State of the Hound

[bunn]

At the moment, at about one and a half years old, Theo's actual recall is OK. He knows about coming when called, he enjoys the 'come and get a treat' game, he loves interaction and he doesn't want to lose me.

BUT - he is easily distracted. If he sees a rabbit, fox, or worst of all, deer, he will go deaf and chase. If he sees a dog, I sometimes can't get him back in time before he greets. He'll come back eventually, but I lose control and this is not OK. If he's all comfy in his bed, he sometimes won't want to get up, even for a treat!

I don't think this is unusual for a dog of this age, particularly a hound, so my plan is to keep working on it with loads of practice, and in the meanwhile do shorter offlead sessions with lots of practice recall-release rather than expecting him to be able to keep his brain together and focussed for the entire walk.

I am bad at this! I want to just bimble along and let him do his thing, but I don't think he's ready for that yet.

Comments

[bunn]

Yes, and it's hard work!

I wish I had managed to save Theo from his reactive phase, but I think the combination of life with Rosie and so many dogs struggling with socialisation as the lockdowns loosened up probably made that a tough proposition. At least I feel more confident now that we are coming out of it and are going the right way to a nice calm adult Theo.

Have to admit I think my next dog will probably be at least 5. Whatever issues it comes with won't be as hard as the Great Big Giant Issue of Being a Puppy!

[narya_flame]

Lockdowns have definitely made things harder. When he was a baby, Balto had some duff encounters with mad young adolescents and their clueless owners, and was very shy for a while. With dogs he is now at the other extreme and wants to be friends with ALL of them, in a very energetic and boisterous shepherd-y way that lots of dogs don't appreciate. So that's a different sort of nuisance.

Have to admit I think my next dog will probably be at least 5. Whatever issues it comes with won't be as hard as the Great Big Giant Issue of Being a Puppy!

We tried that, but I think we hit a bad time with rescues; most people were still at home at the time, the mass hand-back of lockdown pups hadn't started, and they could afford to be extremely picky about homes. Maybe next time, with the experience of raising a large active breed pup, we'll look a bit more appealing.