It seems I may have started to give my dog a little too much freedom. When playing fetch at the park he has developed a habit of playing keep away and refusing to drop the ball. Also, I have had him off leash while hiking in the mountains, at the park, and in my front yard and he has stopped coming 100% of the time and when there are distractions.

I train him daily at the park and when we are training his recall is excellent. Now that he is 11 months old I have started giving him some freedom and he has stopped responding to come in these circumstances where I have been testing him out.

He also won't come inside the house sometimes. I am not sure what to do because I do lots of drive building games, recall exercises and recall games with corrections, but when I have given him the opportunity to run free (in a safe area) he often ignores me.

He is very attached from me so he never strays, but if we are playing and he is investigating something he won't come (particularly if he starts in with the keep away). I can tell him to sit from a distance and then go get him without any problem, but his recall isn't working well.

This only happens in situations where I am powerless to correct him because I have let him off lead in the park or my yard. How can I proof this without an ecollar? I do the long lead recall with a pop and it works fine when we do this.

I should mention that this mainly happens when we are playing and he has a ball in his mouth or my landlord has the hose in the backyard and he wants to play with it.

A couple of good examples:

My wife went out of town for the last 3 days so I have had my dog at work with me. I brought him out in the parking lot behind work and we were playing fetch with a tennis ball but he would run after it, bring it back, but only come within 10 feet or so because he wanted to play keep away.

Normally, I tell him to drop it. He refuses at first but then I either give him a stern look or a "nooo" and he drops. Often, the second he drops it he gets worked up and the grabs it again. At this point he will not run away so I walk over to him, grab his leash and tell him to drop which he does and then I get the ball.

I didn't want to keep doing this so I called him and he refused to come.

Another example is I have started letting him out of the car when we get home from hikes without restraining him to test to see that he will follow to the door and not run off.

He wont run off, but he has started bolting to the backyard where the hose is that he loves to play with. He kind of stops and looks at me. I call him and then he hesitates for a moment because he knows its wrong and then runs into the backyard.

I then have to follow him and get him. Sometimes I will put him in a sit and then walk to his pen which is attached to the side of our house and is about 40 feet away and then call him and he comes.

But, if I call him when he makes a break for the backyard he just ignores me and I can't do anything about.

I guess I am setting him up for failure, but I'd like him to respond to me in these situations.

have you used a long line or an e-collar?

It sounds to me like he hit puberty and you weren't quite prepared. This recently happened to me with my dog. a couple of months before he hit two....Oh man who's dog is this! I fed him less and required a bit more obedience. I don't throw the ball for him much to begin with. I went back to working focus (my fault, why did I stop <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> I got him back to me being important for the most part, I am by no means done. I finally started using leash corrections and he is figuring it out slowly but surely. I would back off on the food and be a constant source of food for good behavior. Keep cutting back if he wants to be a butthead. I don't know how solid your dogs ob was to begin with, but if it was really solid, you could correct for ignoring/challengeing type stuff. If it was not really solid I would get it there with the food denial type training. He's still pretty young to me.

Start over with your groundwork and training.

Dogs are creatures of habit. When you give freedom, they recognise a "weakness" and will take advantage of it until you have no control.

Ed has an excellent article on groundwork on this site to help you.

Until then, keep pooch on leash - the more times he is allowed to play his games and assert his speed, strength and independence, the harder it will be for you and him to change the behavior pattern.

If you want to address the bolting immediately, either try an ecollar or a lightweight 15 foot line.

With the long line, when he starts to bolt, grab the line tightly, turn and walk swiftly and boldly in the opposite direction. When he hits the end of the line, his butt will swing around so he is facing the direction you are, just call him to you and tell him what a good, good dog he is.

Add a warning cue "no" just before he hits the end of the line and very soon he will turn and come to you without hitting the end of the line.

The ecollar is much more versatile of course, and if you must have your dog off leash I recommend it. If you want to start on it immediately with the line, you can use them together. Instead of the word "no" to warn the dog, use the ecollar (especially one that has a tone feature).

 Quote:

If you want to start on it immediately with the line, you can use them together. Instead of the word "no" to warn the dog, use the ecollar (especially one that has a tone feature).

I'm not a big fan of using the tone feature as a "warning" to the dog that he's going to get a correction if he doesn't obey a command he's been given. It leads to having to use it all the time. Better to give him the correction so that next time he'll avoid it by performing.

I think its pretty obvious from your examples. Your dog loves his toys more than you. Start bonding with him without toys and tugs, and observe what will happen.

 Quote:

Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you want to start on it immediately with the line, you can use them together. Instead of the word "no" to warn the dog, use the ecollar (especially one that has a tone feature).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



I'm not a big fan of using the tone feature as a "warning" to the dog that he's going to get a correction if he doesn't obey a command he's been given. It leads to having to use it all the time. Better to give him the correction so that next time he'll avoid it by performing.

What he said! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I went through this same scenario at about the same age. While the puppy was still young she would always look to see where I was and wouldn't venture very far. She would always come when told. I worked on recall with rewards and we had it down pretty well. When she turned about 12 mo's she started to get that "teen" rebellious attitude. If I wasn't close enough when I told her to come she would pause, give me a quick look and keep going.

I read the articles here. I kept her on a long line all the time so that I could make sure she couldn't run. She was basically not entirely trained - my fault. Recall with distractions still need to be worked on. The few times she wasn't on a long line and decided to not come she given an appropriate level of correction. This happened a few times then she learned.

The advice I'm referring to is here: recall

 Quote:

I think its pretty obvious from your examples. Your dog loves his toys more than you. Start bonding with him without toys and tugs, and observe what will happen.

Please say your kidding...

Dogs don't behave because they "love" you or have a good bond. Dogs do stuff based on what motivates them- tugs, toys, distractions, predicting/recieving a correction, food, etc.
- and based on habits learned from these things.
Too much freedom, inconsistency and no way to correct or redirect his attention has led this dog into his "disobedience"- Not becuase the dog doesn't love him or trust his bond with his owner.

Remember those are not HIS toys -they are YOURS and you say when he gets to play.
Also, test with a long line. What if he fails the tests? Now what are you going to do to correct him? Chase him... and now you are where you're at today.

Anyone disagree?