Do our pups ever learn what to avoid eating when walking off leash at a short distance. Say dead crab or fish carcass. You know yummy stuff. We experienced a little up chuck today after a walk on the beach. I know she cant resist and I like her to run. I should have known better after the storm yesterday that more stuff would be there. It doesnt even phase her. Any takers????
I never have managed it and my dogs are off lead on every walk, if I am close up to them then I can verbally stop them with a 'leave it' but because most of the time they are ahead of me or in a field to the side of me then I don't always see straight away.
I use the leave it command, it works sometimes, sometimes it doesn't. She must know when I really mean it though because last summer she got ahold of a dead fish that still had a hook in it, she dropped it as soon as I told her to.
Best way is to use a long lead--my husband just got back from a workout with Mac, and he didn't use a long lead (they were in a ball field). She gave him the paw and didn't come when called and wanted to greet everyone in the park--one woman was screaming "I'm not a dog person!!!!" Mac might as well been picking up a dead fish.
When I'm out with her in a field or park and want her to run loose, I'll use the long lead and I can tug her away from what ever is enticing her--a stray dog, trash, etc. and say "come" and reinforce the command that way. But off lead--forget it--at least for now.
I'd be very careful along any shore line beach or lake. People can be very careless about leaving behind baited hooks or fish discarded with the hooks still in the fish.
I do a lot of fishing, and I mean a lot, and I always check the area before letting the dog run free. The leave it command should be completely in tack before letting the dog loose in this type of environment. And I always keep the dog in sight, it only takes a minute for them to get into something. And yes I do use an e-collar if the dog is out of voice range I'm able to beep him, not shock him, to prevent him from getting into something that might do him harm.
I've found in the woods you're pretty safe but you still have to keep an eye on them as there are critters you certainly want to avoid including snakes, bears, coyotes, mountain lions, raccoons, deer and so forth. The only "food" item I concern myself with are mushrooms but so far Woody has shown no interest in these.
It's such a pleasure to watch your dog run free - it's a shame you can't count on people to clean up after themselves. The more people I meet the more I like my dog...
Rookie has a pretty good "leave it" command, which is very valuable when he's roaming off leash.
He's very good in the woods, doesn't really try to eat anything problematic.
At the lake, I keep a drag leash on him just in case. He gets a little overexcited after swimming and I have a hard time keeping him from eating the duck poop. I worked on it quite a bit with him this summer (with super high value treats like sardines) and he's gotten much better at leaving the duck poop if I give the "leave it" command.
We don't get to the ocean very often. When we do get there, I haven't had a problem with Rookie eating anything he shouldn't.
The bumpasses are great with the drop it command. The "don't roll in it" not so much. Have you ever looked at their faces when they are rolling in crap? No more supreme pleasure can be had by a dog. It is the ONLY thing I like about a 12" snow cover. No mud, crap to be found.
Maya is really good in the woods. For a while we had a hard time with the horse poop on many of the trails we walk on, but we worked on the leave it command and she will leave it now. We walk her in the woods off leash about 5 days a week, so she is very used to that. She has only been to the ocean once, when she was 4 months old. She ate everything! Seaweed was her favorite. Her leave it command was not very strong at that point, so it was pretty hopeless. Even on a leash it was pretty hard to keep her away from all seaweed. She had diarrhea the whole week we were at the beach. :no: Hopefully when we go back this summer she will be old enough that she will do better. :crossfing
I've been walking Flora off leash in forest preserve since she was around 4 months old. At first she ate EVERYTHING!!!! and it drove me nuts. Dead animals, horse poop, goose poop, wood chips, mud, leaves, omg, it was endless. At a year old she pretty much ignores everything, and if she does show interest in something (usually goose poop or horse poop) I let out a jarring 'ah ah!' and she gets startled and moves on.
I think it's a combination of age and training that finally stopped Flora from eating everything. Just keep working at it and you'll get there... eventually.
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