So, You Lost Fido
How to train a dog to roam safely.
Yesterday, a friend told me that he lost his dog while on a recent hike in the Gila National Forest. His canine, by the way, was "trail broke" and used to many such hikes with his master.
It seems that Fido chased a critter and then didn't come back. His master walked and whistled and yelled the dog's name, all to no avail. Finally, after darkfall, the man gave up.
Being outdoor and dog-wise, my friend took a piece of plywood from the bed of his pickup, knowing the dog was well familiar with said wood, and he left it at the spot. Atop the wood he placed his shirt and some water, then proceeded home.
Said owner came back the next morning and the next, hiking and calling for long hours, again without results. Finally giving up, he had just begun to load the plywood when he heard a noise and he looked up to see Fido limping on in very slowly, evidently wounded.
My friend is a college-educated wildlife biologist. A cursory examination of the canine revealed that the dog had run into or chased javelinas, as evidenced by its wounds. Fido was in bad shape but not fatally hurt and eventually recovered.
If you are an outdoors-person who likes to take your dog along on hikes, there is always the chance that said animal will chase something, or otherwise get lost on its own. That applies to all free-roamers, no matter how well trained they seem to be.
But let's face it, a hike isn't much fun if the two of you are always tethered closely to each other. Both of you need the opportunity to free-roam. If you're hiking in territory where jackrabbits or deer live, then watch out!
So, your canine has just run off out of sight. What do you now do? First off, don't panic! Stay right where you are and start to call your dog's name and give a whistle or two and intersperse that with a command to come. Stay there for an hour or so. If Fido still doesn't come back, then take a piece of your clothing and lay it on the spot, or on a low bush, then venture out in the direction you saw the dog leaving and cheerfully call out its name.
If still no results, and it's getting to be dark, leave your clothing and some water (the dog will likely be tired and thirsty when it returns) and come back at first light.
Houndsmen have been using this technique for centuries. Likely as not, the dog will be there in the morning, having followed its back trail to the last spot it left you.
If you go back for three days in a row and the dog still has not shown up, then it is a reasonable assumption your pet was either injured or killed by a critter meaner than it. You need to expand your search area and try to find the animal or at least get some sort of closure.
I prefer to head off trouble before it can happen, by training the dog. I've owned some sort of hound for over 40 years and this is the evolved method I now use after making many mistakes in the field.
A new dog will run out a short ways then turn to see where you are, thus giving it a sense of security. It will run some more, test to see where you are, then go out a little farther. On most first through third outings it won't venture too far away, preferring to keep you in sight all the time. But it will always be testing, testing, testing, to see just how far it can free-roam.
I begin asserting my command from the first. Otherwise I would soon have an uncontrollable canine. I start out by playing hide and seek with the new dog. I let it go momentarily out of sight, say behind a bush or tree, and I'll drop to the ground or hide behind something. Immediately the animal looks for me and comes back to find me, because it is feeling insecure. When it finds me, I'll enthusiastically praise it and scratch its ears, all the while interspersing the words, "good dog, good dog."
Once the dog knows it needs to keep me in sight, I'll let it venture out 50 to 60 yards and use "happy commands." I salt them with "C'mere, c'mere," using the dog's name to draw it back to me, then more petting and praising.
In open country I might allow the dog to go out a hundred yards before commanding it to return. In wooded or brushy areas, I'll keep it much closer and always, always keep up a dialogue so it knows where I am. And I simply won't take it into big woods until I am sure that it will obey me.
If I see critters or other dogs around, I will usually change the tone of my voice to a sterner approach and issue the commands of "No! or Whoa!" to control it and bring it back before there can be trouble. I try to do that before my animal sees the offender or just as it sees it. Nine times out of 10, my dog will obey if there is no perceived aggression from the other animal.
It won't be too long before my dog knows automatically what is acceptable behavior. Of course, there is always the unanticipated moment when a deer or rabbit erupts in front of Fido and off the two go, way farther than what you want; they may go out of sight, no matter how hard you try to assert yourself.
My Barney-Dawg loves to chase just about all critters, and to be honest, I let him do it except for deer. Usually, where we hike, it is brushy and grassy both, so as soon as he is out of sight, I will immediately slow my pace or stop, all the while calling his name and saying, "C'mere."
I want him to know where I am at all the while he is away. I've never known him to stay away for more than three minutes in the eight years he's been with me. He'll show up slobbering and panting from exertion, and I'll call him to my position and praise him a heap.
I've found that positive talk does much more than negative scolding and I never hit him for running off. Just think about it, would you come back if you knew you were bad and you were going to be hit?
Barney received this training on the day after I got him at 12 weeks of age, and he free-roamed from that time onward. I also believe that any dog, no matter what age, will respond to the hide-and-seek/praise training, as I've proven to myself with Belle, whom I got at age 11.
Remember, the idea is to make the dog believe its security and sense of well- being comes from you at all times.
Let me chase a related but other rabbit and add that if I know we'll be hiking where it is almost a sure thing that we will encounter other folks or other folks with dogs, then I put the Dawg on a leash of about eight feet.
One day last year, we went hiking on Boston Hill and Dawg was free-roaming at about 30 yards. A couple approached from the other direction and they had a small dog off-leash. Just as Barney saw them, I commanded "WHOA! COME!" and he automatically responded; I put him on a leash, stopped, and let the couple pass by as I soothingly said, "Easy, easy," for all to hear. You see, I didn't give him time to digest what he was seeing.
The relieved look on their faces was my reward as they carried their dog past us, knowing we weren't a threat to them. I don't take chances. After they were 50 yards down the trail, Barney was allowed to free-roam once again. Another happy ending!
As always, keep the sun forever at your back, the wind forever in your face, and may the Forever God bless you!
Larry Lightner writes Ramblin'
Outdoors
exclusively for Desert
Exposure.