# Importance of Training



## Ellie NY (Aug 27, 2010)

This weekend we had a near mishap. The kids and I were walking Eli and they had skated ahead while I stopped to speak to an acquintance. Eli was pulling the leash but I ignored it until the collar suddenly broke off his neck and he began running to the kids! I sharply called his name to get his attention and he stopped running to look at me. I then dropped to my knees and used the "here" command in a very high pitched, excited voice while clapping my hands and he ran right into my arms!! For a minute after the collar snapped I wasn't sure what the outcome would be. His tags were left on the broken collar dangling from the leash and we could have lost him.

I'm so glad I played the "here" game at home and had him run between me and the kids when called. When it really mattered he obeyed! In retrospect. I should not have allowed him to pull on the leash but instead given him the sit command beside me. I can't fault him for pulling as I hadn't instructed him to do anything else.

I know I'm preaching to the choir but Havs are so cute and small that owners sometimes think they don't need training. I'm signing up for the intermediate obedience class now that it's warmer as I would love to trust him to walk off leash someday. 

Anyway, hope others can learn from my mistake. The moment when I thought I could lose him my heart stopped.


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## kudo2u (Mar 7, 2009)

Whew! Hooray for you and Eli! I'm so glad that had a happy ending! I hope there were lots of treats and praise involved. 

I had something similar happen once, but with an interesting twist...

DH and I had just rescued Laila, who is deaf. Literally, just brought her home the day before. Laila is a Staffordshire Terrier, about 50 lbs, and I suppose intimidating looking if you're afraid of dogs. She's also very high-energy and needs tons of exercise, which is actually one of the reasons we picked her - I needed a running partner!

We brought Laila home, made it through the night with no incident, and I was taking her out for my morning run. Literally, less than 24 hours after we brought her home. She previously had some behavioral issues, and was a very nervous dog when we got her. It was our first time on-leash, and she was not really sure she was happy about the situation.

We started slowly, and I was encouraging her as we went. We had gone about a mile, when suddenly something on the trail spooked her. She bucked, slipped right out of the collar (still to this day have no idea how...that should have been physically impossible) and took off across the field toward the lake.

Full on panic set in. I was at a park with a strange, deaf dog, who is nervous and much faster than me... How exactly was I going to face DH and tell him that I lost our dog???

I was in a full-on sprint, chasing as hard as I could, and she was getting farther away. My heart was sinking fast. Then a gentleman appeared on the jogging trail coming toward us. I yelled "Grab that dog!!!" He looked up, saw Laila barrelling down at him (remember her stature and breed...) and froze. Stopped dead in his tracks with fear all over his face. So I yelled again, "Please grab her, she can't hear, so I can't call her!" In a split second, he jumped into action, literally tackeled her, and had her pinned to the ground when I got there (didn't hurt her...he just didn't know how to hold her without a collar).

I got there, put the collar on, and thanked the runner. Come to find out, he spoke almost no english (and I speak almost no spanish). But we were able to have a limited conversation - he had been afraid of dogs his whole life. This was the first time he had ever touched one. He understood "can't hear" and within seconds realized the dog had a disability. Which completely changed his perception of canine creatures - it had never occurred to him that dogs could be disabled, too. That gave him the courage to help me out. 

We walked together until I got back to my car, and he reached down to give Laila a pat on the head "goodbye." I offered him a reward for helping me, but he said he had already received his reward (well, I'm paraphrasing now... the language barrier was quite difficult). 

Isn't this unbelievable???

Laila is now extremely well trained, and won't go more than about 5 feet from us, no matter what. And she's constantly looking to us for direction. It took over a year to get to that point, though, and I still wouldn't take her off-leash anywhere public because of her hearing.

But anyway... Yes, it's pretty scary when you don't know what will happen next!


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## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

I am so glad to hear that your situation ended well! I agree that I think obedience training is very important. Probably the most important thing I have done with Augie! And he loves going to the classes. When we go out walking, I slip a second small collar on him, not attached to the leash, that has his tags on it, in the event the collar or leash broke and he got away, even though he is chipped. The thought of them taking off after something is very scary. Yay for Eli - coming back like such a good boy!


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## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

Wonderful story, Kudo2u!


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

two great stories for the price of one. ound:


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ellie NY said:


> This weekend we had a near mishap. The kids and I were walking Eli and they had skated ahead while I stopped to speak to an acquintance. Eli was pulling the leash but I ignored it until the collar suddenly broke off his neck and he began running to the kids! I sharply called his name to get his attention and he stopped running to look at me. I then dropped to my knees and used the "here" command in a very high pitched, excited voice while clapping my hands and he ran right into my arms!! For a minute after the collar snapped I wasn't sure what the outcome would be. His tags were left on the broken collar dangling from the leash and we could have lost him.
> 
> I'm so glad I played the "here" game at home and had him run between me and the kids when called. When it really mattered he obeyed! In retrospect. I should not have allowed him to pull on the leash but instead given him the sit command beside me. I can't fault him for pulling as I hadn't instructed him to do anything else.
> 
> ...


That's FANTASTIC Ellie! :whoo::whoo::whoo: for you AND for Eli!!! There were always be occasional "mishaps"... that's a fact of life. It's the time and effort that you've put into training ahead of time that will keep things from going really bad!


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## Ellie NY (Aug 27, 2010)

Thanks all! We are much relieved and Eli has been appropriately rewarded - many, may times over! :whoo:


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## Ninja (Nov 1, 2010)

Wow so great for Eli. I'm glad it ended well, it's definitely very scary when they get away from us. Good job on your part for having him trained to come to you.

Kudo2u- That was such an amazing story. I'm the type of person who believes everything happens for a reason and it really sounds like that was meant to happen to help that guy get over his fears. He was certainly in the right place, right time. Very happy ending :biggrin1:


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

ok, I'm getting off my booty and signing up for intermediate obedience classes.

thanks for sharing the stories. I'm glad they both had a happy safe ending.


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