dog runs off

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ljckr

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when we take our 6 month old pup out lately for walks she has run off the last two times ,it looks like she gets on a deer trail and takes off and not responding to commands to come back and when we take her out we usually have a check cord on her and let her run around but the last time she got hung up in a fence with cord and gashed her leg pretty good and now first thing in the morning i have to take her to the vet for stiches. i guess it's time to put an e-collar oh her and keep her with in sight ,but with that said will this hamper her natural drive to go out and find birds, she has a real good drive that i dont want to hurt it any help would be appreciated,thanks.
 
Would it be possible to stay in a area more open so you can use the check cord? If not I would not worry about the E-collar she still needs to learn to come back when called and not to leave you.Good luck to you. I know you will get way better advice on this. But i think your on the right track.
 
not alot of open areas where i live ,small fields surrounded by hills and hollers full of woods and alot of deer , in the yard she will come when called but now ii guess she's learned now that she aint in the yard when we go on top of the hill and gets on a deer scent trail and she takes off.
 
OK #1 can I come deer hunt there?:D This may help some of your problem with the dog chasing deer?

I was out with a buddy coon hunting and he had a walker hound that would chase deer. We found a herd of deer put the E-collar on let him go and leveled the dog when he took off after the deer. a couple nights of that and he did not chase deer anymore. But was never a great coon dog either.

E-collars are wonderfull things just make sure you use it at the right time. I would put the check cord on the dog and the e-collar. Start over do your yard work then let her go with the just the e-collar in the yard. Before taking her out for runs in the park. At six months old she maybe testing you to see what she can get away with? (Welcome to the teenage years)

After rereading this post. What type of Dog?
She should always stay in view (at 6months old) if shes going to hunt for you right? Don't start any habits that are going to be hard to break later. Best of luck to you.
 
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I had a similar experience a year ago when my Brittany was about 5 months old. She had been staying close and coming back on command but all of a sudden one day when we hit the field she just bolted and refused to listen. This happened on 2-3 straight occasions. I really didn't want to use a check cord and I was concerned that she was too young to use an e-collar. However, I decided to give the e-collar a try knowing I would have to be very careful in how I used it. I put the collar on and took her out in the field behind my house. The first time she took off and wasn't listening to the "Come" command I gave her a little jolt. I did this a couple of times and the problem was solved. Now she responds so well to my voice and whistle commands in the field I don't even use a collar on her.

Personally I think it was like a kid hitting his/her teens. They decide they need to exercise their independence. Once she found out she cound't get by with it anymore she quit doing it.

If you do use an e-collar make sure you don't over do it. Start with a very low stimulation, just enough to get the dog's attention. If the dog vocalizes you have the collar too hot. Used properly the e-collar can be a very effective training tool but if you don't know what you're doing to might also harm or ruin a good dog. Good luck.
 
First off, what breed of dog do you have?

Some breed's will require different tactics

Some breeds are more pron to running after anything and everything when they are young and not fully trained.

A Lab may just take Stearn discipline, which may work against you on a Chessy. A pointer may require a shock collar and check cord. I have a 12 year old female Shorthair that has never had great hearing when she's in hunting mode. I have always had to run a shock collar and use it to get her attention. She is also my best upland dog that is a hunting machine.

On the same note, you can't have a dog running off when your in the field. You risk great harm to the dog and possibly loosing it.

I'm sure there are plenty of others with good advice on here. Let's just get a little more info on the dog.

Onpoint
 
eCollar is the Solution

Time for the ecollar. Make sure she hears your command before you nick her at low strength, just enough to send the message. You might try vibration first too.
 
I agree nick her at the lowest setting possible. Tony is a soft Brit, so it only took 1 nick and he gave up and decided to be good. If they know their commands and are just plain being disobedient yes give them a light nick to tell them "Bad Dog". But take them to a field where there are no birds, a play field. Like Zeb, he took his dog in a field behind his house................Bob
 
Are you only working with the dog in the yard or do you vary the places you work with the dog? I had a dog that would stop on a dime when told to come in the yard, but thats where we worked on it all the time. When we moved to a more unfamiliar place not so good, so I started varying the places we trained and it really seemed to work for me. Now I do that with every dog, so they get different smells and have different surroundings when we are trainning.
 
she's a gwp, and ford that's good advice will change training area a little bit and also will put an e-collar on her. one other thing when she gets out to far and is going to run off and i shock her only after she does not respond to the here command ,is there no ill effects on her drive to go out and find game ?
 
Another thing I have use is to hide from them. I mean literally hide, I call once twice and then I just hide. Do not let them see you, they WILL come to find you and usually after doing this once or maybe twice they will be checking on where you are at instead of running all head strong doin what they want. The other thing that is an absolute no no, is to call them back to you and get after them. In Richard Wolters's books he empahatically says to go to them to reprimand so you do not tie punishment with coming back to you. He took this to the extreme at one point actually stripping down to get across a creek in the fall to get the dogs attention. Age is probably the biggest issue you are facing. My dogs all seemed to get head strong for a week or so right around 6 months.
 
ok thanks for the help will try these methods after she heals, this last time she ran off i had to take her to the vet and get stitches this morning, got caught in some barb wire and cut her pretty good.
 
I understand your reluctance to take away her drive, but isn't her being driven to hunt way off away from you and chasing deer and possibly hunting just for herself bad behavior? All you are doing is enforcing boundaries and hopefully doing that using the least amount of pressure that is still enough pressure to work. I think the idea of working her in different locations is great, but remember to back up in training when you are effectively taking on a new task. In other words, don't be so quick to throw out the check cord and put on the e-collar. Not that the e-collar is a bad thing, or that it's too early to use it, but if she doesn't fully understand the breakdown and that it's important to listen to you always and in different locations, you may be introducing the e-collar in a way that she won't understand. Good luck
 
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