The Dog Behavior Answer Book - Arden Moore [13]
The olfactory power of Wesley’s nose is about hundreds of times stronger than yours. That profound ability to detect the faintest scent and hundreds of years of breeding to track prey have created a dog that becomes completely focused on finding and hunting down game, no matter how many times you shout Wesley, come! This makes it tricky to control Wesley off-leash in a wilderness setting where the scents of rabbits, squirrels, and other animals prevail over your voice. You have a good foundation of obedience training at home, but now you need to work on training him to come when he’s called in that distracting environment. Whatever you do, don’t let him disregard your call. If you repeat come over and over again while he ignores you, you are only teaching him that he doesn’t have to listen.
Because you must be able to reinforce the cue if Wesley isn’t listening, begin working with him on a leash when you take him on hikes. Use a twenty-five-foot clothesline, rather than a standard six-foot leash. The longer line allows you to gradually give Wesley more distance between you as you work on teaching him to come when called from farther away, despite the distractions. Make sure that you select a wide-open area without trees or other objects that can tangle the leash.
Bring treats with you on your training sessions, and start by giving Wesley six feet of clothesline. Wait until he starts sniffing around, and then give him the come command. If he responds and comes to you, praise him heartily and give him a treat, and let him go off again. If he doesn’t respond, “reel” him in on the line, but don’t give him a treat. (Don’t yell at him either!) When he is paying attention to you and coming reliably on six feet of line, give him a couple more feet of clothesline so he’s farther away from you and repeat the exercise. If he ignores you, pull him toward you to make him come, but do not reward him when he gets to you. Go back to a shorter length of line and start over.
BREED BYTE
The American foxhound dates back to 1650, earning it the distinction of being the country’s oldest breed.
With practice, you should have Wesley responding when you call him from the end of the twenty-five-foot rope, each and every time. Once this is accomplished, you can try removing the leash to see if he will still come to you. Ultimately, you should gain more control over Wesley as he learns that he cannot continue whatever he is doing when you say come. Because beagles have such strong scenting and tracking instincts, however, Wesley may never be completely reliable off-leash in a wilderness area. If this turns out to be the case, keep him leashed when you are hiking, for his own protection. (Make sure his collar has up-to-date tags. You might look into microchipping him, as well.) Otherwise, he may pick up a scent, take off after an animal, and find himself lost in the woods. Despite the stories of dogs finding their way home, most lost dogs, even ones with above-average scenting abilities, stay lost.
LET’S SEE SOME ID
Think of microchipping as your dog’s driver’s license. No dog should be without one. Tags and even embroidered names and numbers on their collars are less effective than microchipping. All it takes is an open door for a dog to suddenly find himself lost. If your dog loses his collar, his chances of being reunited with you become slim. A microchip is permanent.
The procedure, done by your veterinarian, is quick and requires no anesthesia. A chip smaller than a grain of rice is inserted under the skin (usually between the shoulder blades) with a special needle. More and more veterinary clinics and animal shelters have special wands that they can wave over found dogs to detect these microchips, which have identification numbers that are registered with a national database. With the ID number, your dog’s contact information is available to the clinic or shelter. Make sure you register with the microchip company and update your information if