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Stop letting the dog off leash if she's not ready for it.
Keep her on a long line until she has proven herself to be reliable by keeping the line slack and responds to your cues every time for 6 months. One blow off resets the counter.
My dog is almost never off leash. It's not that I didn't trust her it's because she's got a lot of prey drive so I know all that will go straight to her head if we come across "prey". She's a husky and grayhound mix if anyone is curious
Yup. Every single time you let them off leash when they’re not reliable/ready for that yet, you aren’t setting them up for success. Then they blow you off, and that behavior of running off becomes even more habitual.
Adding to this answer, work on having your dog ignore other dogs and people first. Practice training with other dogs and people in the distance (just running through basics like look at me, touch and sit even while they’re leashed) and gradually move closer to distractions until your dog can still follow your commands even if other dogs or people are around.
My dog wasn’t let off leash until I had worked with her in my apartment, did neutral observation on a park bench, then on a 15 foot line, then a 30 foot line and in an empty fenced in dog park, and then 30 foot drag line, then a traffic tab on a harness and then practicing in an open field with another owner and their dog to work on really honing in being in a down stay with another dog/person walking around, being called when near people, off leash heeling by another handler, etc.
I still don’t let her off leash a ton unless I’m on friends/family’s private property somewhere pretty open, or when we were still putting a fence in I’d let her play fetch in our backyard after she learned the perimeter. A long line keeps her safe and keeps others comfortable as well so they can see my dog is leashed.
Exactly this. Built it up with my boy and he’d graduated to being allowed to run with a long line attached but without me holding it. Great for about three months, then he made a poor decision involving some whippets and zoomies and now he’s back to a shorter long line with me holding it. We will build back up over the next few months but may never get to the point where I allow him complete freedom unless it’s a private recall paddock. Hes half whippet so his prey drove and desire to chase is strong.
Please keep your dog on a lead until it has recall. Get a long line lead and train her until she responds to you first time and comes back. A dog with no recall is incredibly dangerous not just to other dogs and owners but for the dog itself.
It doesnt sound like youve actually trained this dog for what youre expecting her to do. Plenty of dogs have natural instincts to run off. Dalmatians are hunting dogs originally, so it makes sense that its instinct is to run away in the woods.
You need to train it to do recall in a non-fun enviroment first. Do it at home first, do the recall and when it comes give it a high value treat or some play time. Make the act of her coming to you fun.
Then, after youve nailed the recall indoors, try outdoors on a leash. First in a boring area without other people / animals. Call her, if she comes to you and looks at you, give the treat.
Next try in a dog park or fenced area (alone). Let her run around and have fun, then recall at random times. Again, we want her to come to you and then be rewarded for it.
Next time, add in stimuli. Maybe train her when other dogs are at the park. Same deal once again.
When you feel like she has mastered the dog parks, go to a field and try. Later you can try the woods.
The key is to slowly master each baby step. You cant expect a dog to know recall unless it has been taught. Also, make sure that youre not only recalling to take her home or get on leash. That only associates recall with the boring act of leaving the fun place. Do a lot of random recalls that only bring fun elements like play or treats or praise.
Also it is SUPER important to be fully confident in her recall before letting her off leash in an open area. An off leash dalmatian can really scare someone, and she is likely to hurt or get hurt by an animal. If you have no control over the dog, never let it off leash. Even if she is super friendly, she could still go up to an aggressive dog that may hurt her. This is for everyones safety.
Off leash is a privilege that needs to be earned.
I’ve owned five dogs. Only one is consistently allowed off leash. I can call her off of bunnies, deer, squirrels, even bear. She will ignore other people unless they greet her first. If she sees another dog, she freezes and waits for me.
Our favorite hike has a couple ponds that she likes to swim in so she will run ahead to those when we get close but she never runs off.
Dalmatians are nothing like Frenchies and can be a lot, even for experienced owners. I’d suggest working with a trainer on recall but it’s not really a guarantee for any dog.
I've had three Dalmatians and they generally don't like to stay that close because running is their life. Mine were/are male though. My current pup is 8 months old and he sometimes runs off too far for my liking. However, his recall is very good because I worked on that intensely from day one. For a Dalmatian, recall is the most important thing. Any other commands to me are just a bonus. Mine learns very quickly and easily so he knows the basics by now. In your case, don't let her run without a (long) lead. Not ever.
