when you can’t control it.

Labradors are late-maturing, especially the dogs. My boy is a few months older than yours and only now settling back into his sensible pre-teens self. Planning on castration later this year. You might like to try chemical castration first but bold dogs don't usually have a problem. The medical case for/against castration is more balanced than in previous times, but it does protect against prostate problems, which a previous, entire boy had, resulting in an emergency castration.

We did castrate our dog at 18 months. I had hoped to hold out until 2 as he is a large breed but I could not stand the humping and obsessive interest in females any longer. I was terrified of him getting away and impregnating a female

He was a lot easier to handle and train afterwards. I was afraid of him becoming more fearful but that hasn't noticeably happened. He was a whole lot more food oriented whereas before he would not take a treat when out and would sometimes refuse meals. We did have to cut his food right down to avoid weight gain but have found the right balance now.

When he was being an adolescent idiot he was pretty much never off lead unless in an enclosed place we just got a long line for him to have freedom to roam.

Your vet goes against everything mine ever told me castration reduces risk of diseases and calms them down.
He will be like a randy teenager for at least another 6 months as he's still a puppy.
You can't let him off unless a confined area I'd do more lead training to stop the pulling.

A kong isnt mental stimulation. It just keeps them occupied. Mental stimulation would be training, preferably breed specific so gun dog work, or food puzzles. Theres a good fb group called canine enrichment i think

My old Lab had excellent recall (always hopeful for a treat) until he reached about a year old & was constantly running after females & wouldn’t come back. I got him neutered and the problem went away. I feel that’s kinder than never letting a big energetic dog off the lead which is cruel to me.

You have a bunch of things to consider here: neutering, lead work, engagement and exercise, and recall.

The best study on neutering I know of is Hart etc al 2020, which looked at the physical impact of neutering. They found that any time after 6 months was okay for a male lab. My caution would be to think about the dog's mental maturity as well, and leave him till he's calmed down a bit and grown up - but that is just opinion, based on experience with 2 bitches of a notoriously late maturing breed (I wouldn't neuter before 4 unless I had to for health reasons - but as I say, that's me and my dogs and not a large sample and a proper study).

Lead work. If he is dragging you about, of course you want to let him off, and of course you don't want to take him if you're just popping up to the post box or whatever. I'd suggest watching a few videos by Will Atherton - lots on YouTube. My two were decent on lead, but following his advice really improved things.

Engagement and exercise. He needs to focus on you and he needs to find walks satisfying. Try breaking up walks with spells of heelwork (on-lead and off-lead), basic obedience (eg build up a sit stay, gradually increasing distance, duration and distractions - a lot of dogs seem to find a sit-stay hard mental exercise, esp if you're expecting it for 5 minutes and you're at a distance. Do fun things with him too; he's a lab so retrieving should be fun. Does he like food? Every now and again don't just give him one treat for being good, give him 6 or 8, one at a time, so at the back of his mind he's always hoping for that thrilling hit. As for how much, I have a high energy breed. They get about 80-90 mins most days, almost all off lead (because I can trust them), almost always involving some focused training (10-40 minutes depending), and at the very least including random recalls, stops, maybe some off-lead heel, and me changing direction in the woods without telling them: it's their job to keep an eye on me. Some days they have to make do with an hour. Some days they get several hours. But that 80-90 minutes is their basic.

Recall: engagement and interesting exercise should help with recall. Also just repeat repeat repeat. Call him when there is nothing to recall him, give him a reward (a treat, a big fuss, a game), sometimes put him on the lead, sometimes don't. Put him in a sit stay, walk a little way away, recall. Wait till he's mooching at a distance, get out a squeaky ball and brandish it and when he comes running, throw it for him. As PP have said, if he's being a bugger, have him on a longline.

I know dogs like your dog and while I don't dislike them, they do piss me off at times. My older dog shares my opinion here and threatens to punch their lights out when they come barrelling up to her and get right in her face. They're lucky that she's not aggressive, just barks and chases for a couple of strides and acknowledges their grovelling apologies. One day they might not be so lucky.

Do not let your dog off lead.

It was after an out of control lab came bundling up to mine and harassed us that caused my dog to lose all confidence in other dogs and become aggressive.
The owners were like you and merely waved and smiled, shouting "dont worry he's friendly".

At the moment, you're boring to your dog. All the sniffs are far more interesting. He's learnt that you aren't fun and coming back to you is something he does after he has his fun.

So keep him on a long line, and be interesting. Play games with him on his walks. He's a retriever, play retrieving games on his long line. Throw something, like a stuffed toy and he has to go bring it back, reward him with a play when he does and so on. You can even hide his toy in the grass and get him to sniff it out. I do this with mine and he adores it so much.

And no, neutering won't calm him down. It might even make him worse.

That’s your opinion that neutering won’t calm him down, presented as fact.

Many vets do recommend neutering for dogs whose recall declines after hitting puberty. It had a big effect on my male dog and after a few weeks he returned to the (mostly) obedient dog he had been when younger. In other ways his temperament & personality were unchanged so I never regretted it.

And that's your anecdote.

As an aside, vets aren't specialists in dog behaviour, that's for behaviourists.

Thanks for all the constructive advice. I really appreciate the time many of you have taken to share your thoughts.

I do feel like slightly scapegoated, however, by a few posters with "owners like you" comments. But that's ok, you can't possibly know what I do in every scenario and I can't possibly tell you. I certainly don't let him go bounding up to people/ dogs / picnics/ children. He normally observes another dog from a distance and ascertains if the other dog would like to play and it's normally fine. He has been prone to running after a scent recently, but I do my damndest to get him back on the lead asap, bad knee or not. I don't let him approach another dog, intimidate them or try to mate with them!! I have a good rapport with other dog walkers in the park, and we know each others dogs well.

We play games together, hide treats/toys, fetch, play "middle", walk to heel etc but he is a ball of energy and probably does need more. Thanks again. Hoping this advice helps others too.