coming when called, heeling and a few other problems...

[felicia]

when anassa is just with my husband or i she will pretty much always come but as soon as her friend max is around she totally ignors me, she will also go to my friend who owns max and her boyfriend when we are all together but not my husband or i, why does she do this?

iv'e tried calling her heaps but she completely ignors me and runs the other way, once when she did this on the beach my friend said 'she won't come to you because you will keep her there' but i don't do this all the time, only when i need to.

my friend also lets her dog off the lead all the time, even on walks down the street, he's famous for chasing kangaroos and can be gone for a day at a time when this happens, she wants me to let nass off too but nass doesn't even come when she's called yet and i worry what will happen if max chases a roo, i know nass will follow him.

i'm also having trouble getting her to heel and have no idea whatsoever on how to teach her to do this...



any help will be greatly appreciated.




felicia

[Canis erectus]

I don't have a whole lot of advise for you except that I wouldn't let her off lead anywhere that recall could be a problem. Anassa is part wolf hound/pointer right? She looks mostly pointer, but the hound part of her brain is likely going to keep her recall from ever being great. Zoey's part Borzoi and given that I'd say that her recall is pretty good. I'll also add that her curiosity and chase instincts are too great for me to ever feel safe letting outside of an enclosed area.

Zoey is also a very social dog, she's far more interested in visiting people than she is in other dogs. Anyone who doesn't see her all the time is going to be able to get her to come when called more easily than I can. Simply put she'll go to a new and exciting stranger easier than she will to me whom she gets to see all the time. That could be a reason why Anassa goes to your friends all the time but not you.

When you add another dog into the situation, that essentially makes a pack. Dogs who are 'packed' are going to be bolder and more adventurous, just like how kids are when they have their freinds over. So expect Anassa's command response to be less whenever she's hanging out with Max.

Lastly I'd advise you against letting her loose, espescially since there's kangaroos about. I've never been to Australia before but I do know that roos can kill dogs if they decide to turn on them. Hounds have a natural prey drive and I'd hate to see what happens when a puppy (even a big puppy) comes up on a kangaroo that decides that it doesn't want to run.

[felicia]

Thankyou,

iv'e decided i won't be letting her off because of the risk of her running off with Max when he chases a roo, Max has already been hurt by one before yet they still let him off the lead :roll:

i just get told allll the time that i need to give nass freedom....my friends boyfriend says they will learn from their mistakes but out here where there is nothing around i'm just not prepared to risk her running away.

they go on about it all the time, then they will stop for a while but the subject always comes up again somehow and it just gets annoying, Max returns home when he runs away and he has run away heaps of times but nass has never experienced that, if she loses max while they have run off together i don't know if she would come home or keep going and possibly get lost in the middle of no-where, there is no water out here and it gets very hot, i don't think she'd last very long.

anassa is half pointer and half wolfhound, she isn't a mix of heaps of breeds but only two so the pointer instinct to roam is very strong in her, when i take her for a walk her nose is on the ground the whole time and shee is always trying to pull me off after some scent or another.

once my friend wasn't very careful and nass got out, she started sniffing straight away and wouldn't come to anyone, we had to chase her down and lure her over with treats. my friend has let nass out a few timews while we are visiting them even though iv'e told them not to do it and every time nass just runs off, it annoys me a lot actually, not just the fact that she doesn't come back but i expect my friends to respect the fact that i don't want nass roaming, once they looked after her for a week and just let her off, they weren't even watching her at the time, luckily she didn't go anywhere.

sorry, this has been annoying me for a while now, i thought i was being overprotective though....just needed to vent.





felicia

[JackieMaya]

Wow, Felicia, I would be very upset with your friends too! When you tell someone not to let your dog loose, they're NOT supposed to let your dog loose.

Canis gave you some very good advice.

One of my dogs, Maya, is half Husky, so she definitely has the roaming instinct. She has to be on a cable when I let her out in our fenced yard because she will jump the fence and take off. She pretty much stays on the next block, but I live close to several busy streets, so there's no way I'll take the chance on letting her loose and having her hit by a car. And when she has jumped the fence, she just has SO much fun that she won't come up to me. I have to go get her in my car, and that still takes a little while.

I agree that it would be great if Nassa could run loose. She could get more exercise and I'm sure it would be more fun. But it's just not worth the possibility of her getting hurt or lost or whatever.

Good luck with your pretty girl!

[felicia]

i was very annoyed but every time i mention something i come off as overprotective or a worrier :roll:

even though i think they need to be more careful with max, he is theirs so i keep quiet, i would just like the same courtesy with nassa.

it was getting to the stage where i thought i was too over protective and was thinking i should just let her off, it's hard out here because most people just have working dogs who aren't considered anything special so it's hard to find people who understand how i feel.

i'm so glad i found this place, you guys are great.




felicia