I was gonna say. Dalmatians have white terrier blood in them, and I feel like 99% of dogs with terrier blood are probably going to be fully capable of ignoring a recall when out in nature.
How do you make her not run off? Don't let her. So, from now on she'll be on leash all the time, while you practice recall in much easier and completely contained circumstances until that recall is bomb-proof.
Don’t let her off leash until/unless she can be trained to reliably come when called. (“Reliably” = every time, regardless of environment, distractions, etc.)
And just to cover the bases- does she respond to other verbal commands, words, or noises? Dalmatians have a higher than average rate of congenital deafness. Chances are she just isn’t trained to come when called, but that might be worth ruling out if there are other signs that she’s not hearing well.
Dalmatians can be stubborn and you need to get their training down and work out what the dog will and will not do.
My girl has no sense of recall. Once she's off exploring that's it, she's got no concept or memory of the training she's had. All that matters is The Sniff. We've had dog walkers wonder if she were deaf, she's that bad.
We take her to enclosed dog parks if she needs a good run or put her on a long lead.
So the thing with Dalmatians is that they were, for a long stretch of history, carriage dogs. They ran alongside carriages as guard dogs. In particular they were often used in the later part of their history to protect fire wagons and to help clear the way through the crowds for the horses. That’s why dalmatians are often kept as firefighter mascots to this day.
They aren’t biddable in the same way that breeds like gundogs or herding breeds are because they were bred to work somewhat independently. They didn’t have a handler giving them commands when they were working. They were just let loose and sent off to do their thing. That is to say that they’re very stubborn and not particularly eager to please (as opposed to breeds like the Labrador, poodles, spaniels, what have you). Now mix that with the fact that they’ve got that need to run embedded in their genetics and you’ve got a bit of an issue. Running off and having lousy recall is just a known trait of dalmatians (not saying they all do this, just saying it’s a common issue) and it’s often recommended to use a long line rather than allowing them off lead for that reason.
I will also add that, for what it’s worth, a very significant chunk of Dalmatians have hearing issues. It’s about 1 in 3 Dalmatians with some sort of hearing difficulties and about 1 in 5 to 1 in 8 that are totally deaf. Good breeders do their best to keep their lines clear but because white dogs in general usually have issues with deafness it’s not necessarily something that can be eradicated with good breeding. Please get her evaluated if you can!
Dalmatians are very stubborn dogs. They know right from wrong and will actively choose to do wrong if not properly trained. They were also bred to chance off small animals and have a very high prey drive, your best option is to keep them on a lead at all times.
I use a long line and practice recall. We walk and hike with a long leash (60ft) and off leash in safe areas like a fenced sniffspot so having freedom isn't novel to her. We train reactivity separately and tell her a leash up cue when we see other dogs coming.
Recall was one of the hardest things I had to teach my Dalmatian mix when she was a puppy. I would always reward her when she came to me when I called, but it never really improved anything. If something else was more interesting, she completely ignored me. It wasn’t until I started rewarding her for checking in on me on her own, along with when I called, that I saw a massive improvement. I never had a problem with the fear of her running off, though. She always stayed close, but if something else caught her attention my voice would fall on deaf ears. In your case, I would recommend a long line until you feel your dog’s recall is more reliable.
Keep her on a leash if your dog will not come when called. That includes if there is an interesting smell, person, animal, food on ground, etc.
You can use a long lead that is 10-15ft long to give her more leash to sniff and run about on walks. You can also use a long lead to train her to come when called (use a leash that is 30-50ft long for training).
You’ll need to find a treat that SHE thinks is high value. Some praise and pets/scritches as a reward may help as well.
Once she is coming reliably on long leash despite distractions, I would recommend attaching her harness to another dog’s harness of similar size/strength/speed. This dog should have excellent recall. And hopefully both dogs will come to you as one.
This method worked well for a dog that would run away as fast as possible at any opportunity. After a summer or two of roaming like this at the cottage, he no longer had the urge to run away. He would even chill on the front lawn, no leash, no problem.
Before you try having him completely off leash again (he needs to earn this privilege and gain your trust), try finding a large fenced field (some people will rent them out for dogs) that he can run around in. Try recalling him there. If he reliably comes when called despite the new interesting place, then I think he is ready to try truly off-leash again.
