Play biting

 Oh, no, she gets outside!  I am off today and we just came in from a little jaunt outside to walk down the lane to get the mail.  Sometimes she ignores me when I call her to come in, and I think she is just so engrossed with whatever she is sniffing at that she just tunes me out.  I have to go out to where she is and get her attention and then she comes running.  She gets outside every day, she loves it.  But she needs to get out for more time or more often.  I have to pay attention and not leave her sitting in the house when we have the opportunity to be outside, because once the time changes in October, I will not have the opportunity to take her out on the days that I have to go into the office, unless it is by flashlight to get the mail and then we come right back in, because of all the wild critters around here that come out after dark, and on the weekends and the days that I am off from work.  I work from home a couple of days a week, and then I am off weekends, but there will be a couple of days that she will not get outside once the time changes due to daylight savings time.  I got her last year in January and she was only 8 weeks old and we only went out when I was off or working from home  and it seemed to be all right.  But I am thinking this year it will be different, because she is older and she knows all about running around outside and when she can't, she may have cabin fever.  I guess I will just have to play more inside games with her on those evenings.

tkb1127

 Sometimes she ignores me when I call her to come in, and I think she is just so engrossed with whatever she is sniffing at that she just tunes me out.  I have to go out to where she is and get her attention and then she comes running. . .   But I am thinking this year it will be different, because she is older and she knows all about running around outside and when she can't, she may have cabin fever.  I guess I will just have to play more inside games with her on those evenings.

It sounds like you are making excuses for her naughty behavior.  If she is not listening to you and doing what ever she wants that is very dangerous to her, especially if she doesn't automatically come when called.  Emergency recall is especially important if you have a hawk hanging around looking for a meal.  She sounds like a real smart girl, and she has you wrapped pretty tightly around her little paw, you need to change the role of whose boss.  IMHO

 I know she has me wrapped around her little paw, but I feel so guilty for leaving her at home, that I don't know how to change the roles.  And you're right, she does need to come immediately to me when I call her.  How can I make her learn this?

I'm pretty sure that Pat Miller's book addresses recall.  

But if not, there's a very detailed explanation of how to do it right here: http://www.shirleychong.com/keepers/Lesson6.html 

Recall is relatively easy to teach.  Start out in the house, randomly call her name give her a treat (or whatever she finds to be special), repeat, repeat, repeat, when you think she has it, take her outside while she is doing one of her search and find missions in the backyard, call her name if she comes give her a treat, repeat, repeat, repeat, keep doing it until she comes every time.  During all this, she should work on sit, down, and stay.  Use whatever treat motivates her, as you know, some dogs it is food, some a favorite ball, maybe Sophies is your fingers   jk

 Hahhaa!!  Good one JK!  I am going to work on that, because it is starting to get to where I don't want to take her out, because she totally ignores me and I have to go a long distance to get her, and even then I don't know if she is going to come with me or if I am going to have to pick her up and carry her butt back to the house.  She will act like she is coming with me and then she will go off in another direction, and then I have to go after her and do it all over again, until finally I decide to just pick her up and carry her back to the house.  Luckily, she has not got the nerve to go into the woods, or I would be trying to find her in the woods.  But I figure it is a matter of time, so I need to nip this before she starts going even farther away or  even into the woods.

Hey everyone!

I wanted to let you know that I took Sophie outside for much longer yesterday, and she was exhausted last night and fell asleep laying up against me while I petted her with NO finger biting!  Today, I am going to start teaching her to come to me immediately when I call!

I have learned so much from you.  Thanks! 

Just checking in to see how Sophie is doing now that the time change happened.  Hopefully all is going well.

 Sophie is not doing as well as she was.  Because now I am coming home from work and it is dark.  We take a short walk, but I play with her a lot in the house.  Throwing things for her to retrieve and then playing tug of war with her.  So I try to spend a lot of my evening with her because she is home alone and now she can't even go outside on the days that I have to go into work! 

I have a good job though and they gave me a laptop and I do work from home a lot!  This week, she only had to be alone for 2 days.   

She also doesn't like to be outside when it is cold!  Does anyone else have this issue?  Her little feet must get cold.  She will run around for a few minutes, but then she is looking at me like, okay  I'm cold, let's go back inside!   Maybe she needs to wear a jacket?  But that will not help her little feet.

tkb1127

 Sophie is not doing as well as she was.  Because now I am coming home from work and it is dark.  We take a short walk, but I play with her a lot in the house.  Throwing things for her to retrieve and then playing tug of war with her.  So I try to spend a lot of my evening with her because she is home alone and now she can't even go outside on the days that I have to go into work! 

