on scalebusters "feral pointer" above I bought my dad a pup about 12 years ago for his birthday, mainly because my wife drew the line at three dogs and I wanted a fourth to be able to have two braces going all day. He took her out once when she about 10 mos old and he and buddy couldnt control her. Dad and I went to a lease we had at the time in Archer City, and I drove up to the top of a hill that was about 80 foot higher than rest of the pasture. We let her out and dad stepped into a rabbit hole and then fell onto a rock and banged his ribs pretty hard. It took me about 3 minutes to get him up and walking. When I ran to edge of hill, Abbey had vanished out of the mile visibility we had from the hill. I started shocking her to no avail, and we spent about three hours driving the 2000 acres and never saw her. I put up signs before we left in town and probably got two calls a day from locals that would see her run down main street or be running in a bar ditch, but when you approached she would kick it into high gear and skedaddle. When she finally got hungry 10 days later, a rancher that had seen her three or four times coaxed her up to him with a piece of bread. Called me said he had caught finally caught the town mascot, and looks like a coyote might have bit her tail but then probably got left in the dust after that because no other wounds on her. We took her to a trainer to see if he could break her and he said he had lost her twice, this dog is a horseback dog and will always be a horseback dog, and you better have a horse that is in damn good shape so we traded her for a walking dog that dad still has. The trainer put a little time into her and sold her for big dollars and she placed second in her first 3 hr horseback trial. I made contact with the handler in NC and called him about 18 mos later and she had placed or won in about every regional trial she was entered in and was working her way her up.

This is an easy fix.

Take your pup out to grounds you are familiar with.

When he is out running, hide from the dog. He’ll look for you and when he finds you shower himwith praise. Repeat a few times and he will learn to keep you in sight or at least check in to make sure you are in the area.

Last thing I would do is light the dog up with a shock collar. Not at least until after you have taught him not to run off.

Good luck

Took my 10 mo old pup out this weekend. Put him on the ground several times and he just doesn't have any interest in staying with me. Had a Garmin on him and he would routinely be 500-700 yds from me. Just doing his own thing. Might come through once during a hunting round. Would drink some water, then just head out on another solo adventure. Very discouraging. Any hope for him? Have you ever had one act like this? Did they ever start hunting with you? Suggestions welcome.