# Has Your Dog Ever Run From You?



## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

I only had that experience one time with my male Dutchie. 

When I returned home after a week from having my cancerous voice box removed I wasn't able to speak. 

The male realized something was different. 

He didn't run but kept his distance. When I took a step towards him he would take a step back. 

That went on for a few minutes. My female Dutchie was immediately all over me. After a few minutes it was welcome home from both dogs.

That was the only time any dog I owned ever ran or backed off.


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## Meg O'Donovan (Aug 20, 2012)

Lee H Sternberg said:


> I only had that experience one time with my male Dutchie.
> 
> When I returned home after a week from having my cancerous voice box removed I wasn't able to speak.
> 
> ...


Lee, were you on any treatment or medicine that would have made you smell different than what he knew?


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## susan tuck (Mar 28, 2006)

Yes I've had a yearling pup who thought running from me was a great game, but I turned and ran from him, which made him chase me, and then I made sure never to have that sucker off lead until he really knew when I called him he had best get his ass to me as fast as possible.
8)

I have a friend who got in a wreck while driving through New Mexico in the middle of no where (van flipped), and her dogs were in the van and one ran away (a young dutchie). She was able to capture him several days later, but he was really freaked out, so she was very lucky


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Meg O'Donovan said:


> Lee, were you on any treatment or medicine that would have made you smell different than what he knew?


I met him in the winter in the snow in the back yard In north Idaho. I don't think he could get much sensory feel for me under those circumstances. 

I was very weak back then so I think my body language was strange. 

But to answer you question I was on lots of meds.


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Meg O'Donovan said:


> Lee, were you on any treatment or medicine that would have made you smell different than what he knew?


I met him in the winter in the snow in the back yard In north Idaho. I don't think he could get much sensory feel for me under those circumstances. 

I was very weak back then so I think my body language was strange. 

But to answer you question I was on lots of meds.


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## Meg O'Donovan (Aug 20, 2012)

Lee H Sternberg said:


> I met him in the winter in the snow in the back yard In north Idaho. I don't think he could get much sensory feel for me under those circumstances.
> 
> I was very weak back then so I think my body language was strange.
> 
> But to answer you question I was on lots of meds.


I don't think snow will affect the dog's nose if you're upwind from him. It might have been that & body language. Nice that the female dog "broke the ice".


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## Meg O'Donovan (Aug 20, 2012)

Forgot to answer your question. None have run from me so far, knock wood. I did have one that didn't care about me as much as a scent; he didn't run from me but followed his own trajectory on scent (moose). He was a Bloodhound/Walker Hound cross, with a little bit of PB thrown in. He was used as a cougar hound before I got him. Definitely near the bottom of the list re: intelligence of dogs I've owned.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

One of my very first dogs when I was a kid was a runner.

She was a farm Collie given to us by my uncle who got tired of her chasing cars in front of his place.

SOOOOOO give her to the nieces and nephews that lived in the inner city right?!](*,)](*,)

She bolted one to many times and took on the front of a brand new 55 Buick. No contest!

I've never had a dog refuse a recall since that day. 

I have seen so called trained dogs panic when lost for any length of time and run from anybody including it's own owners. 

Not sure I really understand that other then possibly the stress of having been on the run/lost takes away any "common sense" in some dogs. 

The highest scoring competition dog I've ever owned couldn't find his way home if he went around the corner four houses down so go figure. Luckily he wasn't a runner. He just didn't have that body compass that so many dogs do.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

I had a dog run from me and never come back...LOL
shortly after I paid thousands of dollars for him...

over the years I have had lots of dogs run from me for various reasons, mostly due to lack of training or bonding or both...that one is the only one that did not come back...


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Joby Becker said:


> I had a dog run from me and never come back...LOL
> shortly after I paid thousands of dollars for him...
> 
> over the years I have had lots of dogs run from me for various reasons, mostly due to lack of training or bonding or both...that one is the only one that did not come back...



Lots of dogs running from you?

Maybe that's a hint, Joby


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

Lee H Sternberg said:


> Lots of dogs running from you?
> 
> Maybe that's a hint, Joby


yeah, Im not that interesting...


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## Gillian Schuler (Apr 12, 2008)

Joby Becker said:


> yeah, Im not that interesting...


