Daisy ran onto the road

[daisysmom]

I dont know what to do, if she escapes which is alot she just wont come back when i call her.
She has my nerves shot to bits. every time the hall door opens she bolts.

She was very nearly killed on sunday. We were visting my mil, daisy got out the gate ran down the terace straight onto the busy main road. I dont know how she didnt get knocked down but it came very close with 2 cars coming in different directions having to skid to a holt. i dont know how there wasnt an accident either as its a very busy road.

What am i going to do. Im only short of locking her up. She has even started to get out of her harness.

Also tonight she got hold of a pen an was biting it by the time i got to her she was chocking, i didnt know what to do, i was screaming for dh at the same time as hitting her on the back and panicking. Just as well dh was there as he just shoved his fingers in a got the sharp bit of the pen that was stuck.
She manages to get at everything no matter where it is, she like a cat the way she climbs we call her 007.

We are constantly chasing her to get stuf out of her mouth.
Iv never seen a dog like her shes mad.

sorry for the long post, just had to get it off my chest.

[*Pauline*]

I won't advise on the gate being left open after Dylan escaped this weekend! I'm just glad you got Daisy back. How did you catch her in the end?

With regards to the other things she keeps getting hold off, dare I say it, tidy up!

Sorry

[Brian M]

Hi

Its all in the name "DAISY"

[Karlin]

A couple of things here -- or you will have a tragedy before long . If she is this unreliable, she hasn't been adequately trained on recall (and doesn't come easy -- this takes daily effort and daily positive practice/reinforcement all through her life but should be fun to do for both ) -- have you done a good rewards-based obedience class yet? If not -- that should be a number one urgent priority. She hasn't earned the ability to NOT be kept closely managed and she is getting too much unsupervised freedom (also the pen incident would indicate this -- that was a very close shave for you and could have cost you thousands to resolve at the vets). Is she still under a year? She sounds like a normal if hyper puppy, or a very active adult -- but not abnormal behaviour if she hasn't had much training and doesn't have enough to keep her brain busy .

You will need to approach this through two prongs -- careful daily management as you (of course!) value keeping her alive, and good training with daily practice (a key responsibility of every dog owner -- a dog doesn't know to return on recall. Just knowing her name isn't recall; that requires a lot of training and work and is a critical command, as you can well understand!).

I'd invest in some baby gates and a puppy xpen with sides at least three feet tall, to manage her. If you are visiting, I'd bring the xpen or keep her on a lead the whole time and tethered to a belt loop or belt (do NOT use an extensa lead -- just get a 4-6 foot lead so she can move around a bit). Keep hall doors closed. If there are small kids opening doors, then stop that by putting a latch high up out of reach so that children need an adult to open doors for them and cannot let the dog out.. the exact same as would be done if you had a toddler. I always advise thinking of a dog as a toddler -- you simply cannot expect a toddler to mind itself, not wander out an open door, not to run into the street. A responsible adult must mind a very young child. The same for a dog in the house -- especially with a dog that is prone to running outside.

You need to be able to train her to sit immediately on command, to return, to wait. I'd train her to sit and wait before the front door every single time she is going out and wait to be released before you go out. Also, if she were in a puppy pen, she won't be able to bolt for doors when kids are around opening doors, or have access to something like a pen. If those items are kept off the floor and low tables, she lso won;t get to them (all these things are frustrating but I am afraid, a part of daily management for every one of us when we own dogs, just as you do not leave scissors, knives or matches lying around when you have small children in the house. You have to dog proof a house when you get a dog and change how things are done and what is left lying around).

All of us will likely experience the rare crisis of a carefully watched dog getting out, but this really must be the the rarest exception to the daily norm of careful guardianship. Cavaliers in particular have absolutely no road sense and are fearless -- it is is the very breed description used by breeders! -- so will happily run right in front of a car. That is why this breed in particular needs to be controlled and/or on a lead *at all times* without any possibility of sneaking out of a garden, or running out a door.

I'd recommend downloading Ian Dunbar's free book After You Get your Puppy (search for the link on the site as I have posted in a hundred times! ) and use that to start your training programme and for management ideas. Also there are many good suggestions on the training sites pinned at the top of the training forum, any of which should be helpful. Read the "if you only read one thing' post pinned there. But you also need an organised class or your dog will not learn to respond when there are distractions around.

If she is slipping her harness, see a trainer about appropriately adjusting it or try a front clip harness (eg Easywalk or Sense-ible)where you can attach the lead to the front ring AND the collar at the same time for extra control and safety. I do this with my Lily.

She also sounds very active and bright -- and perhaps a dog without enough to do at home -- do you use active toys like stuffed Kongs? Treat balls? Does she get at least an hour of walks and active play with people --not on her own -- every day? A chance for regular supervised play with ther dogs?). If she is an adult dog with this level of energy I am afraid you will need to put the time in to working her brain as well as her body (my Jaspar is like this and has not tired even at age 6.5 -- they are not easy dogs when they are bright, very active and demanding. They can be wonderfully rewarding for the right owner but take a LOT of time and effort). This kind of dog needs at least an hour of active work -- agility, obedience, games -- daily. Also: consider whether she is the right dog for your family, a much harder decision, but if the choice is her staying alive or not because she is more active and needy of supervision and daily activity than can be given to her -- then surely that must be a consideration as you will end up losing her tragically rather than seeing her happily and safely rehomed. I know these are all big things to consider but from the sounds of it, the situation is fairly urgent and worrisome, and her survival is becoming dependent on taking some definitive action.

[Kate H]

It sounds as if you have a Cavalier with a fertile brain! So - keep the brain occupied. If Daisly chews something she shouldn't that could harm her, take it from her but replace it with a toy or chew that she IS allowed - don't just remove all the fun things. Give her plenty of exercise on a long lead, with your pockets stuffed with her favourite treats and call her to you regularly for a big reward and lots of fuss. If you're away from home, keep her on lead and teach her to sit beside you quietly - not free to roam around looking for mischief or open gates. Encourage her to run after her toys and bring them back to you to be thrown again, or play any other games she enjoys. Training is mostly a matter of constant repitition of the behaviour you want and a reward when she does it, and I second all the advice Karlin gave. You might also consider a puppy pen with a top, so that Daisy can't climb out, then you can be sure that she is safe when you can't keep an eye on her.

My Oliver came to me at a year old with a reputation for climbing over the garden wall and disappearing into the Yorkshire countryside for hours on end. He's never tried it with me - between obedience training and competitions, being a PAT dog, long country walks, constant company and holidays at the seaside, his life is much too interesting to bother about running off! Though he is NEVER allowed out of the front door off lead or let off on an open space anywhere near traffic - he can still run around on a long lead, and he is a particularly fearless Cavalier!

Training your Cavalier builds up a great relationship, and with a bit of time and trouble, you can start really enjoying Daisy instead of worrying about her.

Kate, Oliver and Aled

[Rubysmum]

just want to say good luck . ruby tends to want to keep her eye on me at all times and wont go out the door unless with me -i dont count on it though i have tried to make me the most exciting thing in her life and think its working we have a close bond . i do have to make sure there are no little things lying around and as im a childminder it can be very difficult as the toddlers drop stuff all the time but she is beginning to drop on command and i also make sure she has her own toys-its hilarious to see her rooting through her little box ..bum in the air lol . they arent the docile couch potatoes they are sometimes described as and they are really intelligent dogs which means we need to be one step ahead of them !!

[jacies]

Chaos is just as bad at running away if she gets the chance and now is not let of her extending lead. Even so I have lost her a couple of times when she pulled the lead out of my hand when getting her out of the car because she had seen a cat in the area. Luckily I live on a quiet road and also luckily her lead got tangled round a bush in someone's garden.
I agree with all the previous advice and would also add that a while ago I met a lady walking her cavalier in a little contraption with wheels on it because he was paralysed in the back legs. When I spoke to her she said he had been run over and that the vet said the top number of dogs he had seen for being run over was the Cavalier. Later I saw she was advertising the wheels for sale.

[Karlin]

Judy if you take her out on an extensa lead I'd advise giving this up for the reason you note -- these are notoriously dangerous leads to use anywhere except in the safest areas of a park far from traffic, as dogs so easily can pop the handle out of your hand. Trainers generally tell owners to avoid these leads for walks on roads or for any situation in which you need tokeep control of your dog. I'd get a nice little three or four foot normal lead to take her to the car etc and place the looped bit over your wrist so you hold the straight bit -- this is virtually pullproof and very safe. Puppies are especially risky on Extensas as they can suddenly pull and run in different directions. Many dogs will then bolt as they are terrified of the dragging sound of the handle part which whizzes up right behind them.

Extensas have also been known to throttle a dog or cut off circulation to a limb if the dog gets entangled, as can easily happen.

In general: they are poor leads from every safety consideration. They are great for teaching recall though in a safe area of a park or beach etc.

[Daisy's Mom]

Just wanted to clarify that the original poster is not me -- I'm Daisy's Mom, she is daisysmom.

Not that my Daisy would be above bolting out a door and running onto the street, believe me! Thank goodness that we live on an extremely un-busy residential street because she has gotten out the front door a couple of times and the horrible sinking feeling/immediate panic is one of the worst feelings I have ever had.

I'm glad your Daisy wasn't hurt. Good luck with training her not to bolt out of an open door and on her recall. Daisy is pretty good about A, but not usually so good about B (unless she sees I have a treat.)

[Zoe bowie]

There is nothing worse than when this happens! It only happened once to me, Georgia decided to bolt out the door, chasing her was pointless as she saw this as a game, and seeing as she had permanent ear infections, calling her was pointless...that is until you called 'TREATS' then she came bolting passed me, and into her bed waiting for her treat-little minx! Thankfully we lived on a very quiet cul de sac, so she couldn't go too far.

I am so glad that you got her back safely