Runaway Bunny

Well, I don’t mind admitting to you that even though I am an experienced dog trainer, I have my failures!  I really thought my Petey’s recall was rock solid.  We have practiced a lot over the entire time we’ve had him (that’s almost 2 years!)  We have practiced inside the house (low stimulus area) and also in the dog yard and horse paddocks (more stimulating environments).  I use my “Cookie Time” cue only when I have super valuable rewards for him (like meatballs) and only when I’m pretty sure he’ll come to me.  And if he doesn’t come, I just calmly go and retrieve him – NEVER scolding or punishing him for not coming.

Okay, so the other day I was bringing new-addition rough coated JRT Archie into the dog yard.  Petey was standing on the inside of the gate – he has never rushed out of a door or gate before.  But lo and behold, with no eyes in the back of my head I was not aware that his nemesis – a bunny – was behind me.  He almost ran me over and took off pell mell through the brush and wetland areas behind our house.  I could see him for a bit chasing, then I could see only his tail and finally I could only see the brush moving.  I was pretty worried because there are acres of woods and marsh he could get lost in.  I decided not to run in the house for treats because I was determined to keep my eyes and ears on him.  After about 15 – 20 minutes, I could still hear him occasionally moving but he had slowed down.  So I entered the thick brush and eventually was able to calmly clip the leash on.  Phew.

I did call him but didn’t use the Cookie Time recall as I knew it was futile and didn’t want to waste it.  I did call his name because l wanted to let him know where I was in case he was lost.  When I caught up with him (and I do believe he had moved closer in response to his name), again though I was pretty hot, and a little scratched up from the environment, I did not punish him – that would have only poisoned future efforts to get him to come to recall.
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Two things – despite how long we’ve worked on this, we have more work to do.  So back to the long line and recall training.  But second – there are many dogs out there and Petey may have developed into one for whom the bunny, deer or whatever is too alluring and will always be more important than hearing her name.  So for the foreseeable future, we’ll be taking our woods walks on a long line, practicing our recalls and I will always be more careful at thresholds!