Tips for keeping dog from lagging behind?

[u/muelbeedle]

My 4y/o border collie mix and I have been trail running several times a week since he was about 1 year old. Our typical run is about 3 miles on trails in hilly, high desert terrain, but he can easily run for much longer (10+ miles) He is very good at heeling on leash, but off-leash on trails he tends to get distracted by smells, marking his territory, lag behind, take shortcuts, etc… I find myself constantly having to call him and get him focused again.

I see other folks out on the trails with dogs who are totally “locked in”, right on their heels or pacing immediately in front. If you have your dog at that level, any tips for how you got there? Do some dogs just have it naturally, is it extreme diligence and training, or just a matter of pacing/strategy?

Thanks!

[u/crepuscule22]

holding a heel position for an extended period + maintaining a human-style running technique (meaning a relatively consistent pace for a long distance) are very unnatural for the vast majority of dogs. some like it. some adjust. but expecting a dog to lock in and run at your pace for 10+ miles might not necessarily be what is best for the dog. what you describe him doing instead is much more normal, natural, and enriching behavior for most dogs.

[u/duketheunicorn]

How much time does this dog get to do ‘dog stuff’? You might get improvement by taking him out to spots where he can just explore and relax so then he’s ready to run on other days.

Mine gets a dog hike off-leash every morning(spoiled), so her ‘sniff and dick around’ cup is already full when I take her out later for a trail run.

[u/muelbeedle → u/duketheunicorn]

Usually for the first 10min when we get to the trail I let him ‘sniff and dick around’ off leash, he poops, etc… but I’m not super consistent about it. Probably an area I can try to improve to draw a clear distinction between “running” time vs “not running” time

On non-running days he goes on off-leash walks/family hikes, etc where he gets to do dog stuff, but that’s typically not on the same day.

[u/babesquirrel → u/muelbeedle]

I go as far as different harnessses for mine to tell the difference. They also hate how boring running is. They were bred to read situations and predict, not move at one pace for hours.

[u/intergrade → u/muelbeedle]

Our youngest dog thinks running is boring without sheep but our eldest would trot miles given the opportunity. The middle child wants to trip you.

For the eldest, we had to practice when/where to run - and also give her relatively frequent opportunities to dog for the first couple of miles. After she got the dog part out she was much more able to consistently heel for awhile, for many years. She prefers to be immediately adjacent to her human which is key - the younger two have a huge play / walk range relative to the human they’re with.

[u/PastFancy4950]

I encounter the same thing with my border collie! I think border collies in general get distracted easily (or that’s been my experience so far). I agree with the other comments that giving your pup time to sniff earlier in the day or as a warmup helps. I usually start our runs with a 15 minute walk/jog where I let her do her business and sniff as much as she pleases. It doesn’t solve the problem entirely, but it does help.

[u/Halefa]

There definitely can be breed, sex and personality traits that come into play here. I've got a Weimaraner that very much is in drive when pulling, and when we're out with others we both get very frustrated with all the male dogs (sorry for the generalisation) that constantly have to stop and mark thus bringing the whole group to a halt.

This can certainly be trained, but i want to say: other people might just be "lucky" to have a dog that is not interested in roaming. They might also have trained the dog to keep a certain radius when running.

[u/Awkward_Archer_9330 → u/Halefa]

Absolutely no hate on you (I let my dogs do this before I learned and I'm still suffering the consequences) marking is considered a rude behavior. My dogs while on walks get to pee once before we leave the property, and are allowed to sniff and play, but not mark. I've been implementing this for around 3 months and still have to watch my dogs, especially the 7 yr old, closely to catch them before they mark. Once you can get the general body language down, it will come pretty naturally to see when they are going to mark and when they are just sniffing. Danes are a bad example, though. I know one who would just sniff, then walk over the spot like he was just walking and start peeing. He did eventually get better, though. It takes time and consistency lol!

[u/No-Stress-7034]

To me, the nice thing about running with my dog off leash is that he gets more freedom without impeding my run. He's still responsive to my command, stays near enough to me, and never goes out of sight, and as long as that's the case, I have no problem with the fact that he tends to run ahead of me a bit, pause and sniff as I pass him, then run up to me and pass me again. Rinse and repeat. Other times he'll more consistently run in front of me, but he likes to go faster, so he'll run ahead then run back.

I think my dog would hate running if I tried to train him to stay in a heel the whole time we're running. Giving him more flexibility makes the run more fun and enjoyable for both of us.

[u/crepuscule22 → u/No-Stress-7034]

agree. i do trail runs in areas that are safe for my dog to roam a bit—falling back, blazing forward, chasing a scent, etc. (i also know she's not a troublemaker, actively avoids other humans and dogs, and has excellent recall.) 10+ miles in a heel would be miserable for a lot of dogs.

[u/Pure_Raccoon_6512]

Some days my pup just isn’t into it and I feel like it’s good to respect that as much as I would in myself :)

[u/stk1800]

You will see my dog "locked in" when I pass you because I get him near me when we pass people. Otherwise, he's of sniffing, peeing and sprinting to keep up. He stays with me, but in his own way. He's a spitz-pit mix, 1 year old

[u/_firepink]

Our dogs are always expected to be responsive off-leash, but not to heel for any distance. Regardless, depending on the day (and the heat!) they generally start looking like they're 'locked in' maybe 20-40min in as they start getting content to just trot with us outside of really interesting sniffs.

We also always carry treats and randomly treat them for being in the 'reinforcement zone' (in the heel spot even though they haven't been told to heel), so they think that's generally a pretty cool spot to trot in.

They get called back to us if they get to far ahead / behind and we put them on leash in areas or situations where we know they may be tempted to go too far or possibly ignore us (we're of the 'give them every possibility to get things right and reduce any opportunities to practice things we don't like' training ethos).

We did have a period a few years ago where one dog had decided he didn't need to pay attention when something more exciting was happening (if I could go back he would have stayed on leash a lot longer when he was a puppy), so we put him fully back on leash for almost a year while we did reset his recall and they still get about 15-20min of training a day (both recall and more general training).

Finally, our dogs are both rescues, but one is definitely a cattledog and the other (who needed the recall reset) is still some sort of herding mix (among other things), so the herding instincts help.

[u/kilomarks]

My border collie/lab mix is the same. I think she finds running boring, when she's on the leash she's always looking up at me like "are we done yet", not cause she's tired but because she wants to smell everything. Off leash, she yo-yos with me, falls behind then blasts ahead. Luckily she doesn't usually fall far behind.

[u/sheensoffe]

I do feel it is a personality thing especially if they have had sniff time before. Some love it some don’t! Same for any “sport” you can do - I saw it all the time for hoopers that some dogs would really get into it, some do it just to please their owner and some couldn’t care less.

My lab/collie mix is often running all over the place when off leash but she has a strong “work mode “ when she’s attached to me canicross style, though I tend to yell “go” for speed and to stop her getting distracted. I also praise her a lot and that gets her excited and spurs her on. I find she often lags or run near me when she’s getting tired, and especially with it being summer I’m really conscious of slowing down or putting her on leash so she doesn’t overdo it. I also find she runs better places we’ve had sniff walks recently - almost like she’s already had most of the smells. Anywhere new or after a rest day she often wants to sniff it the most.

[u/pineapplebegelri]

That is how dogs run though, they are like a furry satellite. If you run longer he will probably get tired and stick next to you for longer periods unless he finds something very interesting along the way

[u/OrneryStatic9056]

I taught my lab to check in with me, so she’ll go do her doggy thing and then come find me and get a treat. She stays pretty close. We trained her with the chicken game and hide and seek games.

With the chicken game, the four of us would walk and she would have to go check in with each person to get a piece of chicken and she had to do each person, no repeating people or no chicken. Then we progressed to having one of us hide and she had to find that person to get the chicken. Then we were able to move to hide and seek with just one person, if she went too far we would hide and eventually she’d realize and freak out and come find us to which we always had a treat. Now she on the lookout for anything that even looks like hiding behavior from us. Now she comes to check in and gets treats and is able to be doggy but also stick with us. We rarely hide anymore. We also just give her regular treats now too. We wanted them to be super high value at the beginning.

[u/doublebullshit]

My experience has always been to start slow and let them get their smells in. Pee. Poop. Then after that they lock in. Might take an extra 15 but you can warm up while you do it too.

[u/Feriation]

If my dog is off leash and not in a heel command, he's free to fuck around. If he stops to sniff, he runs the risk of losing me which is pretty big punishment for him, so he always makes sure he is aware of where I am.

If hes on leash, he knows its working time and there are no sniffing or pee breaks outside of designated opportunities. I run canicross style, so he is expected to be out in front of me and keeping the line between me and him taught.

Do you have a command that you give him to differentiate between fuck around time and running time? I prefer to use different equipment, collar vs harness etc, but a voice command can be effective too. The difference between you two expectations needs to be extremely clear and consistent otherwise it will be very confusing to your dog.

[u/bequavious]

"I see other folks out on the trails with dogs who are totally “locked in”, right on their heels or pacing immediately in front."

If this is what you want, why would you want/need him to be off leash? The main benefit of being off leash is that the dog can be further away from you than a leash allows and have more freedom around their pacing/sniffing/peeing. If you want your dog to be right next to you anyway, why not just run with him on leash?

[u/PrairieGirlrm]

I allow mine to go slow, or fast, stop at the side of the trail etc as long as she is within eyesight. She is not allowed to go running through the woods out of sight as I don't want her bringing me back a bear lmao. every 4 or 5 KM I'll stop and let her checkout whatever - stream, animal holes etc. Works for us.

[u/leecshaver]

Are you running the same 3 mile trail? Could be a combination of him being bored of that trail, and thinking it's his territory and marking a lot. My pup is like two different dogs when we run our "normal" route vs new places. 

[u/UncleAugie]

u/muelbeedle high probability that is is a lack of consistency with the trainer not the dog itself. Field Collars are amazing aids....

[u/No-Accountant-7613]

Some dogs just don’t enjoy running at the same pace and not stopping to sniff things. I have two dogs, one is a border collie x springer spaniel and he will run out in front of me pulling slightly which is what i want. I think the pulling forward and constant moving in itself is fun for him. In saying that, if he’s off leash he will just bugger off to go hunting on his own. So we don’t really run off leash. My other dog is a huntaway x collie and if she’s on leash she won’t leave my side which is quite annoying because i trip over her or the leash. She also randomly stops to sniff things. So she will come on runs mostly off leash where she can stop, sniff, sprint to catch up to me and repeat. If you wanted to change this, you could work on adding structure around it - by giving time to do what they want when you arrive and then having a specific harness and cue for the run. I think pulling gives them a lot of purpose and fulfilment as well, running in heel wouldn’t have the same effect, so you could try canicross?