As you may know already, Graham is a very well trained dog who listens quite well to me. He is very eager to please and he has not signs of stubborness...but I have a problem that I don't know how to fix. I am hoping Carrie will chime in here!

I moved last week to a place that has huge, wooded, open grasslands & much wetland areas. Graham no longer has a backyard so he gets several walks every day so he can empty his bladder & bowels. I had taught him from the very beginning to not go to the bathroom while on his regular walking lead, so I got a flexi-lead and I put a harness on him when he goes out so he can go potty and still have the safety of a leash. The problem is this...he still does not like to go to the bathroom on lead, even if it's with the flexi leash & harness...but with some coaxing he will eventually go. I want to let him off lead occationally, since there is no specific dog parks, to get some excersise and to be able to be a dog...but the problem is this....whenever I let him off that flexi leash he has his nose plastered to the ground, and is obviously tracking small animals and if I am not watching him VERY closely and he sees something to chase (any type of rodent, squirrel, bunny, deer, skunk, raccoon etc.) he will go after it. I firmly yell, "NO" and he will cease his chase, but it's so hard to get him to stay with me. I have to watch him like a hawk. My husband brought him to a nice field with long grasses for some off lead freedom, but Dan did not watch him well enough and Graham was gone! He freaked out and frantically ran around, heartbroken and betrayed to find this dog...finally 15 or so minutes later Graham came guiltly up to Dan and the freedom ended there. Dan will not let Graham off lead (as of now) ever again. Graham's hunt drive is driving me nuts. His walks are no longer fun for me or him because I am always correcting him, telling him to stay with me, correcting him when he gets too obsessed with an animal track, and yelling when he begins to chase anything cute and fuzzy.

I understand that some dogs have a strong hunt drive and there's not much that can be done to erase that, but can I ever let him off lead and enjoy to a nice run without fear of him spotting a nice chase and going for it, regardless of whether or not he's supposed to? I want a well beahaved dog and a dog I can trust. He is breaking my trust quickly, and more and more each day!

When he gets to an area with lots of natural landscapes, and lots of critters to hunt down like what I have all around my townhouse, he becomes a different dog. All he wants to do is kill, that's it. He does not even care if I am around at all. I am staying very firm but I have a feeling it's going to get worse, since it's a bit worse every day, and he may be getting sick of me correcting him all the time.....any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I would like to add that every time Graham begins to lose control with his urge to track & hunt, and he loses ability to hear me, he runs faster with his nose plastered onto the earth, and he begins sniffing a zillion MPH, I try to get him to get control of himself by putting him in a downstay for a minute or so...just to get him to calm down a bit. That seems to work for maybe 3 minutes, until a bunny runs ahead of him then he loses all control and runs at it full speed until I order him to stop. He never loses control like this while on lead.

[ August 24, 2001: Message edited by: AdoreMyDogs ]