Woody my five year old rescue has got a pretty high prey drive so when I'm out walking him I've always got an eye out for anything he might take off after. One of my bigger concerns are deer...in my heart of hearts I think this is how Woody ended up in a shelter taking off after something and getting lost in the process. He's so well behaved in the house, he loved everybody he came in contact with, I think he just got away and couldn't find his way home.

When I walk him around my cabin he's generally off lead but I always scour the area making sure there's nothing out there he can get into. So this afternoon I'm walking him and all of a sudden he goes into a crouch not far from my side. I search the area for deer as this is one place they hang out and see nothing...it must be a squirrel.

All of a sudden in the brush I see a big buck jump up...oh no....Woody takes off after him like a rocket as he heads up the hill side. I give Woody the "WOODY HERE" command in a louder than normal tone and one more "HERE" and I'll be darned if he didn't stop turn around look at me then look back at the buck and choose to come to me!!! Fortunately I had a pocket full of treats which he got most of along with carefully place scratches, pets and a ton of "attaboy's"!

It looks like all that recall work really paid off...and tonight Woody got some smoked trout mixed in with his dinner. ATTABOY WOODY!

Pete

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Sonny, the black lab, ran ahead to make sure there were no gophers or jackrabbits in the way. If you don't give a dog a specific job, he'll improvise one for himself and it will invariably be fun. There's a lesson there.
John Gierach

Way to go Woody. I practice recall whenever my boys are off leash but don't know what they would do if they saw a deer. I know my previous dogs had great recall when they saw a black bear. I didn't even need to call them lol.

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What a good boy! Smoked trout, ya say?

Sometimes it all just comes together. Great work both of you.

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[SIGPIC]

Good Boy Woody!

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A Golden at the end of the day, makes the stress go away!

The only problem with the recall on a black bear is your dogs can out run you...hopefully you're with a friend you can outrun!

Pete

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Sonny, the black lab, ran ahead to make sure there were no gophers or jackrabbits in the way. If you don't give a dog a specific job, he'll improvise one for himself and it will invariably be fun. There's a lesson there.
John Gierach

Way to go (to you and to Woody)!!! Recall has to be the most important command. I'm so glad Cooper is finally getting there and hope some day he will be as good as your Woody. I'm not sure if he would stop chasing a deer (he has never seen one), but he did come to me the first time I called him when the trainer at our obedience class was feeding him treats. I was in shock...pretty sure it was luck . Hope he enjoyed his special dinner!

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--Briana--

Excellent!!! Congrats to both of you, I know how much work went into that training!

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Way to go Woody!!

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**Fraulein "Maggie" Louise 8/2/95 - 7/20/09**
*At Rainbow Bridge but Forever in Our Hearts*

Wow. Great job, Woody.

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Dave