No more moose chasing for Baker!

On November 7, 2007 I received the following email:

Hi,  I have a 6 year old Siberian Husky who is a sweetheart but does not listen when off leash and sees a wild animal.  If he sees a moose and is off leash he is gone after moose and there is nothing I can do to get him back until he is good and ready.  At this moment he is at Connor’s Bog dog park in the woods chasing a moose and has been after the moose for 4 hours and will not come.  I have gone back and forth trying to get him to come but he keeps chasing the moose.  Can you help with this?  He has run away to many times to count.  He always comes back, but in his own sweet time.  I don’t know how to train him to come back.  I appreciate your help. My name is Grace Loving, my dogs name is Baker. Thanks.  Grace

I contacted Grace to set up a free demonstration and evaluation of Baker.  When I first met Baker he was one of the most mellow dogs.  He didn’t try to jump up on me or run out the door when I came over.  While Grace and I talked about Bakers moose chasing problem, Baker just lay at our feet.  After the demo Grace decided to start Baker in the Major Learning Program.  This program covers basic manners as well as more advance obedience including off leash recalls, which is what Baker needed. 

Nov. 21, 2007 was Grace & Bakers first lesson.  I gave Grace very strict instructions to keep Baker on a leash every-time she took him outside until further notice.  At their 2nd lesson, Baker was doing very well coming to Grace (on a long line) when she called him. At this lesson I decided to teach Grace and Baker “wait”!  Baker had been known to bolt out of the car when Grace would open the door and take off into the park to chase moose. At Bakers 3rd lesson and we decided to take him to the South Anchorage Sports Complex to test out his recall.  We got to the park and let Baker off the leash.  His recall was 100% but there was NO MOOSE!!!  Grace and I decided that at the next lesson we needed to take him someplace were there would be a possibility to run into a moose.  We decided to go to University Lake Park.

On Dec. 14th I met Grace at University Lake Park.  I got there early and as I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for Grace a big cow moose walked right in front of my car.  I knew this was going to be the ultimate test for Grace & Baker.  Once Grace arrived I let her know that there was in fact a moose at the park and to make sure that Baker “waits” before getting out of the car.  Grace, Baker & I headed into the park looking for the moose.  We crossed the bridge and down to the left was the cow moose eating some trees.  I told Grace that we are going to take Baker over towards the moose so I can see how he acts (up to this point I had not seen how he reacts to moose or other wild animals).  We walk towards the moose (Baker was on leash), he stopped and looked at the moose and then just turned away.  Grace thought that maybe he wasn’t responding in his normal way because he was on a leash.  I turned to her and said “take off the leash”.  Grace looked at me like I was crazy but took the leash off Baker.  Baker walked around sniffing, not really paying any attention to the moose.  Grace was amazed!!!  Baker had never left a moose alone.  I told Grace that we would walk around the park and come back to the moose.  After walking around the whole park and returning to the moose Baker still showed no interest.  Then the moose started to walk away.  Once the moose was moving Baker started to walk towards it and started barking.  Grace said OK here we go, this is normally how he acts.  I told Grace “call Baker to you.”  She turned and said “Baker come”  Baker turned and came right to her.  Grace was finally able to call her dog off the moose!!!

After 24 days of training and consistency from Grace, she is now able to call Baker off a moose at the park.  Grace and Baker are still learning and strengthening their bond.  Congratulations Grace and Baker,  Keep up the good work.