I recently received a question about a dog who keeps getting sprayed by skunks in Montana.
Our dog keeps getting sprayed by skunks. She’s a terrier mix and loves looking in culvert pipes and exploring. We live in the country in Montana and there is so much a curious dog can get into trouble with. She used to not come when we called her. But we’ve been training her with treats and she’s gotten much better at coming when we call. We hate to have to keep her on a leash when we go for walks. Can you make any suggestions?
Thank you, Jennifer
If you enjoy walking your dogs off leash, it’s important to have a handful of distance commands.
The recall or “come” command is at the top of this list. It is the most common in terms of getting your dog back to you and out of harms way.
A “leave-it” at a distance is almost as important. Start by teaching “leave-it” close enough to you so you can reinforce it with praise and rewards. The command is solid when your dog turns away from whatever they have found to get their reward from you.
All of the commands listed here will have to be rewarded with food in the learning stages, and then intermittently forever depending on the dog and the surroundings.
“Sit” or “down” at a distance will allow you to freeze your dog in place for a second or two while you figure things out, or the danger (i.e. skunk, etc.) passes. These could be used anywhere or anytime you need to simply put your dog into a holding position. You will need to be able to reliably request these commands when your dog is close to you. Then you can start to request them at distances farther away from you until you can lock your dog down matter how far away they are.
Some dogs do better with a “stop” command at a distance rather than “sit” or “down.” If they can “stop” their action, but can’t follow other commands in the heat of the moment, that’s fine. Essentially the “stop” command like the “sit” and “down” halt all actions until you tell your dog to do something else.
“Sit,” “down,” and “stop” all have to be trained when you are near your dog so you can easily reward them. Then you can start using a long leash, ten feet, fifteen feet, etc. With this, you can begin to increase the distance you ask your dog to preform these commands. Once your dog is reliable at longer distances, they are ready for off leash work.
Hopefully these ideas will allow you to help your dog avoid getting sprayed by skunks in or out of Montana.
As for Dante – well…
He loved skunks!
Hope that helps and remember, there is just something that dogs LOVE about skunks so keep that skunk wash handy.