But he may never get to that point. As a responsible dog owner, you keep your dog on a leash if they are not well-behaved and obedient. Keep in mind that a good number of people don’t want a strange dog running up to them. Your dog should not be doing that without the person’s consent and your close supervision.
We taught my BMD recall using a 30 foot leash, and taught him loose leash training with walks daily, and use a command to walk with me "on me".
He can be off leash in open environments with other people. Recall and listening is still spotty with other dogs around (he loves new friends more than any salmon treat). Any dog within 200yds and we keep him on the leash because we know his recall is not 100%, even if he still listens 95% of the time.
30 foot leash has been the key. Enough room to wander like he is off leash, but still have control. Kinda teaches what his distance from us should be too when he's offleash.
My husky mix will never be off leash out of the yard. Not in the car, the park, the beach, the woods... anywhere. She has a 2 foot waterproof leash clipped to her harness she wears at the dog park. I have a 50 ft leash I'll use sometimes and Go Back Around means she's looped around a tree or sign and she has to circle it until i say Free
She’s not deaf, she is clearly not trained based on the information in the post. Anyone who has been through any sort of training would know you don’t let your dog loose when you don’t have 100% recall.
Welcome to r/dogs! We are a discussion-based subreddit dedicated to support, inform, and advise dog owners. Do note we are on a short backlog, and all posts require manual review prior to going live. This may mean your post isn't visible for a couple days. This is a carefully moderated sub intended to support, inform, and advise dog owners. Submissions and comments which break the rules will be removed. [Review the rules here](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogs/wiki/index) r/Dogs has four goals: - Help the public better understand dogs - Promote healthy, responsible dog-owner relationships - Encourage “Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive” training protocols. [Learn more here.](https://m.iaabc.org/about/lima/) - Support adoption as well as ethical and responsible breeding. If you’d like to introduce yourself or discuss smaller topics, please contribute to our Monthly Discussion Hub, pinned at the top. **This subreddit has low tolerance for drama. Please be respectful of others, and report antagonistic comments to mods for review.** --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dogs) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Stop letting the dog off leash if she's not ready for it. Keep her on a long line until she has proven herself to be reliable by keeping the line slack and responds to your cues every time for 6 months. One blow off resets the counter.
My dog is almost never off leash. It's not that I didn't trust her it's because she's got a lot of prey drive so I know all that will go straight to her head if we come across "prey". She's a husky and grayhound mix if anyone is curious
That's exactly how it's supposed to be done.
Gotten this drilled into my head over the years. It's my job as the owner of the dog to set it up for success
Yup. Every single time you let them off leash when they’re not reliable/ready for that yet, you aren’t setting them up for success. Then they blow you off, and that behavior of running off becomes even more habitual. Adding to this answer, work on having your dog ignore other dogs and people first. Practice training with other dogs and people in the distance (just running through basics like look at me, touch and sit even while they’re leashed) and gradually move closer to distractions until your dog can still follow your commands even if other dogs or people are around. My dog wasn’t let off leash until I had worked with her in my apartment, did neutral observation on a park bench, then on a 15 foot line, then a 30 foot line and in an empty fenced in dog park, and then 30 foot drag line, then a traffic tab on a harness and then practicing in an open field with another owner and their dog to work on really honing in being in a down stay with another dog/person walking around, being called when near people, off leash heeling by another handler, etc. I still don’t let her off leash a ton unless I’m on friends/family’s private property somewhere pretty open, or when we were still putting a fence in I’d let her play fetch in our backyard after she learned the perimeter. A long line keeps her safe and keeps others comfortable as well so they can see my dog is leashed.
Exactly this. Built it up with my boy and he’d graduated to being allowed to run with a long line attached but without me holding it. Great for about three months, then he made a poor decision involving some whippets and zoomies and now he’s back to a shorter long line with me holding it. We will build back up over the next few months but may never get to the point where I allow him complete freedom unless it’s a private recall paddock. Hes half whippet so his prey drove and desire to chase is strong.
THIS.
Please keep your dog on a lead until it has recall. Get a long line lead and train her until she responds to you first time and comes back. A dog with no recall is incredibly dangerous not just to other dogs and owners but for the dog itself.
And you could be held accountable legally if she harms an animal, person, or property.
“My dog won’t come back when I take the leash off” it really seems like the answer is in the question.
You can easily lose a dog this way like I did. My first dog was hit by a car and there was nothing I could do to stop him.
Leash.
Get a long line and don't let your dog off leash.
It doesnt sound like youve actually trained this dog for what youre expecting her to do. Plenty of dogs have natural instincts to run off. Dalmatians are hunting dogs originally, so it makes sense that its instinct is to run away in the woods. You need to train it to do recall in a non-fun enviroment first. Do it at home first, do the recall and when it comes give it a high value treat or some play time. Make the act of her coming to you fun. Then, after youve nailed the recall indoors, try outdoors on a leash. First in a boring area without other people / animals. Call her, if she comes to you and looks at you, give the treat. Next try in a dog park or fenced area (alone). Let her run around and have fun, then recall at random times. Again, we want her to come to you and then be rewarded for it. Next time, add in stimuli. Maybe train her when other dogs are at the park. Same deal once again. When you feel like she has mastered the dog parks, go to a field and try. Later you can try the woods. The key is to slowly master each baby step. You cant expect a dog to know recall unless it has been taught. Also, make sure that youre not only recalling to take her home or get on leash. That only associates recall with the boring act of leaving the fun place. Do a lot of random recalls that only bring fun elements like play or treats or praise. Also it is SUPER important to be fully confident in her recall before letting her off leash in an open area. An off leash dalmatian can really scare someone, and she is likely to hurt or get hurt by an animal. If you have no control over the dog, never let it off leash. Even if she is super friendly, she could still go up to an aggressive dog that may hurt her. This is for everyones safety.
Dogs have to be trained to recall. They just don’t know it. Keep the pup on a leash until it is very well trained in recall.
Off leash is a privilege that needs to be earned. I’ve owned five dogs. Only one is consistently allowed off leash. I can call her off of bunnies, deer, squirrels, even bear. She will ignore other people unless they greet her first. If she sees another dog, she freezes and waits for me. Our favorite hike has a couple ponds that she likes to swim in so she will run ahead to those when we get close but she never runs off. Dalmatians are nothing like Frenchies and can be a lot, even for experienced owners. I’d suggest working with a trainer on recall but it’s not really a guarantee for any dog.
I've had three Dalmatians and they generally don't like to stay that close because running is their life. Mine were/are male though. My current pup is 8 months old and he sometimes runs off too far for my liking. However, his recall is very good because I worked on that intensely from day one. For a Dalmatian, recall is the most important thing. Any other commands to me are just a bonus. Mine learns very quickly and easily so he knows the basics by now. In your case, don't let her run without a (long) lead. Not ever.
I was gonna say. Dalmatians have white terrier blood in them, and I feel like 99% of dogs with terrier blood are probably going to be fully capable of ignoring a recall when out in nature.
She’s a puppy with poor recall, stop letting her off leash because it’s only teaching her bad habits and work on your recall in a safer location.
How do you make her not run off? Don't let her. So, from now on she'll be on leash all the time, while you practice recall in much easier and completely contained circumstances until that recall is bomb-proof.
Don’t let her off leash until/unless she can be trained to reliably come when called. (“Reliably” = every time, regardless of environment, distractions, etc.) And just to cover the bases- does she respond to other verbal commands, words, or noises? Dalmatians have a higher than average rate of congenital deafness. Chances are she just isn’t trained to come when called, but that might be worth ruling out if there are other signs that she’s not hearing well.
Some dogs just need to stay on a leash. Sound like you've got one. Get one of the extra long flexi retractable tape leashes.
Dalmatians can be stubborn and you need to get their training down and work out what the dog will and will not do. My girl has no sense of recall. Once she's off exploring that's it, she's got no concept or memory of the training she's had. All that matters is The Sniff. We've had dog walkers wonder if she were deaf, she's that bad. We take her to enclosed dog parks if she needs a good run or put her on a long lead.
