[nikkimara]

Hello everyone! I have a one year old beagle mix named Finn, and he's a very stubborn guy. He gets commands somewhat quickly when I teach them to him, but tends to pick and choose when he wants to respond (even though I don't reward him until he does them completely).

My biggest concern right now is his "come" command. He listens great at home and when he's not too distracted in public, but the second he sets his mind on something he blatantly ignores me. He ignores my voice, treats, usually even toys. This is an issue whenever I let him run off leash, which I try to do at least twice a week. I work at a horse barn two days a week and like to bring him, since he's very full of energy and letting him run free for a few hours is the only way he gets worn out. He's been pretty good every time and hasn't left the property, until today when he didn't want to get into my car to leave and bolted out toward the road. Thankfully he didn't get hurt and came back, but I'm worried it will happen again and have different results. He's also slipped out the front door a couple of times and is pretty difficult to catch. How do I go about getting him to listen? I had him in puppy training classes and whenever he'd lose his focus they would basically just chalk it up to "well, he's a beagle." So, I'm hoping I'm not just doomed.

 

[Kyllobernese]

I think you will have to keep him on a leash or a long line until he is more reliable about coming. Every time he does not come when you call him it reinforces that he does not have to come if he does not want to. They are not a breed that is easy to get a reliable recall with but it can be done with lots of training and never giving him the opportunity of running off and not coming.

 

[petpeeve]

Leslie Nelson's DVD, "Really Reliable Recall".

https://www.dogwise.com/really-reli...r-dog-to-come-when-called-no-matter-what-dvd/

 

[nikkimara]

Thank you both for your responses! I've been thinking about getting one of those long training leashes and working on it with him at the dog park but he's also a bit of a leash chewer so I'm not sure how long it would last (I just had to buy him a chain leash after he chewed through two regular ones...). It's also a struggle because he's only food motivated to a point so it's difficult to get/keep his attention.

Side note: does anybody know of any outdoor dog jackets that have some sort of clips instead of velcro? We get so much snow and mud here that the velcro doesn't stay on very long but he loves to play in it. So far the only one I've really found is this one https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/smartpak-deluxe-dog-blanket-13684, which is basically a shrunk-down horse blanket. It's a little pricey though so I figured I'd ask if anyone knew of any others