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Don't take the leash off

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:06 pm
by Jeff&Peks
If any of you ever think I wonder if I can take the leash off, Don't, after almost 8 years of me thinking Pekoe would be fine off leash I took her to a fenced in football field shut the gate and took off the leash at first it was great she walked right along with me and I'm saying good girl Peks, then she started to play and run around so I ran from her and we chased each other, then it came time to leave, noway, Pekoe stayed just far enough from me that I couldn't get close enough to leash her, then she decides well this is fun and crawls under the fence, so there I am yelling at her on one side of the fence and Pekoe standing on the other side of the fence just looking at me. We were about mid field from the entrance gate so I said Pekoe you better wait right there so started for the gate, Pekoe followed me all the way to the gate then waited for me to come out as soon as I got close enough she takes off and takes me on a 2 hour tour of the collage, never running off but just staying far enough from me that I couldn't catch her, so after about 2 hours of me chasing her around the school yelling at her she goes and lays down on the grass and waits for me to come and put the leash on. As I walked up she had this smile like she was saying, Whats the problem lets take a break. So basically Pekoe knows not to run off but she sure knows how to be a smart *Censored Word*.

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:20 pm
by sweetpea
No way would I ever trust mine. Princess would be gone. Drives me nuts when she gets out because she does the same thing, stays out of reach. If Gracie was with Princess, I'm sure she'd do what Princess does because after all, if Princess is doing it then it must be ok! The last time Princess got out Gracie was having a fit. I put her leash on, went outside to try to coax Princess. All Gracie wanted was to be where Princess was. But even alone I learned fast not to trust her. I'd take her to a field to practice but she'd do the same thing, try to stay a few steps away from me, become totally deaf, and ignore me totally. Only difference was I would leave the leash on her so I could step on it. I just gave up on that idea totally. Losing her wasnt worth walking her without a leash. Mine will never go without a leash.

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 4:51 pm
by ngraham
I agree... it's not worth it. No matter how much you THINK they can be trusted, It must be a chow thing. Sasha did it, and now Koda does it.... they let you ALMOST catch up and then wham... they are gone. I honestly used to think they enjoyed watching running after them. I know it was exasperating Jeff... but the story was kind of funny. Both Sasha and now Koda put their heads down like they smell where they are going, totally oblivious to anyone or anything around them. Stubborn, stubborn chows. But you gotta love em! :)

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:00 pm
by kiwani
Jeff wrote: "so after about 2 hours of me chasing her around the school yelling at her..."

---

Sometimes a little psychology goes a long way. If you'd have placed the thumb side of your closed fist against your lips and made loud squealy sounds, she'd think you'd captured a creature, and curiosity would lure her back. It works really well if you sit or kneel hunched over the fist.

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:03 pm
by Auddymay
I feel your pain on this one, Lily is a stay away player as well. It's even more galling when my angel Pippy stays in the yard, and only has a collar when I take her out in public, cause it's the law. I sometimes leash Pip and Lil together, knowing when I call, if Lily tries to keep going Pip will sit and wait for me to catch up, or try to change Lily's direction. I often say to Lily, "I could put up with more hijinx from you if only you'd stay in the yard." So far, she just laughs at me!

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 6:40 pm
by Elaina
Mahayana and Mei-Mei have never ran on us, but Max-A-Million has gotten away from me twice. :o Each time he got away, he ran and ran, looking back every once in a while to see if I'm still after him. He soooo enjoyed his game! When he decided that the game was over, he'd stand in place and let me catch up, seemingly laughing the entire rest of the walk! :lol: I will admit it, I was laughing, too! Now I hold tight to his lead. Jeff, I know what you felt... but you can't help but love 'em!

Posted: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:23 pm
by Samorrathis
This is a excerpt from my blog the other day:

So I go to put Nanuk out to his kennel last night and he won't go. He then begins to run like a demon from hell around and around our snowy yard for like 10 minutes. So I figure he needs to blow off some steam. At this point it is past his bed time and now he is totally exhausted and mentally wound for sound. He is so tired he just plomps his butt down and is acting like a lttle kid who had too much sugar and it's way past thier bedtime, who can't even listen to reason. He won't let me come near him and he runs around more thinking this is the best game we played in ages. So here I am standing outside for 15minutes in my bathrobe looking like a complete idiot, I then trip in the trench we dug to drain all our flood water and I go inside telling my husband it's his turn to put the dog to bed! It's just like having a toddler again!!


Thank god he only does that when he is tried and god forbid he would never do that to my husband.

