I went out back, about a half a minute after letting the Poodles out to watch them and they were GONE! Poof! Nowhere to be seen. I vocalized some explative and ran around to find the gate wide open! :yikes: My heart sank and almost thumped right out of my chest. Careful Carrie messed up big time. I ran to the front, to the side walk, hoping they didn't run to the right... all the way up the road (which is a pretty quiet road) to the busier road that feeds all these neighborhoods around here. Didn't see them.
You see, the other day, my ex and I were putting up a temporary fence around the lawn in the back yard...the lawn is quite trashed from crane flies and I just need to put some more seed down, so need to keep the dogs off. It was fairly windy out and when we went back around to put things away in the garage, somehow the gate must not have latched tightly and the wind made the gate open up wide, unbeknownst to us. I'm usually so very careful about these things.
So after looking to the right at the road and sidewalk, the more scary direction they could have gone, I looked down to the left, between my next door neighbor's and the neighbor after her were about 5 young boys, squatting down, having a Poodle-patting party . Relief flooded me, but it only lived about 3 seconds. What if they decided I wasn't exceptionally worth coming to or if I had approached, would they think their fun was about to end and take off running? Would zooming around the neighborhood stand a better chance of merry making?
I asked one of the neighbor kids to pick them up. Well, Maurice was quickly in the boy's arms, but Matisse not. So, I tried it. I called, "Matisse! Come." (I use a sort of light, staccato inflection at the end of "come.") And his little head went sharply up. He saw me. Was our training going to work? And a little motor in his hind end turned on and he galloped so fast to me, I was worried about his bad ligament and where upon he got loads of excited praise. Then the boy (I don't know why) set Maurice down which worried me a bit...and I called tiny black dog and he came like a bullet up the side walk to me....scooped them both up, one in each arm and went home to give them lots of cookies, extreme fuss, and special play time. Jose`, who was waiting at home thought this had been a great idea of the Poodles because he cashed in on all the treats and fuss too. A party which he didn't have to do any work for is his kind of party. Whew! Bullet dodged.
For the past few months I've been taking the dogs across the road behind my house to a big field for some off leash training. We've beefed up their recall and they're both so good at it but I haven't worked in a huge variety of locations or contexts really so wasn't sure they'd generalize it. They have a ball zooming around and I keep practicing calling them, having them sit in front of me for a formal "come" and "let's go" to have them come along somewhat close to me. And we've been working on "wait" where they're ahead of me and I simply ask them to wait, so they stop and stand there. Anyhow, this practice has paid off, along with good socialization. If they weren't happy to see the kids, if they weren't sociable, they might not have gone to them. You hear of dogs getting loose and they're spotted various places, but no one can catch them. They're shy and dart away. Having them love people is good for emergencies like this. Someone can help save them that way.
So I'm very proud of my little dumplings. :first:
You see, the other day, my ex and I were putting up a temporary fence around the lawn in the back yard...the lawn is quite trashed from crane flies and I just need to put some more seed down, so need to keep the dogs off. It was fairly windy out and when we went back around to put things away in the garage, somehow the gate must not have latched tightly and the wind made the gate open up wide, unbeknownst to us. I'm usually so very careful about these things.
So after looking to the right at the road and sidewalk, the more scary direction they could have gone, I looked down to the left, between my next door neighbor's and the neighbor after her were about 5 young boys, squatting down, having a Poodle-patting party . Relief flooded me, but it only lived about 3 seconds. What if they decided I wasn't exceptionally worth coming to or if I had approached, would they think their fun was about to end and take off running? Would zooming around the neighborhood stand a better chance of merry making?
I asked one of the neighbor kids to pick them up. Well, Maurice was quickly in the boy's arms, but Matisse not. So, I tried it. I called, "Matisse! Come." (I use a sort of light, staccato inflection at the end of "come.") And his little head went sharply up. He saw me. Was our training going to work? And a little motor in his hind end turned on and he galloped so fast to me, I was worried about his bad ligament and where upon he got loads of excited praise. Then the boy (I don't know why) set Maurice down which worried me a bit...and I called tiny black dog and he came like a bullet up the side walk to me....scooped them both up, one in each arm and went home to give them lots of cookies, extreme fuss, and special play time. Jose`, who was waiting at home thought this had been a great idea of the Poodles because he cashed in on all the treats and fuss too. A party which he didn't have to do any work for is his kind of party. Whew! Bullet dodged.
For the past few months I've been taking the dogs across the road behind my house to a big field for some off leash training. We've beefed up their recall and they're both so good at it but I haven't worked in a huge variety of locations or contexts really so wasn't sure they'd generalize it. They have a ball zooming around and I keep practicing calling them, having them sit in front of me for a formal "come" and "let's go" to have them come along somewhat close to me. And we've been working on "wait" where they're ahead of me and I simply ask them to wait, so they stop and stand there. Anyhow, this practice has paid off, along with good socialization. If they weren't happy to see the kids, if they weren't sociable, they might not have gone to them. You hear of dogs getting loose and they're spotted various places, but no one can catch them. They're shy and dart away. Having them love people is good for emergencies like this. Someone can help save them that way.
So I'm very proud of my little dumplings. :first: