Dog running home? - Page 1

I have a 9 year old German shepherd that has had consistent obedience training since we got her at 8 months old. Before I begin, I have had her health checked by two different veterinarians, so I am fairly sure that pain has been ruled out. On and off over the years she has run away from me and not responded to commands after months of good performance in “training settings”.

I will give you several examples. Example 1: Between the ages of 2-4 she would run 3-4 miles with me every morning in cool weather, but every 6-9 months she would wiggle out of her flat collar and run home ignoring all commands and any tricks I was aware of to get her to recall or she would plain refuse to leave the house. It never happened frequently, just once every 6-9 months. Example 2: At one point I took her to classes for nose work, essentially everything was great, but after 6-9 months of consistent performance she would bolt to the car before class was done and ignore recalls etc. Most recent example: I had started competitive obedience training with her to appease a new home owners association after a recent move (to generate paperwork asserting some kind of official training). The classes are low stress and low impact and occur once a week for an hour. She has earned her CGC and is on her way to getting the last qualifying scores for Rally Novice and Companion Dog Novice. Once these are complete I have no intention of pushing her into the more difficult obedience trials due to her age. We work on the tasks a couple of times a day for no more than 15-20 minutes. She has the techniques down and like I said earlier the vet cleared her and saw no signs of pain or advanced arthritis. Last night just as class ended she ran away from me to the car after the last off leash sit and stay practice. She would not respond to any recalls or recall techniques.

My question is what is causing this behavior of her sometimes wanting to "go home" or back "to the car" etc in a classroom or regimented setting? She has no indoor or outdoor behavior problems, is not destructive or restless, is well socialized and has experienced many different environments and training situations over the course of her life. She is an overall good dog, but the "bolting" issue is the only thing that has thrown me off. Essentially my dog is not running away, but running home. What could be causing this?  It just weird and makes me worry about her off leash if and when she decides to have one of those moments.

Maybe she is just being too damn smart?  Could it be she is reading other cues you aren't aware of that the class is ending, and just knows "home" comes next? My dog seems to enjoy anticipating my next move, maybe yours does, too? An independent thinker she is, perhaps? Actually, something I love about these dogs.

The dog is going back to whatever place feels most safe, given the circumstances. One can say something is not stressful, but in fact, you cannot feel what the dog is feeling. The best way to deal with this is to assume it will happen and NEVER give her the opportunity to run. Regardless of how much or how good your training was up to now, it was not sufficient to overcome her desire to be "safe". She can be in all other regards, practically normal and well socialized and obedient. But she wants to go back to her "spot". Once this begins, it is very difficult behavior to extinguish and probably cannot be extinguished without some sort of heavy punishment that makes YOU the safe zone. In some situations it can be useful, such as telling a "captive group of GSDs" to "go to bed". But allowing her to run where she could cross a street and be hit by a car, for example, is another story. She is giving you a message. The question is, now will you hear it and react accordingly?

Good luck.

Hodies's post makes sense. And of course it does, she has buckets of experience.

I have one that will do this if I take her to someone elses home, she bolts to the car and will run circles around it until I open it up. I can take her in store, walks, parks, just not to somelese's home. She just does not live there. She is older and her hips are bad, so I am not going to bust her for it at this point in her life.

I'm in complete agreement w/Hodie. 
However, there must be something that triggers this behaviour.  Can you think of anything around all the times that she's run "to her safe place" that would be the common denominator?   Anything?

The only unifying issue is that I am asking her to work and is not structured play or being able to explore freely.  I have considered that my tone changes and she may not be confortable with it.  And I have also considered that she associates a particular environment as "unplesant", but I do take her back to the same locations at times for non-training play time.  I really think she knows the difference between "work mode" and just being a well behaved dog outside for the day.

On a side note, one of the trainers at the club we attend which hosts some trials and the weekly training really manhandles her own shepherd that has a similar issue of bolting. I have seen her girl take off running after intense training sessions. She is a Utility Dog Excellent (UDX) level competitor and her owner drives her really hard. I have been hesitant to ask their professional opinion because the folks in the club are all in it for the competitive dogs sports; they just offer watered down softie classes for novices as part of their non-profits mission. Its not necessarily a bad fit, but the draw is that it has all the right AKC affilizations and such.

Momo,
Sounds like the dog decided to make her own decisions the day she went home from the walk, and has been allowed to do it many times since.
It can be cured with a little effort.

I must admit to owning such a dog, she is strong willed and has a mind of her own.  
I like it and respect it most of the time, but some offenses do bring punishment.

I'd say go back to some basics and refresh her memory.
At the same time realize this behavior has been acceptable in the past and now your wanting to change the rules with her, it will take some effort for sure.


Moons.

P.S.
Don't forget she's 9.

I hear what you are saying Two Moons, but I am talking about 5 instances tops over the course of 9 years and only in regimented training settings.  All dogs test thier limits from time to time.  This is the only way she tests hers.  Its just that they are fairly blatant instances and not little ones everyday.

Everything we do use the basics for the CD and RN.  We are not talking about her house manners or behaviors, they are impeccable.  How can you set more limits for a dog that know and obeys all limits except under a unique circumstance that occurs once a week? And even then takes months to produce the undesired behavior.  Also just because she didn't want to run those couple of times doesn't mean we didn't keep the routine (we did until I tore an achillies and she was too old)

If this is just a bump in the road I OK with that.  Through my own reseach I seem to be finding that it is a common possible issue for the breed because they are using thier brains.  I was just looking to see what others thought