Chesney loves me too much (?)

[SallyC]

We found Chesney (50# hound mix) at our local shelter about 9 months ago. He is almost 2 years old. When we first brought him home we found him fearful of everything, and guessed he had never lived in a house before. He's gotten over a lot of that, although there are still some things/people/loud noises he's still afraid of. I have spent A LOT of time with Chesney (walking 2 hours each day, feeding, training, car rides). Chesney has grown to love my husband (he had been afraid of him for a couple months, but now sits on his lap!), and our sons. Our problem is that when someone other than me wants to take him outside for a walk or a run in the woods, he'll run to me and jump up, as if he's asking if I'm coming too. When they try to take him outside or in the car he will pull away and sometimes escape his collar to run back inside. As I'm writing this, it sounds like all we need to do is to get everyone to take him for walks more or just as much as I do. Which would be easy to do if my husband didn't work and my boys lived at home! Any suggestions???!!

[Karen]

How do you react when he comes back to you? Do you fuss or scold? I do think he needs more walks with people other than you, and to just relearn leash manners. How old are the boys? Could they walk him, even a short distance?

[Freedom]

Along w/Karen's suggestions, here are a few things to try:

At 50 pounds, I am not sure how you would do this. When I first took my puppy mill rescue to my groomer, she had me pick the dog up and hand her to the roomer, BACKWARDS, so the dog is facing me. This is supposed to indicate to the dog that this person is OK. (My groomer has a PhD ABD in animal behavior: the human - animal bond). So when you want to dog to go with someone else, you would pick the dog up and hand the dog to the person, with the dog facing you.

A few other ideas:

When someone else is taking Chesney out, they need to have treats with them. I keep a baggie in my pocket on walks, with small pieces of hot dog. You can also use boiled chicken breast. For the start, this needs to be a "high value" treat, something the dog just LOVES and goes crazy for! They can give a command - come! - and treat. This works because "come" is an important command and one which should always be rewarded with a treat. Other commands, over time the dog can progress to praise as reward; but "come" is a treat reward for life, because you may need to use it to save the dog's life. So you need it to be re-enforced.

They can also use "walkies" or "with me." These are commands I use often during a walk, to get the dog moving after he has stopped to sniff something, to get back in line with me if he has wandered off to the side to check something. So again, these are commands the dog is going to learn and need right along, may as well start using them! These get the high value treat as reward (along with praise) until they are learned and the treat can become more intermittent.

Finally, having a dog slip it's collar can be a huge safety concern. You may want to consider using a harness. For my puppy mill rescue, she was able to slip out of so many, I found this one was "escape" proof. So you may want to try this.
http://www.ropengo.com/

[SallyC]

How do you react when he comes back to you? Do you fuss or scold? I do think he needs more walks with people other than you, and to just relearn leash manners. How old are the boys? Could they walk him, even a short distance?

Thanks for the reply! When Chesney comes back I ignore him--not scolding or fussing. My boys are all in their 20's and have taken him to the park/woods when I am not at home--that works great!

[Karen]

Good, just keep that up, and have them walk him when you are home a few times until he gets used to being walked by NOT mom!

[akitrix]

If you're home try going to another room, door closed, before someone else takes him out. If he doesn't see you it may be easier while training, once he discovers he can have fun and be safe without you, then you can go beack to "normal"
Try a martingale collar, they adjust precisely, but if short necked, small head, then use a harness.