Can you help me with Alfie's behaviour.

[Alan]

Alfie is now 20 months old. We have had him 11 months. He is brilliant in every way except that every so often he will not return to me when we are out on a walk. Nothing will entice him back to me.
He will find his way home but it can be a worrying 2 hours later. Can anyone help.

[Lins]

My first question would be, is he neutered? If not, I would get him done so at the earliest convenience.

My second question is, does he respond to a whistle? If not, this is quite easy to do.

Maybe not what you asked for, but other than the above, I can't be of any help......sorry.

[Alan]

Yes he has been neutered and does respond to the whistle but on odd occasions he makes his mind up that he is not going to respond to anything and takes off?

[JoanG]

Hi Alan just wondered where you are walking Alfie when he decides to go off and not return to you? Are you in open countryside where there could be particular wildlife smells that he can't resist?

[Lins]

Hi Alan just wondered where you are walking Alfie when he decides to go off and not return to you? Are you in open countryside where there could be particular wildlife smells that he can't resist?

Are we thinking deer Joan?

[JoanG]

Hi Alan just wondered where you are walking Alfie when he decides to go off and not return to you? Are you in open countryside where there could be particular wildlife smells that he can't resist?

Are we thinking deer Joan?

Definitely Lins and possibly hare as well, then in his youth, if it's moorland it could have been sheep as well

Alan I should explain, I'm not sure how much you read of the posts on the Forum but my dog, George, is very well trained but can't resist clearing off if he gets a whiff of deer and, of course, where I live we have hundreds and they can be anywhere. I've tried taking him to a Deer Park in Leicestershire and he's good as gold, BUT I know if a deer jumped out in front of him he'd be off. Consequently after a 5 hour search for him when, 3hrs in to the search he was seen chasing a herd of deer miles away from where we lost him, he is now kept on a 8 m retractable lead when out in the open fields. Not ideal but he's too precious to lose.

[Liz5353]

Hello Alan
I realise having you dog on the lead is not ideal but under the circumstances maybe you should until he is capable of a reasonable recall, training in a confined space with lots of small treats and praise will take time and patience, but it generally works, it is very worrying when your dog goes on manoeuvres either in the countryside or where there is traffic.and as Joan said they are to precious to lose.
Good Luck
Liz Shelly Bonnie Molly n Polly

[Morticia1162]

Hi Alan, personally I would not let my dogs off lead if they had not got good recall, as others have said they are to precious to lose.Three are lots of places that offer secure field hire that are an excellent way of off lead excercise with the knowledge that they can't run away.
I would be so worried letting him find his own way home, anything could happen.

[Melliott]

Hi Alan,

I agree with what others have said, if your dog doesn't have full recall then I think he should be kept on the lead, anything could happen to him in the 2 hours it is taking him to come home, far too worrying for my liking.

Go back to basics and start recall training again, with a long training lead and lots of treats. Please don't risk your dog running off and not coming back, it's making me very nervous just thinking about it, you run the risk of losing your dog for good, it doesn't bear thinking about.

Good luck

Love Michelle X

[Alan]

Thanks everyone, all your comments are very uplifting.
To give you more info, Alfie is brilliant at recall outdoors (we have a lot of open land around us), I'd estimate 99% good. And if in the garden 100% good. However on 4 occasions whilst outdoors he seems to get a ,'grey mist' come over him and although he will be in earshot and he can see and here me calling him he will choose to ignore me and my encouragement and just go off. I have a feeling he has found something to eat that he knows he shouldn't (I don't shout or chastise him, I then have no choice but to go home and wait for him. Even when he returns he will not come back to me until he wants to. Like you all say we have a great fear he will injure himself or others

[JoanG]

Hi again Alan. This is what happened with George, his recall was always excellent, he went straight up through the classes to Advance Obedience at our Dog Training Club THEN on our usual walk through a plantation he went off and found a dead deer. A while later he went off into a field of rape and came back after 20 - 30 minutes, then we went down to the Quantocks in Somerset, one minute he was there with the other 2 labs I was walking and then he was gone, we found him by pure chance over 2 hours later a long way from where he went missing - that was the second time he'd gone off. The third time had us running round a country park for 5 hrs trying to find him, he had picked up the scent of a deer and just disappeared. He was found trotting down a country road not far from where we'd lost him but he had covered miles during his escapade. We felt he'd had his 3 chances and we have so many deer here we just can't risk him going off again.

Only a few weeks ago when out on our early morning walk a herd of 10 deer, who hadn't seen us due to a hedge came running towards us then turned tail and galloped off, if George hadn't been on his lead he would have gone off after them. I just don't think he can help himself, he's such a good dog and he's got used to being on the retractable now, it's the norm for him now.

[jackie]

Have you thought about investing in GPS, sometime like Tractive that works with a phone app? If this technology had been around 8 or so years ago I would have definitely got it as Bella my black Lab was a pain for the first few years. At least then you can follow where he is and keep him safe. Alternatively a cheaper option might be a bear bell depends on how much ground he travels in the time he does a runner.
Jackie x