The adventures we never hear about...

[Rosie]

Most of the time I (sort of) know what Pongo's doing. But he sometimes has adventures that I'll never know about. See what you think of this one, and what story would you make up about it....

Pongo has been spending a couple of days with his "other" pack - his dog-sitter and her little collie Moss. Pongo and Moss are besties. Yesterday Megan was taking them both for a walk, and the two dogs run off into the woods together (as normal). Then she hears Moss squeal loudly in distress. (No sound from the Pongster.) A minute later both dogs come trotting back out of the woods. Megan naturally looks Moss all over to see where she has been hurt...no sign of injury. Then she notices that Pongo has got a rather huge and alarming scar on his foreleg - it looks like it has been skinned, with raw skin in a patch about an inch wide and three inches long. But he's not showing any sign of real distress, just favouring it slightly. So....why was it Moss that squealed?

We'll never know. If only they could talk....

 

[Boogie]

To be honest I wouldn’t want my dogs out of sight and I’m glad my friend feels the same when she has Tatze. Even in the woods I always keep them in my line of vision. They charge about round the trees but near enough not to go out of sight.

 

[Jacqui-S]

Sounds rather odd Rosie!
Yes, if only they could talk.....
Do you and Megan have any ideas? Pongo the rescuer saving Moss from the jaws of a humungous wild boar......?

 

[Candy]

My first thought was also Cap'n Pongo Pugwash to the rescue!

 

[Lisa]

Yesterday OH had a couple of people meeting at our house in the morning. Simba happily greeted #1, when #2 came along I was in the kitchen having brekkie so wasn’t paying attention.

I go upstairs to get out of my PJs and take Simba for walk...no pooch to be found, inside or out. I question OH about whether Simba came to the door when the second person came, or if he went outside....he says he didn’t notice him .

I go outside to look a bit but it’s been around 20 mins since he escaped. The other person is now out having a look. I come in to get the car keys so I can drive around and just then the other guy comes in the door, Simba at his heels....with a big dirty beef knuckle bone in his mouth, pleaded as punch.

He trots away to chew said bone. I have no idea where he could have got it, or for that matter why he would have come back to the other guy’s calls, since he flipping well NEVER comes back when I call him!!

All’s well that ends well...except having to get up twice last night for pooch with a slightly dodgy tum

 

[Jacqui-S]

Kudos Simba!

 

[Cath]

That's magic

 

[SwampDonkey]

Moo had many adventures I just had to clear up the mess. Some I've been glad I never knew what happened. I did once meet a man who knew her because she'd gone through his bins.

 

[Atemas]

When Sky was young we ‘lost’ her several times on the walk (still makes me shudder to think about it). Three times she was bought back home (address on tag) in cars and always a BMW.

 

[SwampDonkey]

Sky has taste. I always used get phone calls to come and get Moo. Many times she was covered in poo. One time it was human poo and the woman who had got her didn't mention it once so neither did I we both managed to pretend that the whole of her right hand side was not covered in poop

 

[snowbunny]

He trots away to chew said bone. I have no idea where he could have got it

Reminds me of the time our half-blind kitten “caught” a massive frankfurter. Where we lived had no easily accessible neighbours, no passing traffic, and we never had anything like that in the house. Where it came from will always be a mystery.

 

[Emily]

To be honest I wouldn’t want my dogs out of sight and I’m glad my friend feels the same when she has Tatze. Even in the woods I always keep them in my line of vision. They charge about round the trees but near enough not to go out of sight.

I agree with this but I'm interested in how much this can be trained and how much it the personality of the dog.

Ella doesn't leave my sight but I haven't trained this, she just automatically stops and looks for me and want's to know where I am. Of course I reward check-ins but I can't help but feel there's more to it than that.

My friend has an Aussie Shepherd that also frequently checks in (and is rewarded for doing so) but will happily dart off out of sight and reappear shortly afterwards.

I know you could prevent them going past an eyesight distance cut do you think you could train them to shorten their natural "exploration distance"?

 

[snowbunny]

do you think you could train them to shorten their natural "exploration distance"?

Yup; I do this with W&S who are very "hunty". Squidge has no interest in wandering, but W&S would roam out of eyesight given free rein. So when they start getting a bit roamy, I pay into checking in for a few walks. That keeps them in a nice radius.

 

[Emily]

Yup; I do this with W&S who are very "hunty". Squidge has no interest in wandering, but W&S would roam out of eyesight given free rein. So when they start getting a bit roamy, I pay into checking in for a few walks. That keeps them in a nice radius.

So do you find that upping the check-in rewards shortens their roaming distance?

 

[kateincornwall]

I remember one time at Golitha , Sam was ahead as usual , rummaging around in the undergrowth . He then came bounding out with a very expensive looking rolled up umbrella , carrying it so proudly ! What the heck it was doing in the bushes I will never know but it gave rise to some interesting scenarios ! xx

 

[snowbunny]

So do you find that upping the check-in rewards shortens their roaming distance?

Upping the reinforcement for checking in, means they check in more frequently. That means they naturally roam less far because they go, say, 5m, and then check in. They start automatically turning back when they hit that distance.

 

[snowbunny]

I remember one time at Golitha , Sam was ahead as usual , rummaging around in the undergrowth . He then came bounding out with a very expensive looking rolled up umbrella , carrying it so proudly ! What the heck it was doing in the bushes I will never know but it gave rise to some interesting scenarios ! xx

I wonder if someone had decided they didn't need it, and didn't want to carry it for the remainder of the walk, so they hid it to collect it again as they walked back? I do that with my snowshoe bag; it never crossed my mind that another dog might rummage it out

 

[HAH]

Yup; I do this with W&S who are very "hunty". Squidge has no interest in wandering, but W&S would roam out of eyesight given free rein. So when they start getting a bit roamy, I pay into checking in for a few walks. That keeps them in a nice radius.

See now I’m trying this with Kipper; but when he’s in his sniffier phases, he will go any distance without even thinking of me and as much as I give high value rewards for checking in, it’s erratic. At the moment I’m trying to chill as I’m putting it down to adolescence, but I’d love to find a better way to tackle it. When not in a sniffy phase, he’s a lot better at check ins. Any ideas welcome...

 

[snowbunny]

Long line in sniffy places, sit down on the floor and wait for him to start checking in, make a big fuss of him when he does, play games. Make it more than just a treat. Then start moving around, without really going anywhere, but so the circle he has access to slightly shifts.
I always start off with the orientation game, too - that really focusses them on the idea of turning back to me.

Here's a little video I took the other day for a friend of mine who was considering sending his dog away to a residential facility to instil a recall. I was explaining the double-pronged approach of building a recall but also developing a staying close behaviour as default so we don't have to nag the dogs to come back all the time.

 

[HAH]

Lovely video thanks Fiona. I clearly need to up the value of treats, as they just don't hold fascinations stronger that sniffing when K-dog's really in the zone. And I'm going to have to nail figure of 8 right at the beginning of walks because that's when we struggle the most. Plenty to work on!