Rough collie ran away tonight

TigerTim

Hi ALL,

I have an 8 month old rough collie who has been the best behaved dog I have ever had - until tonight. She's great with the kids, great on the lead & great on the recall when loose. At the weekends, I normally take her to the IT college to have a good run around. Usually no problems & when we're ready to go she comes up to me & I clip on the lead. Tonight, however, when I went to clip on the lead she wouldn't come to me. Every time I tried to catch her, she just ran a bit away. Then she did something I hadn's seen before, She put her head & tail in the air & just ran away. No calling or whistling would get her to look back. Normally she sniffs at everything & just wanders about. This time she just headed off. She followed the road in the college & I was able to take a shortcut to head her off but when she saw me she just stuck her nose in the air & ran away again. I walked around for a long time calling her but it had got quite dark & I couldn't find her. Walked home & got the car & drove back to the college & all the roads about calling her but no sign. Came home & decided not to say anything to the kids. About 30 mins ago, a man living about half a mile from the college called to say he had our dog (My mobile no was on her collar). Just collected her & she's fine.
Anyone know if this is normal behaviour for a rough collie. She's due her first season shortly. Could it be hormones. I won't be leaving her off the lead for a while. Any info appreciated

Thanks,

T.

elius

TigerTim wrote: »

Hi ALL,

I have an 8 month old rough collie who has been the best behaved dog I have ever had - until tonight. She's great with the kids, great on the lead & great on the recall when loose. At the weekends, I normally take her to the IT college to have a good run around. Usually no problems & when we're ready to go she comes up to me & I clip on the lead. Tonight, however, when I went to clip on the lead she wouldn't come to me. Every time I tried to catch her, she just ran a bit away. Then she did something I hadn's seen before, She put her head & tail in the air & just ran away. No calling or whistling would get her to look back. Normally she sniffs at everything & just wanders about. This time she just headed off. She followed the road in the college & I was able to take a shortcut to head her off but when she saw me she just stuck her nose in the air & ran away again. I walked around for a long time calling her but it had got quite dark & I couldn't find her. Walked home & got the car & drove back to the college & all the roads about calling her but no sign. Came home & decided not to say anything to the kids. About 30 mins ago, a man living about half a mile from the college called to say he had our dog (My mobile no was on her collar). Just collected her & she's fine.
Anyone know if this is normal behaviour for a rough collie. She's due her first season shortly. Could it be hormones. I won't be leaving her off the lead for a while. Any info appreciated

Thanks,

T.

Some dogs are very head strong if they get the smell of something they go into a trance and no matter what you whistle or shout they just dont realise your comanding them there not ignoring you they just dont realise. Have a rothweiller boxer cross and we just cant let her of the lead because of this. If she get wind of something she's gone like a light no matter what i do if im down at my folks and at the beach we let her of only because my folks have a dog and when my own one runs of we make a fuss of my folks dog she get jelous;) or we just start walking away. On the other hand got a a german pointer a little over a month ago and have no problems letting her of the lead. She always comes back only had her a week and had her off the lead but the previous owner had her trained to the whistle and name so it helped.

Might help a little
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055755540

votejohn

this is COMPLETELY NORMAL!!!! Its a development stage that dogs go through, they rebel and want to run and explore.

You have to keep the dog on a leash during the next few weeks (while working on recall in the house / garden / enclosed spaces).

Your pup might go through a phase where it gets scared of irrashional stuff next, maybe read up a bit about canine development stages about what you can do during these stages.

suziwalsh

Normal for her age..teenagers!!!

My advice to you is if she likes her food this works well....get a whistle and when you feed her get her to sit and wait for her food. Use the whistle as a cue to allow her to "eat up". She will associate the whistle with her dinner (takes about 2 weeks depending on dog), you can then use the whistle out to get her attention. The first few times you use it out make sure to give her a treat immediately for coming back to you.

I would also get her neutered.

votejohn

the food whistle is a good idea, but just before you give her the food, get a hold of her collar with one hand, then give her the food with the other, so you can get the lead on her when you need to!

Also, if your going down the food route, if she's mad about her basic food (dry food) then you can use them, but occasionally have a chunk of chicken or something rediculously tasty for her so she knows, even if shes having a brill time sniffing something new, that whistle COULD mean her fav treat of all time!!

I def wouldnt let her off leash for a few weeks in open spaces though, its a phase that will take a couple of weeks where she will have no interest in coming back, and could easily get hit by a car (in which case your liable for damages) or she could disappear forever!!

Paul91

used to have a lab/collie cross, she was gorgeous - always walked off lead, no problems, used to take her to the park and (as i was on 15 or so) used to play on the swings, or the slide, she used to follow me up and go down the slide, wouldn't leave my side - appart from, at night time she got spooked twice, just by the fact there was a man in the park also (it was dark) and she went, i looked around for her and then went home to get my mum, both times she made it home herself (about 2 miles) - my point being - maybe there was something there she didn't like and the flight response took over, where you there in the dark?

TigerTim

Thanks for all the replies. I will try the whistle tip. Won't be letting her off the lead for a while !!. Will get her neutered but the vet says wait until after the first season.

T.

Howitzer

Maybe your dog saw going back on lead as the end of the fun? Perhaps keep the fun going for a while after each session - to ensure she doesn't get put off by that part of the outing.

funkyjebus

My 6 month old wheaten terrier did this once. he eventually sit when asked about a mile away from where we stated. :mad: