Dylan - More Powerful than a Locomotive

We discovered during our new training sessions that Dylan still doesn't always come when calling her name if she is distracted.  This is a concerning trait that must be corrected.  She'll start to come  but then turn away and go on about what she was doing when we call her.  Working with her when she is not distracted is much better during the "recall".   The other night she seemed to understand all too well when I called her she must come.  The sad story is I paid a somewhat steep price for her understanding.

Dylan had gotten loose and was running around and decided to cross our street when she heard our neighbors dog barking.  This is a big NO NO!  I had been in the backyard  and heard Chris calling her in a somewhat panicked voice so I came to the front and saw what was going on.  I remembered  being told to use a happy voice to call her and not the angry voice because you're pissed she's running off leash.  She started to come back to me, but turned around and ran back across the street.  Again, I called her using my "happy voice' and she ran full speed across the street back towards me.  Ahh, success!

It was when she was about 10 feet from me I realized she was not slowing down.  Not having time to move, I tried to brace myself to catch her.  Her 60 pounds hit the side of my  left knee at full speed.  The crunch sound along with the pain was simultaneous.  So, for now, I'm in a half cast until I can see an orthopedic doc and possibly get an MRI sometime next week.

Dylan is very eager to learn and she is doing s very well in her training.  This is just a small setback for us but a valuable lesson learned.  Teach your dogs to come when called, every time you call them.  That is on us and all puppy raisers to instill in their dogs.

We are also working on her positioning.  She is supposed to sit and lay down facing the same direction as her handler, straight, not hunched or crooked.

How's this?

 Chris & Erin took her to the mall for some distracted walking and when asked to sit, this is how she looked.  Think we need to work on this too!?