Jazz, here to stay, or soon to be gone?

Went down to the Lot last Wednesday seeking a friend for Jules, and came home with Jazz who is a 7 year old male English Setter/Breton Spaniel X.

The meeting went ok between the 2 of them and we walked them in a large, fenced field. But the first warning sign came when both of them hared off after a little cat. The difference was that Jules gave up when it disappeared into thick brush in the corner but Jazz burrowed in and found/forced a small hole in the fence and sat shouting at it in a tree. But he is a chaser, not a killer. See what he does a couple of feet away from a cat who is not running.

After they had both calmed down they seemed to notice each other for the first time and after the usual sniffs were apparently happy in each others’ company.

So, they were both loaded in the car for home.

On the journey he was quiet and slept a lot of the time, in the house he is clean, well behaved and very lovable. There is no tension between the 2 of them, even when eating a couple of metres apart at the same time in the same room. But, and there is a but, outside in the garden, and even more so in the field and forest, he is deaf to recall, a bit like Jules, as far as the field is concerned anyway.

Where Jules is obedient in the garden and makes no attempt to escape from it, Jazz is totally different. On the first walk around he first found (forced?) a very small hole in the chain link fencing next to the gate post. I didn’t know he was outside till I realised that the bars of the gate were between us, not behind him.
Next, safely back in I allowed him to walk into an area of dense brush, somewhere where there is room for a dog to pass around the small pond, and Jules often uses that on his perambulations. But unlike Jules, he didn’t emerge on the other side and by first anchoring securely the handle of the long red line (30 metres for Jules’ training), I walked all the way around to another spot where I could see more clearly. The red line snaked right through the densest part towards the corner of the fencing, and I could vaguely see his brown and white colouring - beyond it.

He wasn’t going anywhere else but I didn’t hang about, some dogs on realising what is holding them back will start to chew through it, and I didn’t want that to happen in this case. I grabbed a short lead and went out though the gate to retrieve him. Following the red line back I saw that the chain link was again forced at the bottom.

This is very bad news for the prospect of him staying here. It would be a mammoth task to replace it with more sensible square, soldered, stock fencing. Not just the cost, I do have a roll anyway, but the vast majority of it goes through dense brambles and other branches, not something I want to contemplate. Repairing is not really an option either, chain link once damaged unravels like tugging a thread from a pullover. If we had had more knowledge when we installed it over 20 years ago we would have chosen differently.

I wanted to foster first but the person from whom I got him did not believe in that, only adoption, and we have been given only a week to decide if we want to complete the transfer. I am therefore desperate to see some improvement before next Tuesday, and the way things are going it is not looking good.

Jules has shown great promise in recall since I introduced him to this 30 metre line, he races back to me on the whistle now, (100% apart from the one day I took them both together) and I am prepared to be satisfied with that in the future. But not with another dog of the same ilk. I need another like all the others I have ever owned, including the most recent like Harper Grace and Enola. I am happy and willing to train, but a 7 day deadline (and we are already 3 days into it so far with no sign of improvement) is too much to ask of this particular chap. I was told he was a cat chaser but not an escaper, the first I can cope with, but not the 2nd.

Sad, but I fear another long journey is on the cards for Wednesday, short of a miracle.

Have you tried edible treats? English spaniels can be gluttons and respond more to food than praise.

Oh yes, whatever comes to hand, Cantal rind, ham skin and today even ham. I get him to sit easily enough when he is near, offer him the treat at exactly the same moment as I blow the recall signal on the whistle, so one is associated with the other.
Then send him away, up to 30 metres in the field, less in the garden, and give a good blast of the signal followed by the command and his name, in French, and then lots of excitement with waving arms jumping up and down slapping of thighs etc. . Exactly how I got Jules, who had the same problem, to recall. Nothing.

But then I have had Jules for a year although I only recently adopted this extreme behaviour.

I will keep trying, but time is running out. 3 days to go. :slightly_frowning_face:

I am not asking for miracles, just a slight promise of improvement. I would not have taken him on if I had not been assured that he wasn’t an escaper, bearing in mind the time that I would be allowed. I have had escapers before, gusunders, jumpers and climbers, but all with time to correct their tendency.

Even if I had more time with him it is questionable that I could persevere, while he is like this, Jules has lost his Freedom of Movement. I know how he feels. :slightly_frowning_face:

BTW does anyone here know the American for ‘escaper’? I’m fed up with this spellchecker telling me I am wrong. :rage:

I’ve been trying to get my English setter to come back for 12 years, learnt very quickly that if they want to go somewhere, they will, no matter what

Some friends have a spaniel who behaves rather like Jazz, who I would describe as a bit of an escapologist. Beau The Escapologist - Dogshaming