- Location
- SW London UK
A bit of a long post. Stanley is going well but recently in the warmer weather we’ve had two incidents with public in open spaces.
Stanley's recall has been generally quite good on his normal walks and we practice coming away from other dogs or coming back if he’s stopped to sniff and I’ve walked on.
A few days ago there was a man sunbathing in long grass in the middle of the common where most dogs are happily off lead. Stanley was sniffing around, then was startled by the man lying down, he did a few play bows and darted from side to side. I called him but he was focussed on the unusual manner of the man who jumped up and said Stanley was attacking him even though Stanley was a good few meters away not barking nor growling. I called Stanley but he ran around in circles avoiding being caught for a bit (a matter of seconds but felt like ages before I could get hold of his collar). Stanley was over excited by the man’s actions so wasn’t listening to me. Then today Stanley was as good as gold sitting with me and a friend while we stopped fur a coffee on a long walk. A man with two young children started playing with a football about 30 to 40 meters away. Stanley was interested and I kept his attention on my with lots of treats. As I shifted his lead in my hand he darted towards the ball and the lead slipped out my grasp. Stanley tried to get the ball and ran round for a moment not wanting to come to me, also for just a moment. The man was annoyed and said to keep him on lead.
After the first incident I thought that if Stanley was a bit more ball focussed I could get him away quickly by throwing a ball for him to chase which used to work with Homer, but after the second incident I think I need to desensitise Stanley to wanting to play with footballs.
So a two fold question. What could I use for a super exciting emergency recall or distraction and how do I desensitise his focus on footballs?
Just to add he’s still young and still learning all these situations but as he’s now a big dog his Puppies’s isn’t always appreciated.
Stanley's recall has been generally quite good on his normal walks and we practice coming away from other dogs or coming back if he’s stopped to sniff and I’ve walked on.
A few days ago there was a man sunbathing in long grass in the middle of the common where most dogs are happily off lead. Stanley was sniffing around, then was startled by the man lying down, he did a few play bows and darted from side to side. I called him but he was focussed on the unusual manner of the man who jumped up and said Stanley was attacking him even though Stanley was a good few meters away not barking nor growling. I called Stanley but he ran around in circles avoiding being caught for a bit (a matter of seconds but felt like ages before I could get hold of his collar). Stanley was over excited by the man’s actions so wasn’t listening to me. Then today Stanley was as good as gold sitting with me and a friend while we stopped fur a coffee on a long walk. A man with two young children started playing with a football about 30 to 40 meters away. Stanley was interested and I kept his attention on my with lots of treats. As I shifted his lead in my hand he darted towards the ball and the lead slipped out my grasp. Stanley tried to get the ball and ran round for a moment not wanting to come to me, also for just a moment. The man was annoyed and said to keep him on lead.
After the first incident I thought that if Stanley was a bit more ball focussed I could get him away quickly by throwing a ball for him to chase which used to work with Homer, but after the second incident I think I need to desensitise Stanley to wanting to play with footballs.
So a two fold question. What could I use for a super exciting emergency recall or distraction and how do I desensitise his focus on footballs?
Just to add he’s still young and still learning all these situations but as he’s now a big dog his Puppies’s isn’t always appreciated.