out of control Aussie

Our little Guinness is what we like to think "perfect" (haha), however she does have two habits that we would like to break her of and are at a loss as to what to try next. Her first problem is bolting when she sees another dog in the park. We live in a great town where there are tons of trails and parks where we go everynight to let Guinness run free. Lots of other people use this one particular park we like to frequent. The dogs are always loose in this area.

(A little history) When we first adopted Guinness she was 1 year old. She use to live with another aussie (her sister) who was 1 year older than her and a bully. (one reason why they thought Guinness would be better off with another family) as they often saw her retreat socially because of the treatment from this older dog. Since we've had Guinness (1.5 years now) I have had her in obedience, where she reached advanced trial ready level...also agililty (where she truly excels)...and my husband does flyball with her. You can probably guess that since we have adopted her...her confidence level has skyrocketed! Which of course is a good thing.

Back to the first problem, when we first had her out on loose walks in the beginning, she would stick close to us when she saw another dog and we practically had to coach her with "go say hi"...so she would socialize. Now she sees another dog a football field away and off she goes to investigate at mock speed. When we see other dogs first, we leash her...but if she notices first, she's gone. I don't like yelling my head off for her to come back b/c in this instance, she doesn't listen...and also it tends to scare the other dog owner. Once she investigates, she flys back to us no problem, but she is very protective of me (specifically) not so much my husband, and if the dog follows her back to us, she (sometimes) gets snappy.

The second bad habit she has developed is going too far ahead of us on these trail walks. We are calling for her every few seconds. We want her to have freedom but we want her to know she has a boundary...of how far ahead she can be before she has to come back. How do we train her for this? She does listen to the command "here" and comes back, but then when we release her, she goes off in the bush or way too far ahead again and the game continues.

Any suggestions?.....

The fastest way to get results with this problem in such a responsive and bonded animal is to change your reaction to her behaviour.
As soon as she gets too far ahead of you, run the other way as fast as you can. Give her a signal, I use several short whistles to mean - look at me! - and then go.
Do this consistently until she is responding and then give her the signal and hide. (Cheat here....hide before you give the signal or you will find she sees where you are.) If she runs right to you carry on with your walk giving her a, "Good girl!" If she runs right past you come out from hiding and repeat the signal as you walk along like nothing happened.
Use these two things as often as you can and you will quickly see that she is more clued into where you are.

For the other dogs I would work a lot on lead work first. Walking to heel calmly past other dogs is a must, then off lead heel work. Then go on with the signal you have chosen above and as she pelts off after another dog signal and run the other way. If you can anticipate when she is about to take off - give the signal and change direction. Get her walking to heel as you get nearer another dog and carry a ball to reward her attention to you - if she can fly ball she should focus on that pretty well.

As usual, Carrie has advice I'd have never thought of but will definitely try! :D Aussieshep, what you're describing with Guinness bolting to greet other dogs is something our Aussie Eli does all the time as well, and we have yet to break him of this. Just as you say, it's not a threatening action but it can be scary for the other dog and its owner. Eli goes bounding over, wiggles his butt, gets into a play bow, and then runs back to us--and all the while we look like idiots yelling at him to return. He's such a friendly guy, though, that we don't want to discourage his "making friends," we just want a bit more control over him when he does!

Thanks for the help, Carrie :)

and good luck with Guinness!

I think you should go with her when she meets other dogs, leashed so that hwen they smell each other you can go on with your journey. Another thing is that you should teach her to heel as a command. It's really easy. Take 2 doggy treats, put each in one hand and say to the dog 'heel'. If she starts following the treat then walk a bit not too much and then give the treat and praise her. You should practise this a lots of times so that each time the journey gets longer until she recieves her treat or reward.

I will try doing the run in opposite direction with my walk tonight. I do hide on her sometimes, but of course since she's a real sniffer, she finds me right away. However, I will try running in the opposite direction everytime she gets too far ahead. This sounds like it may work! Since she is very protective of me, she always wants to know where I am.

The funny thing about her is that she has gone all the way to advanced obedience and when we are at the k9 studio, she performs like you wouldn't believe. She can heel both on and off leash, perfect. With a sit as soon as I stop and I can say "closer" and she nudges in to me. However, when I walk her (either on or off leash), you would never know she knew what the command "heel" meant. I guess I just need to drill her on this more and more with distractions. Her nose goes to the ground and she's off. Treats don't work at all when we are outside, she completely ignores them.