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:56 am
by Judy Fox
Yes, well done that with Milly and Mabel in the forest. Never again :D

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:04 am
by Auddymay
I better stay away from the Poker tables, because I tried to 'bluff' Lily and all it got me was looking silly. If I could convince her I had a rabbit, sh'e be on mr like stink...wait...glue on paper! I pity the rabbit she ever catches.

off leash

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:57 am
by Brisco
8 years and not off the leash? You should start that sort of thing almost immediatly I think. I feel sorry for those of you that have dogs that never get to let them off of there leash. My two go on a 25-40 minute walk everyday off of the leash and have never been a flight risk. They wander around the front yard when I mow the yard and wash the car too. They are off the leash everywhere that it is allowed and doesn't disturb other people, at the park, river, beach etc...
Not to rub it in, but, here are a couple of pics of them in our front yard and at the park.
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Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:33 am
by Judy Fox
Matthew, I am so envious! :shock:

This is how I have had other dogs over the years. We thought we could train Milly when we first got her.

We took her out as soon as she had had her injections and we would let her off her lead. It quickly became apparent that she was not going to come when she was told. It is not as though we are not experienced with dogs - we consider ourselves very experienced.

When Mabel came to live with us when they were six months old, we tried again and took them to a nearby forest, during the week when no-one was about and they were good for about ten minutes then something took their eye and they gave us the fright of our lives. :(

Never again!

I am so envious and I wish M & M were like that. :oops:

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:53 am
by sweetpea
Same here Judy. I started right away with Gracie. We'd go to this empty lot (its actully a unfarmed field). At first she did great. Each time I'd call her she'd get excited and come right back to me. But then a month later she was more confident in herself. I tried a few times but each time it was the same thing. Then, I took them to the lake. One day I decided to give her a try. Brave little soul she was.
Princess I know not to ever try. If she gets out she's out wandering and it takes a clever mind to get her, she will never fall for the same trick twice. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me kind of thing.

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:50 am
by Roxana
Jeff,
So sorry I know it frustrating as hell, but your story made me laugh :lol: I also learned my lesson when Dakota was younger to never let her off her leash. The few times I did, it was the same game-playing, catch-me-if-you-can, Ha,Ha stupid human, that everybody else has described.

A few things did work for me, the first time after running around like an idiot for an hour, I called out to her "hey Dakota, wanna go for a ride?" Well that worked like a charm and she trotted right back to me. The second time I basically stopped chasing her and just sat on the grass and waited for her. Almost immediately, she came up to me to see what the heck was going on and then I collared her.

They are stubborn little buggers aren't they. Gotta luv em.

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:39 am
by Guest
Chingers is also a off the lead dog. He goes out the front door and goes potty in the yard and will usually come right back in, sometimes he wants to hang out there and play but he has never had problems with his recall, but I work on it daily. One thing that you should always try, when the dog gets "just out of reach" instead of chasing them down, turn away. Just turn around and walk off in the other direction. We all know that our dogs hate to be ignored and so they come running up to you like "hey, I thought we were playing chase" You instantly become more interesting then running off by themselves. When they get up to you, praise them and then you can put the leash on. Never call your dog and put the leash on, if you do that, then they will associate you calling them, with the end oftheir playtime.
This really does work.

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 11:07 am
by tekendall
Zoey is not good off a leash either. I have dropped the leash on accident a couple times and the chase is on. There is a lot of traffic on my street because of a grade school behind my house and it really worries me that she will run out in front of somebody. I have a lot of work to do on the recall. She will obey perfectly in the back yard and in the house, but, once outside and free...forget it!

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 11:12 am
by Guest
You should try a long line. It is like a clothes line. If you take say even 20-50 feet and just tie one end to the collar and let them run then when it is time to call them back, if they don't listen to you, you still have control and can "reel" them in. If they come to you.....PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE!! These are things that I have done and Chingers is pretty reliable right now. (BTW, I also live next to a Elemantary School. That is part of why I felt the need to make this the most important training out of everything)

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:14 pm
by Auddymay
I think there are some dogs that are born to run. I have done everything I can think of, including everything Chowlover did, from the first day I brought her home. She was great also, until she got her confidance. We live on a high kill road. In fact, I am in the center of our little hamlet. Lily can see her groomer's and a half dozen other businesses from our living room window! Anyway, I don't have the nerve to ignore her for very long, there's way too many more interesting things to see than me. Even at the Lake, we can let her off lead and let her run free, but sooner or later, she starts going farther afield, and responds less and less to my call. She sometimes comes out of jealousy when I call and praise Pippy, but I can't count on that!

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:28 pm
by Judy Fox
Fred used to be a Military Policeman and for several years he had a War Dog called Tex!

He worked for a while at the Dog Training School in Germany then returned to his section with Tex.

He does actually know how to deal with dogs. A British Military Police Dog is one of the most highly trained dogs in the world. Tex used to go every where with Fred and the only naughty thing he used to do was to dig out of his kennel compound and run round to the room that Fred shared with another Redcap.

If Fred was not in, his comrade would let him in when he would jump on Fred's bed and wait for him.

Everybody was scared of him except the ladies in the NAAFI (and Fred's room mate) who would give Fred his supper in the kitchens because Fred did not want to tie him up outside the main entrance.