Cheer up! My husband uns from me occasionally


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Gillian Schuler said:


> Cheer up! My husband uns from me occasionally



Could it be the frying pan your swinging at him at the time? 8-[ :grin: :wink:


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## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

Years ago, before I knew much about dog training, I would see people and their dogs and watch the people get angrier and angrier at their dog who was playing dodge 'em when called. I watched one guy catch his dog and then punch him in the head, for not coming when called. I knew I was not going to do that with my dog.

So when I got a puppy, there was always praise when she recalled. If she was being an ass, she still got a good girl when I caught her, but subdued enough she knew I wasn't super happy with her. I think there was only once or twice I lost it with her, and then I told her to run. She was smart enough to stay away until I chilled out.

The Dutchie, as a teenage pup, figured out how long the long line was and how to stay far enough away so I couldn't catch her one day. Then started running, in her joy and glee at evading the dreaded end of the walk ride home, towards the highway. She met Mr. Ecollar the next day. She still pouts a bit when it's time to go home, but she doesn't run away from me anymore.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

If your dog is chewing up your best pair of shoes and you call it to you, you better praise it when it comes otherwise you only teaching it that your and ahole when it comes to you when called. They only connect praise or reward with the last thing it did and that would be that it came to you, not the shoe chewing. 

After all, you left the shoes out where an untrained dog had access to them. Who's at fault there?

Why would any dog want to come to you if your running after them, bat$#!+ crazy, screaming at them?!


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## Nicole Stark (Jul 22, 2009)

I leave my shoes out on purpose. My mastiff removes the knots so I don't have to . She's even good with my Doc Martens. Not even a scratch on them. Ah, I love that dog.


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

:lol: :lol: :lol: DAMN! I think I'm done now! :lol: :wink:


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Haven't had a dog of mine run from me since I was a kid and we had dogs who liked to play "catch me."

The recall is always always always a good thing for the dog, regardless of how slow, or any other negative factor. Those are things to work on separately.

JMO! 

I think that I have learned the most about the foolproof recall from Bob .... the expediters (like always using the recall for each good thing, never using a shaky recall with no means of reeling the dog in, and much more).

I'm prouder of my dogs' recalls than anything else, I think.


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

the dogs I have had run from me mostly were allowed to run on large rural properties, and did not have much training in them yet. and did not necessarily listen when recalled..

the last knucklehead (Pup Pup) got to running around like an idiot and would zoom past a few times and keep running, I would send the other dog to "stop" her sometimes, by planting her into the ground, or just pull out a toy or fill the hopper with food..and she would appear....never had to chase her down...


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

Joby Becker said:


> the dogs I have had run from me mostly were allowed to run on large rural properties, and did not have much training in them yet. and did not necessarily listen when recalled..
> 
> the last knucklehead (Pup Pup) got to running around like an idiot and would zoom past a few times and keep running, I would send the other dog to "stop" her sometimes, by planting her into the ground, or just pull out a toy or fill the hopper with food..and she would appear....never had to chase her down...


Come on, Joby, you know Connie is more interesting than you.☺


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Lee H Sternberg said:


> Come on, Joby, you know Connie is more interesting than you.☺



:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Joby Becker (Dec 13, 2009)

this is true.....

back under the cover of my nice rock that shields me from the sun


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Joby Becker said:


> .... back under the cover of my nice rock that shields me from the sun



No wonder if your dog doesn't respond to the recall. He can't find you. 

Do you ever hear digging around your rock? :lol:


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

If a dog is know to be a runner then why would it EVER be off, at the very least, a long line until the recall is solid.

EVERY TIME a dog is called and it doesn't respond for whatever reason all that you re enforcing is that it can ignore you.

My first SAR dog was an Australian Shepherd. I got her at 7 months old because "she doesn't even know her name and she NEVER comes when called". 

Within a just a few wks I had a solid recall and could stop her in her tracks with a "wait" command. 

The recall was ALL motivational (the only way IMHO) and the "wait" command only took a couple of times running to the end of a long line. A second before she hit the end of the long line she got a calm "wait". :-o She was a REALLY smart dog! :grin: 

From there it was simple proofing of time, distance and distractions.

Was she a pia dog when I got her? Absollutely NOT. She just didn't understand what was wanted of her. Once that happened she was extremely easy to work with. She "wanted" to interact with me.


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