Since moving to the country, Tyler and I have faced many a struggle. The most frustrating struggle - yes, even more frustrating than the furnace - has been with one of our dogs, Aisha. Aisha is a sweet pup. However, she loves to hunt. And, it's Aisha's thrill of the hunt that has been the source of our frustration with her.

When we lived in town, we had a nice large fenced in backyard. We'd let the pups out for long periods of time and they could come and go as they pleased. In the country, we don't have a fenced in yard. Instead, We go out with them and call them back to the yard when they venture too far away. This seems to have worked for the most part with our other dogs. They're now starting to learn their boundaries and we can leave them unattended for short periods of time. But, Aisha has proven to be more of a challenge.

The problem isn't that she doesn't understand our commands. When she chooses to listen, she responds very well to our instructions to "Come" and to go "Inside". However, once she spots a little critter to chase, the feet start running and the ears stop working.

Aisha's behavior was growing ever more bothersome with each day. I was starting to worry that her habit of running was going to soon become a problem. The neighbors have been understanding, especially since some of their pets occasionally wander too. But, I still don't want to take advantage of their good natures. Plus, I was worried that if Aisha continued to run she'd end up getting hurt by a car as she crossed the road, shot by a neighbor who doesn't like stray dogs, or picked off by coyotes.

Since moving, Tyler and I have employed many methods to break Aisha of her running ways. We purchased a remote training collar for Aisha. For several months, this seemed to do the trick. If Aisha started to run off, we'd give her a little zap and she'd respond to our commands. Then, Aisha decided the hunt was worth the pain and would continue to run until the collar no longer zapped her. So, occasionally the collar would work in preventing her from running off. But, more often than not, she'd instead run further to get away from the collar. Or, she'd devise ways to sneak around buildings allowing her to get out of range before you realized she was gone - did I mention she's also a fast runner and very, very smart?

Next, we tried simply tying Aisha up. Aisha decided that if she couldn't run, she wouldn't poop. And, if a dog doesn't go outside, there is only one choice left. So, we went back to the training collar.

Our frustration with her reached the breaking point earlier this week. When I turned Aisha out for her time outside, she promptly took off at a dead run across the road paying absolutely no attention to the possibility of cars. Then, when I went to call her inside on three separate occasions, she'd spot a rabbit just as she was coming to the door and would take off again. She stayed outside for more than an hour. By the time she came in, I was making plans to find her a new home.

Sending Aisha to a new home was not something I wanted to do. She is a sweet pup and we'd really, really miss her. So, before I considered this option, I wanted to make sure I had exhausted all other options. I started thinking about what gets our dogs' attention... a double whistle. When Tyler and I are having a hard time getting Shiro's attention, we both whistle and the dissonance in the whistles seems to drive him crazy and he comes running as fast as he can. So, in one last ditch attempt to keep Aisha from running, I decided to go to the pet store and purchase a dog whistle.

I went to Petsmart and surveyed the dog whistle selection. Next to the dog whistle selection, I also found a cow bell sized for dogs. The bell is meant to help keep track of hunting dogs in the field. But, I thought that if I could put a bell on Aisha then all the little critters would know to take cover while she was outside. And, if all the little critters are undercover, then Aisha won't have anything to chase. And, if she isn't chasing something, then perhaps she'll listen a little better. So, I purchased a whistle, a bell and some peanut butter training snacks.

When Tyler and I got home, we put the bell on Aisha and turned her outside. To our surprise, she wouldn't move. This was the first time in over two weeks that Aisha hadn't taken off as soon as she got outside. Tyler and I continued to watch Aisha. When she finally started to walk around, she was struggling to keep the bell from ringing. In order to accomplish this, she was slowly WALKING around the yard. Apparently, running is only worthwhile if you can do it silently... and with a cow bell around her neck there was no chance of that! In an attempt to pout over the cow bell, Aisha decided if she couldn't run then she couldn't "come" either. That's when Tyler and I pulled out the dog whistle. After a couple blows on the whistle, Aisha grudingly stood up and slowly started making her way over to us.

Could we have finally achieved success with Aisha?! We'll keep you posted...