So in defence of those of us who have proved unable to let our beautiful Chow Chows off their leads, I would humbly suggest that if anybody could train M & M he would have been able to - if they would cooperate!! :roll: I would suggest that the same thing applies to the others. :roll:

They are lovely girls, as I am sure all the other untrainable Chow Chows on this site are, they do as they are told, most of the time 8) , will come in when called have the run of our back and front garden - but we will not trust them off their leads. :) They sit, shake paws - not begging but asking for things, they will hush when they are asked to if barking in the garden etc. etc. But, we cannot trust them off their leads. We dearly wish we could and are so envious of Matthew - green with envy actually!! :evil:

Fred is very compassionate but firm with them - he tried every 'kind' trick in the book and failed to teach M & M. Everything he and I have taught them in the garden flits out of their heads when they smelt the freedom of the forest!! :D

So now, we use their 27 ft. leads and have accepted that this is as good as it gets. We are obviously failures and who cares, anyway, M & M still love us.

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:29 pm
by bruinsmom
I'm envious to those that can keep their dog off leash. I guess it comes with training them at a very young age.

My oldest chow Brandi (now departed) got out of the yard. My husband left the gate ajar while working in the yard. We found her sitting on the front steps of our house watching people walk by. I guess you could say she was a homebody. Whew!

Bruin, on the other hand, got out of the yard during a snow storm, the gate was ajar for shoveling. When I spotted her halfway up the street, I tried calling her. Ha, that didn't work. I tried holding a treat while walking up to her very slowly and all she thought was "this is fun, it's a game, I'm gonna' run somemore".
I'm almost embarassed to say how I got her: I held up her leash and said "Wanna go for a walk with mommy?" . She couldn't get to me fast enough to leash her up.

Good Grief.

Whatever works Right?

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:44 pm
by Haley
Lol I know you ya feel.....I had to catch Lilyann numerous times through think brush because my mom wasnt fastenough or didnt see her. Gress stained pants here i come!! The worst time was when it was downpouring and my mom thought that Lilyann wouldnt off and run, WRONG AGAIN MOM!!! Once again..I caught her....she gets excited if she hasnt seen me for a while. My mom was just walking into the tall grass with a flashlight, and me no coat no nothing is standing there yelling LILYANN like an idiot and out she comes...not from ebing obedient but because she heard me ig uess. I really dont know.

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 12:45 pm
by sweetpea
I've tried the same things. Princess is the worst. We always took her to the shop with us, and one day she got loose. She ran across a busy street. Trying to catch her just made her more determined to stay away, she refused to listen to any commands, so ended up I walked with her several blocks home. I pretended to be ignoring what she was doing. I'd walk in the direction that would lead home, sit and wait for her to get curious with what I was doing. She wouldnt get close to me but it allowed me to head her to a field going home and getting her away from the roads. I just kept doing that all the way home. Nice trick to know, comes in handy sometimes. Another time I had to head her to my sisters house to have her son meet her and grab her for me. She is really a brat when she gets out.

Now what I do is when we take our walks or go somewhere, they have to go out the back door. The back is totally fenced in. Then we go out the gate. My thought is, if I get them use to only going out thru the back door that we would have less trouble with Princess trying to slip out the front door when its open. Everytime she has gotten out has been when someone is here and as they are leaving she slips out with them. She waits for the perfect moment.

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:27 pm
by ngraham
Sasha adored going for car rides. All we had to do was tell her... wanna go bye bye and she was right there at the car ready to jump in the front passenger seat (I still hear about how I made Amber and Ashley sit in the back seat so her royal highness could have the front seat... LOL) So when she started getting loose, we would get in the car and go after her and yell, lets go bye bye Sasha and she would stop to get into the car. Well... needless to say that worked for a little while, but once Sasha caught on, that was the end of that. I don't even want to think of the times she sacred the crap out of us when she got loose. :(

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 3:31 pm
by Taz
Diego walks off leash. He seldom has the leash on.
He loves his freedom, never runs away.
(Why should he, he hates being alone outside)

But I can tell you this, I did have som trouble in the beginning.
(When he was about 8-9 weeks old)


But never run after your dog/Chow if he/she runs away.

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 4:15 pm
by Brisco
This is for Judy Fox.
I'm sorry if you see yourself as a failure, because I certainly did not say that. I said that I feel sorry for those of you that have dogs that never GET to let them off of there leash. NOT that I feel sorry for the dogs or that you were not good dog owners or that your dogs weren't just as good as mine, just that I am very lucky that I ended up with two that do not take off on me when they are off of the leash. On the other hand, it did sound like "JEFF" in the original letter said that he didn't even attempt it for 8 years and in that case, what would you expect? I wouldn't come back either if I thought that it would be another 8 years for a second try.

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:31 pm
by Taz
Some pics of Diego unleashed.

"Mum, are you coming?"
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