Recall. Kind of...

Hi all.

We have a little staffy, coming up to 8 months now and in the last couple of months we have had a problem that is slowly getting worse.

When she is of the lead she is brilliant. Doesn't run away to far and loves running and jumping through the long grass fields we have nearby. However when it is time to go back on the lead she has none of it.

She will come straight away to my call but as soon as I bend down to connect the lead again she darts off and then it's a game of cat and mouse trying to get her. She was perfect off the lead for a long time.

Like I said she never goes to far and comes straight back so I don't think it's a recall issue as such.

We've tried all different types of treats, hot dogs, cheese and normal pup treats and she comes for them but any movement downwards by me and she's off.

It's a shame because I can see how much she loves being off the lead but it does put me off, especially when I know other dogs are around. Not that she has a bad bone in her but, people thing differently unfortunately.

Any help would be much appreciated

Thanks

You need to play “on lead, off lead” so she knows that even being clipped on lead, you might well unclip her sonner rather than later.
Sounds like at the moment, she associates being clipped on the lead as kill-joy for the fun she’s having off lead

I would recall her just to praise her without clipping the lead on then send her off to play. She will not actually know when free time is over. A friend used to call her spaniel in to put the lead on, he decided that sitting in the middle of the field was best! Could take her an hour to get hold of him!!!

Yep, she's worked out that going on lead m3eans end of fun! You'll need to put her on & off the lead several times during the walk, and maybe even use a long line until she's broken herself of the habit!

People so often underestimate Staffords & don't realise how quickly they can work things out to suit themselves.

Caryll2 wrote:Yep, she's worked out that going on lead m3eans end of fun! You'll need to put her on & off the lead several times during the walk, and maybe even use a long line until she's broken herself of the habit!

People so often underestimate Staffords & don't realise how quickly they can work things out to suit themselves.

Yeah I think I'll go down the long lead route for a little while.

The trouble is as soon as she's off. That's it, so it would be pretty hard to do the on/off thing as the moment.

Like I say, she doesn't ever run away and as soon I walk off she comes straight away. It's just that final moment when I try to clip her back on. She's gone .

So it could be a lot worse. She does pick things up quick.