You may remember we had an incident in class where Delilah completely ignored me and went off and did her own thing.  Our trainer’s thought is that the leash is a connection for Delilah and I and once that leash is unclipped Delilah feels like she doesn’t need to interact with me anymore.

That statement brought up so many great thoughts and comments, so I thought I’d respond to them here.

Jan said, “There is usually some logic and consistency in the way a dog brain operates, It’s great that you were up for the challenge.”

Yup, there’s Delilah the Mr. Spock of the dog world, logically she thinks when we aren’t connected by the leash, we aren’t connect at all.

Beam me up Scotty.

Pamela asked, “Curious. I remember you doing some off-leash heeling practice at home. Do you do something special to signal her that you’re working together off leash?”

Well the first thing that was different is at home I had food in my hand.  Granted it was ONLY a chick pea, but it was food none-the-less.  In Nosework class I don’t have the food in my hand, it’s in my treat pouch.

She is also not on leash at home nor is she wearing a collar.  Typically when I release her to find in the class room, I simply drop the leash and let her go.  But this particular time I unclipped the leash.  You may recall I struggle with her taking off on me on our walks if I don’t keep her on leash.

That is really the only difference I can think of.

Jessica said, “You can also use two leashes–unclip one leash and see if the dog tries to run off. No risk if they do, because you still have the other one attached.”

That is an awesome idea!  I have a 15′ leash I use on our walks and I think I might just try that, although I wonder if she can sense the weight of the leash on the collar?

Kristine said, “I am so glad you were able to come up with something that helped! Though I am kind of bummed there was no magic cure all. *sigh*”

Ah Kristine my dear, you’ve been working with the Tornado on a leash long enough to know there is no magic cure all.  🙂  I am however hopeful that now we know what the issue is, there will be a way to work on it.  Never fear, I will share as we go.

Dawn said, “Keeping that connection for off leash work can be tough (says she with terriers). It’s been a longtime since I’ve trained for the obedience ring, but I used to do a little routine where I would get my dog into heel position, look at them to be sure they were paying attention to me, then say ready when they were. This was to help keep that connection and let them know that we were in working mode. In training class, I worked to keep my dog engaged with me whenever there was downtime (other dogs working, instructor speaking, etc.). I would just ask them to do simple behaviors like puppy pushups, spins, nothing that would get to rowdy.”

You bring up a great point Dawn.  Typically I have Delilah focus on me while Arianne is hiding our find.  I also work to keep her busy while other teams our searching, just as you suggested.  We play target games, I have her sit, down or spin BUT for some reason that night I was short on treats, so I was stingy.  And I did not keep her occupied during our ‘down time.’

I might have played a part in this particular incident.

You’re crazy woman, I am a searching machine!

So what do you think?  Does it make sense?  Is there off-leash hope for Delilah?  Sound off in the comments.

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