She is very attached to her frisbee though, the last couple of walks I have been alone with her and brought the frisbee. This keeps her close (unless she sees a dog) and she basically jumps for the frisbee and brings it back to me the whole walk.

Anyway, thanks again for all the advice and I will let you know tomorrow morning how it went with day 1 training!

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There are many obedience trained dogs out there that are a little crazy when not in a show situation. My dog is also obedience trained, and works extremely well for me at shows. However, she knows the difference when we are at the park or just playing, and she behaves differently. You have to expect that.
I agree that you should have your dog on a leash when greeting strange dogs, you never know what can happen in these instances. After the dogs have had a chance to meet, then let them off leash. As for your dog just running off, well when they are off leash, that's going to happen. They are dogs. They respond to different stimuli that we cannot even detect. I wouldn't get mad at the dog... you either can live with it, or not. If this action bothers you so much, put the dog back on a leash and let him/her off leash in less doggy populated areas.

Best of luck! And remember to give your dog a big hug:)

Well, last night went well with the change of direction training. I also walked with her frisbee in my hand and that keeps her close. Didn't encounter any dogs (it was late) so wasn't able to test that.

I do put her on a leash right away if we see someone, or another dog first...which most often is the case...however, there are times when she sees them first, usually when she is off in front of us around a corner or something. So I think just keeping her close to us while we walk on the trail is the first thing to get down properly. I know having her on a leash seems to be the most obvious answer, however NO ONE else keeps their dog on a leash in this wooded area. I find it much worse when a loose dog runs up to us and I have Guinness on a leash. She behaves much better with other dogs in an off leash situation (when we are on the trails of course, not on a street). Unfortunately there are people out at this park who have untrained dogs and they don't think twice about letting it run wild and last weekend I was actually knocked over by a BIG dog who jumped up on me and its owners laughed and just continued walking and I had to call to them to call their dog back! This is an odd situation because most of the dogs/owners we meet are very friendly and the dogs are fine with each other. However, most dogs don't bolt for Guinness, she usually initiates it. The other dog stays by their owner, and thats what I want her to learn. She can go when we give her the "go say hi" command.

I know it is possible to train your dog not to run after other dogs/animals because I have seen it in a few dogs we run into regularly in this area. I guess its just practice practice practice....! We don't get angry with Guinness because we know its something we have to work on with her training. I don't think she "knows" what is expected of her in these situations and we just have to find a way to train this. I'll keep trying, thanks to all for your comments!

The problem with leashing the dog every time you see other dogs is that the dog may learn that to avoid the leash it has to be quicker at spotting dogs than you are. It can lead to a situation where the only thing your dog does when out for a walk is look out for dogs in the hope of seeing them before you.

If you do get out when there are no dogs around - practice the signal and run. This will give her more of a chance of responding correctly when there is a major distraction. (She will still expect you to follow her calling her name when another dog appears.)

Just a quick thought. Would a flexi leash work when trying to get her to walk "with" us instead of way ahead of us? Would it teach her the boundary?

It would give you control and prevent her rushing off.....but I have to say that I'm not a major fan of flexi leads in a situation like this.
Have a think about what you are actually teaching the dog by using the flexi lead.
To my mind you are simply teaching her that she can't do what she wants when she is on the flexi lead. Let her off and the problem is still there.

You do have the skills to handle this as you have proved in the ring and at agility. The problem is partly confidence on your part and partly the fact that the control while "training" is lost when "not training". Try to narrow the distinction and raise your expectations. Get the dog working a little harder out of the "training" sessions and get things happening on your terms.

great news.....we found a solution. We have been using a frisbee and sometimes a stick to keep her close. It works great!

When she gets too far ahead we say "ready" and then she races back for us to throw the frisbee....she loves it...its a reward for her and it works everytime.

Still working on the dog issue (her taking off to say hi)....but she has definitely improved over the last week.

Fantastic!

You have the mind set to train this dog to be almost anything - you just need some confidence in yourself! You are doing a great job, I'm so happy to hear things are getting more positive.

Practice the control you have in the ring when out of it - get the dog doing very short excersises at odd moments - keep interest going.

Well done!