I have a good job though and they gave me a laptop and I do work from home a lot!  This week, she only had to be alone for 2 days.   

She also doesn't like to be outside when it is cold!  Does anyone else have this issue?  Her little feet must get cold.  She will run around for a few minutes, but then she is looking at me like, okay  I'm cold, let's go back inside!   Maybe she needs to wear a jacket?  But that will not help her little feet.

Do you walk her on a lead or off lead?  I think she needs a walk every, even if is just on a lead (which is safer if her recall is still in progress).  The mental stimulation this provides is invaluable to her... sniffing, different sights and sounds etc.

I recommend you get her a ittle jaacket - a`reflective one if you can.  YoU could also get her some little bootees if you think its her feet that are uncomfortably cold. 

Also highly recommend a long  line to help with recall (to make sure she CANT get it wrong)

Buy a clicker and start training her with that.  Teaching tricks this way is a lot of fun!!  And you can just do freeshaping which is a tiring mental game for the dog.

There are all sorts of ways you can tire her out without exhaustive walks or playing - that is part of it, but part of it is tiring her BRAIN!  Which is where the training comes in, and the freeshaping.  You can also develop fetch games into "find it" or hide and seek, or hide smelly treats for her to find.  Or fill up a box with scrunched up newspaper, let her see you put some treats o toys in it and let her at it!!  Lots of dogs love this game

Could you hire a dog walker to come by and take her out during the day whoile you are at work... kills two birds with one stone: her long day alone is broken up a bit and she has some company and also she has her stimulation needs filled a bit more.

 I don't use a lead with Sophie.  We live on a lot of acreage, and so we just go outside and turn on some flood lights and I walk down the driveway to get the mail and she comes along and if it is cold out, she is ready to come in.

If you're worried about her being cold you can deffinately try a jacked and booties.  She may really like them, I know some dogs do.  I wish I could get the our beagle to wear them, she gets so cold she starts shaking, but she won't leave a sweater on.

 Good luck with Sophie.  It's good that you are still working with her and trying your best.  Don't give up!  Since you've been working w/ her has she learned any tricks?

tkb1127

I don't use a lead with Sophie.

Whether you feel you need one for your walks or not, it is very useful for helping you to teach a "come first time" cue. 

In any case, being OK with walking on a lead and being able to do so politely is a life skill few dogs can manage without these days....  Can you be totally sure in her lifetime she will NEVER be somewhere where there is a leash law and/or dangers like traffic or livestock which you will need to keep her safe from?  Getting a lead and getting her used to using it wont do her any harm.... 

With our dogs its like a pre-walk ritual, getting the leads on.  If they are over-excited, I put the leads down and walk away and try again a bit later.  It helps to teach them self-control which can then be applied in other areas.  I also do the same at mealtimes.... they only get their dinner if they sit nicely and wait until I tell them "Yours!"  It's part of NILIF which is handy for teaching your dog a) manners and b) who is in charge.... in the nicest possible way.

What is NILIF?  I don't really think I am all that much in charge, and I don't think she is in charge either.  I think we are just living together making each other happy.

Sophie will not wear a jacket.  I have bought her all manner of jackets and sweaters, but she acts like they are driving her crazy.  I am going to insist this year when it gets really cold, because last year she was a baby, and she just didn't go out if it was really cold or if she was going with me, I would just wrap her in a baby blanket.  

I guess she should have some knowledge of a lead, because she is due to go to the vet for shots in Jan-Feb.  Otherwise, I would have to carry her.  I have one with a cute little pink polyester harness that velcros around her, and she fought me so bad the first time I tried to put it on her that I never tried again.

Since I have been working with her she has not learned traditional tricks like sit, stay.  She has learned things just from me repeating them every night.  LIke if I say time to go nite- nite, she runs to my bed to be picked up to go to bed, or if I say I have to clean up her potty pads, she runs for the laundry room where they are.  If I say I am freezing, she snuggles up against me.  She is learning a big vocabulary of words. 

She also likes to take my socks and take them away and we play tug of war with them.  I throw some of her favorite toys across the house and then she runs back to me with the toy and veers off when she is almost to me, to make me chase her, then I get the toy and throw it again.  I do that every night until she is tired and panting.