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Bailey scared me half to death! How can I prevent this from happening again?

Posted : 8/22/2006 4:23:22 PM

Today when I opened the door Bailey got out. I thought she needed to pee so I let her out with me not on the leash. All of a sudden she took off running to the top of the street where there is an old highway and still heavy traffic at times. I often let her out in the back yard when I am with her and let her run around not on the leash. Anyway when she took off running I yelled for her to come back but, she would not listen to me at all! She ran right toward the road! A bunch of cars happened to be there she got scared and started running around in my neighbors yard. May dad came out and started yelling and the cars scared her even more. I bent down and she finally came back to me. I told her she was bad and I put her in the crate. I know the crate should not be used for punishment and that she wont know exactly what she did wrong if i just say "bad!" She also got a tap. I know hitting a dog is very bad but, I was really at a loss for what to do in this situation. What should you do when your dog only comes to you when she wants to dispite your calling her name. She knows some commands but, I doubt I could have yelled "Bailey sit!" and she would have sat. How can I stop this from happening again (besides not letting her out without a leash.) May dad told me not to let her out unless she is tied up but, he lets her out without the leash and I think that sends mixed messages

mrv

Posted : 8/22/2006 4:46:16 PM

Oops what you punished was your dog returning to you. Dogs dont get a connection between the running away and the punishment. One way to correct this is to reteach a recall with a different word. Another solution is management, not on lead, not outside. You may want to pick up an extra leash or two. Leave them hanging on the door knobs. Just hook her up before openning the door.

griffinej5

Posted : 8/22/2006 4:50:08 PM

You absolutely should not punish a dog for coming to you, ever! Even if she came to you after running around in the street ignoring you and scaring you half to death. What you should have done was reward her for coming back to you. What you should do now is work on her recall, and work on it a lot. Also, teach her an emergency recall, because she doesn't always come when she hears her name, and by punishing her you've decreased the likelihood that she will do so next time. You want to have something that she will always get her to come running when she hears it.
This is the best article I can find at the moment on emergency recalls [linkhttp://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002b/magicrecall.htm]http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002b/magicrecall.htm[/link]
Hopefully I will find something better later, or someone else will come along with something better.
Also, I think teaching sit from a distance is very useful. If she goes across the street with cars coming, you're not going to want her to run back across to you, and it will be safer if she can sit and wait for you to come get her.

jones

Posted : 8/22/2006 5:41:07 PM

My pup once ran out of the dog park when his recall was not good yet... if this ever happens again, instead call your dog's name in a happy excited voice (I know that's hard when you're scared, trust been I've been there), and try to get her to see you starting running AWAY from her toward somewhere safe. When this happened with Russell I ran sideways away from him, saying his name excitedly like I'd just found something cool, and ran up onto someone's porch - he followed me and I was able to grab him from the side (not coming toward him). Then when you have your dog, as hard as it is, you have to praise her to the skies for coming to you.

I think it's safe to say that from now on you should heed your dad's advice about not letting her out off leash.

Ruth

Posted : 8/22/2006 6:03:32 PM

Like everyone else has said, when the dog does come back -- no matter how long that takes or how bad she's been while she's away -- praise her and make her happy. Coming back should always be fun for the dog.

Sounds like Bailey needs some recall work before she can be safely off-leash, especially near busy streets.

I do find that being able to command sit and/or down from a distance can be very useful in these type of situations. We work on distance commands a lot (once the dog is good up close, you have to gradually increase the distance and practice at distance). There are situations where I know Ace will obey "down" more quickly than he'll recall, and once he's down, he has a solid stay. I find that sometimes that combination is safer for the dog than a recall -- sometimes I just want him to freeze where he'll be safe, so I can go get him, rather than have him still be running around.

spiritdogs

Posted : 8/22/2006 6:37:36 PM

Never punish a dog for not coming when called - they only learn NOT to come because getting to you was unpleasant. Get a copy of Leslie Nelson's DVD "Really Reliable Recall" and do as she says!!!! It works.
And, it's fine to pick a new word for "come". You'll "get it" when you watch the video.