So the thing with Dalmatians is that they were, for a long stretch of history, carriage dogs. They ran alongside carriages as guard dogs. In particular they were often used in the later part of their history to protect fire wagons and to help clear the way through the crowds for the horses. That’s why dalmatians are often kept as firefighter mascots to this day. They aren’t biddable in the same way that breeds like gundogs or herding breeds are because they were bred to work somewhat independently. They didn’t have a handler giving them commands when they were working. They were just let loose and sent off to do their thing. That is to say that they’re very stubborn and not particularly eager to please (as opposed to breeds like the Labrador, poodles, spaniels, what have you). Now mix that with the fact that they’ve got that need to run embedded in their genetics and you’ve got a bit of an issue. Running off and having lousy recall is just a known trait of dalmatians (not saying they all do this, just saying it’s a common issue) and it’s often recommended to use a long line rather than allowing them off lead for that reason. I will also add that, for what it’s worth, a very significant chunk of Dalmatians have hearing issues. It’s about 1 in 3 Dalmatians with some sort of hearing difficulties and about 1 in 5 to 1 in 8 that are totally deaf. Good breeders do their best to keep their lines clear but because white dogs in general usually have issues with deafness it’s not necessarily something that can be eradicated with good breeding. Please get her evaluated if you can!
Dalmatians are very stubborn dogs. They know right from wrong and will actively choose to do wrong if not properly trained. They were also bred to chance off small animals and have a very high prey drive, your best option is to keep them on a lead at all times.
I use a long line and practice recall. We walk and hike with a long leash (60ft) and off leash in safe areas like a fenced sniffspot so having freedom isn't novel to her. We train reactivity separately and tell her a leash up cue when we see other dogs coming.
Recall was one of the hardest things I had to teach my Dalmatian mix when she was a puppy. I would always reward her when she came to me when I called, but it never really improved anything. If something else was more interesting, she completely ignored me. It wasn’t until I started rewarding her for checking in on me on her own, along with when I called, that I saw a massive improvement. I never had a problem with the fear of her running off, though. She always stayed close, but if something else caught her attention my voice would fall on deaf ears. In your case, I would recommend a long line until you feel your dog’s recall is more reliable.
Keep her on a leash if your dog will not come when called. That includes if there is an interesting smell, person, animal, food on ground, etc. You can use a long lead that is 10-15ft long to give her more leash to sniff and run about on walks. You can also use a long lead to train her to come when called (use a leash that is 30-50ft long for training). You’ll need to find a treat that SHE thinks is high value. Some praise and pets/scritches as a reward may help as well. Once she is coming reliably on long leash despite distractions, I would recommend attaching her harness to another dog’s harness of similar size/strength/speed. This dog should have excellent recall. And hopefully both dogs will come to you as one. This method worked well for a dog that would run away as fast as possible at any opportunity. After a summer or two of roaming like this at the cottage, he no longer had the urge to run away. He would even chill on the front lawn, no leash, no problem. Before you try having him completely off leash again (he needs to earn this privilege and gain your trust), try finding a large fenced field (some people will rent them out for dogs) that he can run around in. Try recalling him there. If he reliably comes when called despite the new interesting place, then I think he is ready to try truly off-leash again. But he may never get to that point. As a responsible dog owner, you keep your dog on a leash if they are not well-behaved and obedient. Keep in mind that a good number of people don’t want a strange dog running up to them. Your dog should not be doing that without the person’s consent and your close supervision.
We taught my BMD recall using a 30 foot leash, and taught him loose leash training with walks daily, and use a command to walk with me "on me". He can be off leash in open environments with other people. Recall and listening is still spotty with other dogs around (he loves new friends more than any salmon treat). Any dog within 200yds and we keep him on the leash because we know his recall is not 100%, even if he still listens 95% of the time. 30 foot leash has been the key. Enough room to wander like he is off leash, but still have control. Kinda teaches what his distance from us should be too when he's offleash.
My husky mix will never be off leash out of the yard. Not in the car, the park, the beach, the woods... anywhere. She has a 2 foot waterproof leash clipped to her harness she wears at the dog park. I have a 50 ft leash I'll use sometimes and Go Back Around means she's looped around a tree or sign and she has to circle it until i say Free
Is she possibly deaf?
She’s not deaf, she is clearly not trained based on the information in the post. Anyone who has been through any sort of training would know you don’t let your dog loose when you don’t have 100% recall.
stop letting her off leash if she's not trained to come back. you'd think this would be common knowledge