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Posted by carver on February 16, 2003 at 21:36:22:

A month ago I posted a request for information on handling the shy one year old Black Lab that we had just adopted from the county animal shelter. The advice that he “needs time and a lot of love before he will feel secure” was helpful. I need advice now on how to handle him on the rae occasions when he does not respond to my commands.

He is a nice, well-mannered dog who responds well to basic commands such as” sit,” “stay” (to a degree) and “come” even when we are off of our property (on vacant land) and he is off of his leash. The problem comes when he runs joyfully in ever widening circles and suddenly disappears in the brush pretending not to hear me when I call him to “Come”. I can almost see when he is purposely heading to an area where he will make a fast move into the brush. He enjoys dashing about in the brush and I think that is O.K. but I do not want him to get too far away and want him to return when I call. Basically, I would like to know what to do when he does return to me happily after ignoring my “Come” command. In keeping with the earlier advice received here, I do not want to punish him for returning to me but I do not want to reward him for ignoring my command. What would you suggest as appropriate behavior for me?

To give a complete picture, on the unfenced portion of our property and the adjacent vacant property, there is a small lake. There are ducks and egrets in that lake. Needless to say, he is attracted to them. When he does disappear on me, whether he goes into the water or not, when he returns to me he is overjoyed and full of enthusiasm. I have the feeling if I learned how to control his behavior away from the area by the lake that the same method(s) would also keep him from dashing into the lake. Or is keeping a lab out of water a pipe dream?

Follow Ups:

• Re: Dog Only Obeys munchkins 02/17/03 (2)
  • I had this problem Arianwen 02/25/03 (0)
  • Re: Dog Only Obeys carver 02/18/03 (0)