# Heart attack! The scare of my life



## MCD (May 4, 2013)

I went to meet my husband for lunch today as I have a rare weekday off. I took Dharma with me. We took her for a walk on lead and she just pulled and pulled. There are fields all around the factory. Unfortunately She pulled too hard and released the lead(I don't know how) and ran onto the highway. Luckily the cars that were coming saw her and one of my husband's co workers was able to catch her. Little.........! She won't come straight into the house from the backyard. This has happened for the last few days. I just can't trust her right now, I am afraid she will end up getting hit by a car and I won't be able to live with myself if anything happened to her.


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## mommaofalot (Apr 10, 2014)

Oh my!!! I'm sure you were so scared! Thankfully everything is ok! I bet you hugged you baby extra tight


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

You and Dharma were very lucky.
Sounds like its time for some formal training.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

My worse fear of all is my dog getting hit by a car.

My suggestion is train on lead walking.

Dog on left* behind knee* always. 6 foot leash. Right hand holds leash through hole at end of lead. Left hand holds loosely between dog and other hand. 

Practice mile after mile. The right hand is the safety so if the dog sees a cat or something you have time to react.

Even this can fail if you get distracted. No cell phones or anything else in your hands. The walk is the only thing you and Dharma are doing.

My .02

I'm working with a lady and her dog twice a week on this skill. It takes time.

So happy it turned out well. 

RBD


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

It's not that Dharma doesn't walk well on a leash and in traffic beside her on a sidewalk. I do train her daily to do the situation of not pulling me down the stairs and walking with a fair bit of traffic on a busy street.(Eventually I would like to run with her.) It is the fact that we were in a totally uncontrolled new distracting environment and she was just crazy when she got to see Mark. I don't have a clue how she got off of the leash either. She also had a car harness on too.
On another note.... her sense of recall has just completely gone out the window and she is completely obsessed with chasing birds like I have not ever seen her do until just recently. She is 1 and could possibly be going into heat at any time. I don't know but it was enough to really scare me.


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

Chase has been getting very obsessive with hunting as well. Miles like to hunt, but Chase takes it to a whole different level. We have to be very strict with him when walking on a busy road, because he will dart after a shadow or even a leaf blowing. I get very nervous when other people walk him and drill them on safe areas to walk the dogs because of the potential of them jumping after something. E collar when off lead for both. 

Glad you guys are ok.


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Dharma does chase leaves too when it is windy. Unfortunately we had a leash malfunction today. I did not let go of it. When we train it is just me and her and up until now she has been totally fine..... She isn't doing the teenage thing is she? Or should she have done that a while ago if she was going to?


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## tknafox2 (Apr 2, 2013)

My husband is a Forensic ( Mech.) Engineer ( Ret.) but his last case was exactly that... the leash released from the collar ring and the dog ran off and attacked a stranger. Reuben was able to recreate the release using our Weimaraner as his assistant. The ring twists into the leash snap and just pops right out!
I have seen it happen, even videoed his test sequence for him. Worst part is... It always happens at the worst possible moment!!
Thank goodness Dharma was safe. 

Ps this won't happen on a chain collar, only on a collar with a fixed u type leash ring.


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

So glad Dharma is okay!! Hit by car is my worst fear, too. What a nightmare!


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

Sometimes things just happen with these dogs and there is no reason that we can see. 

If it is equipment malfunction, then an upgrade of equipment would be in order. A hard driving Hungarian Pointer is a great hunting dog BECAUSE it is driven. Out in the wide open wilds it isn't a problem. It is just that we have to protect them from cars and other man-made things that will hurt them. They don't know our world. Some of our human rules must seem insane to an intelligent dog.

In the field you train to correct problems once you see the problem developing. You set up the training situation (in a safe environment) and then correct. Usually with check cords or e-collars.

We need to protect our dogs from human activities that will harm them. Our highest priority has to be for their health and safety in our human world.

Hope this makes sense.

RBD


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

Yes tknafox2. That is exactly what Mark thinks happened because he made sure that the catch was done on that leash given where we were walking. She also had on her car harness which made her somewhat easier to grab and we were very fortunate that one of Mark's co workers was close by because she ended up coming to him and wouldn't have come to us right away..... They seem to like other people better than us at times!


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## MCD (May 4, 2013)

I might just do an equipment change. I also will never put my beloved puppy(not a puppy any more) in that situation again either.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I know Leerburg sells a leash with dual attachments. Its made to be used with a prong collar, and a backup collar.
I would think it could be used with two normal center ring collars, or a slip collar and a flat collar. Just a little extra insurance. Its on my with list right now.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

TexasRed said:


> You and Dharma were very lucky.
> Sounds like its time for some formal training.


I hope I didn't sound too gruff on that post.
I always look at anything bad that happens to my dogs, as my fault.
Then start looking for answers, so they will never be put in that situation again.
I personally have lost June for over two hours, by running to many dogs at one time.
I have never let that happen again.
I had a lesser ecollar fail on me, I gave the collar away.
Mine only wear top notch ecollars now.
I always look at it as I should have trained for that scenario before putting the dog in the situation, or bought better equipment.
Yours was a equipment fail, and in no way your fault.
I just knew she was getting past the puppy stage, and they can handle a little more formal style of training at that point.


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## Melissa_DT (Jan 9, 2013)

Last summer I was up at a cottage for a week and I had Bentley on a long lead tied to a tree while I was starting the BBQ (his recall was not good yet at this point as he was about 7 months old). He somehow managed to slip out of his harness and took off running to explore the deep woods. Needless to say myself and my friends I was with were on a frantic dog hunt for almost 2 hours (1 person stayed behind at the cottage in case he returned). We stopped at nearby cottages to ask if they had seen him and nothing. He had never been in this area before so I was beside myself with worry that I had lost my dog. Sure enough about 2 hours into the search I get a call from my friend who stayed behind at the cottage informing me that Bentley had returned, just strolled on back to the cottage on his own accord. I don't know how far he explored on his own but I was very lucky and thankful he came back

After this incident I realized how important a solid recall is because despite the fact I had him on a harness and leash, I still found myself thrown into a situation where I had no control. I've since done a lot of work with recall training and invested in a top notch ecollar and I must say for these types of dogs, the ecollar has helped exponentially with the training process and I can now confidently let him off lead and know he will always come when called, or if his harness/collar ever breaks again he won't have the opportunity for a 2 hour solo adventure.


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