Symptoms
The owner is frightened to let the dog off the lead as he knows it will end in hours spent vainly and desperately calling the dog's name as they wander aimlessly around the park. Obviously the great shared pleasure of the walk is lacking in this type of relationship.

Cause
The lack of response to the owner's request to 'come and be put back on the lead' is usually due to one of the following factors - 

• The dog may be satisfying an instinctive response that overrides the learned response of coming when called e.g. chasing a bitch on heat, chasing a prey, following a scent. This behaviour is likely to be intermittent. If this is a frequent cause of running away then it may be possible to remove the instinctive desire e.g. by castration, or by increasing the reward for obedience. Most usually this type of behaviour has to be tolerated or avoided e.g. put dog on a lead before he sees his 'prey'. The owner, being four foot taller than the dog should be able to anticipate 'prey' well before the dog.
• Usually analysis of the owners behaviour reveals that the owner is inadvertently rewarding 'not coming' and punishing the dog when it eventually does come. One must not coax and cajole the dog in a soft voice whilst it is out of reach and then grab it and chastise it when it comes near. The dog thus enjoys the behaviour when it is out of reach and finds the chastisement at being caught unpleasant. He reacts accordingly by remaining out of reach and avoids being collared. The correct behaviour is of course to only pay attention to the dog whilst it continues to approach and to rapidly ignore the dog when it hesitates e.g. turn and walk away when the dog hesitates. The dog must be rewarded when it comes to hand and only after the reward has been accepted should the lead be placed on.
• Shouting the dog's name as it runs away can cause the dog to associate the sound of his name with the act of running away. This situation should be reversed by only calling the dog's name as it approaches you and in other situations where the dog is clearly obeying you e.g. when being fed.
• Often failing to come when called is a lack of owner dominance. This is the likely cause of the disobedience if the dog shows dominance behaviour in other situations. See dominance aggression. To chase or follow the dog is a clear display to the dog of the owner's subordination and the dog will continue to lead the owner by running off. Rather surprisingly when the owner ignores the dog by lying down or walking away, feeding another dog or talking to somebody then the owner's dog will feel subordinate and probably approach the dominant owner for attention.
  

Treatment
A combination of the following behaviour should be selected to best fit the circumstances

• Increase owner dominance over the dog. This is achieved by -  

  • Reducing the amount of social interaction with the dog. Stop petting, patting, talking to the dog. By being ignored the dog perceives the owner to be more dominant and is also more rewarded when the owner does respond.

  • Only reward submissive postures taken by the dog. Getting the dog to sit before you give him what he wants is the easiest way of making the dog submissive.

  • Do not allow the dog to take up dominant postures e.g. paws up, sitting on lap, lying on the bed.

  • Have a daily session of obedience training. In these situations the owner is clearly dominant and the dog learns automatically to respond to commands.

• Ignore the dog when it runs away.

• Reward it when it comes.

• Put the lead on after the reward.

• Do not shout at the dog as it runs away.

• Call the dog's name only as it is coming towards you.

• Never scold the dog when it is caught.

• Avoid situations that encourage the dog to run off.

• Keep the dog on the lead and make the process highly rewarding.

• The use of a Flexi lead may well allow the dog the pleasure of free exercise and remove the danger of prolonged stays in the park.