Recall is still poor!

[eoj89]

Hi everyone,

Murphy is going to be 8 months on this coming Saturday, so we will have been working with him, and he will have been with us, for six months. Flown hasn't it?

He's doing great with almost everything in the house, he's getting gradually better at his commands outside, he's started to great guests with considerably more manners than he used to, but his recall is still poor! We even had an incident where he'd become impatient, ignored his stay and completely didn't respond to my recall as he made his way across a busy (though it wasn't at this time) main road at 22:30PM at night as we were going for a walk.

We haven't used any classes whilst training him because we've always done it ourselves, and all of the dogs we've had, have been great. Can anyone give us ANY solution you have?

Also, I have a feeling he is going to become reactive on leash towards dogs, as his socialisation (due to no fault of our own or his own) has started to take a turn for the worst because of his size. The biggest dog here except him that's in the park regularly is a Golden. We have tried him on a halti, but after 25 seconds of it being on him, it was off in half that time because he couldn't stand it.

This poor recall incident has really put me on edge, as the only one who will/can physically walk him at the moment. I don't want this happening again. I mentioned this in another section, and got some solutions from Hector, etc. and they worked.. for a short while.

Thank you for any replies,

Joe.

 

[Hector]

What have you been doing with recall? Sounds like you're moving too fast too soon and need better motivators. I didn't even use the recall cue until after a year old. Any recall then was in a secure fenced area or on a long line. If my dog proved reliable, I would take him out on a field and test him there to see if I could advance and he proved himself so I dropped the line and moved on. The dog has to prove reliable before you move on to things like off leash without a fence. Once you drop the leash outside of a fence with no e-collar, you really have no control over the dog's response. You are putting a lot of confidence in the dog and a lot of times, owners fail because they move on too fast too soon, giving the dog too much credit. Some dog are also leash smart. They know the difference when the leash is on or dropped, they will bolt.

 

[Rugers-Kris]

Recall is one the hardest things to achieve especially when you are dealing with a giant that is at the age to be going through his "teen" stage. Recall is really hard to work on with distractions also. What I did with was buy a thin 15 ft lead and practice in the back yard with tons of praise everytime he came. I practiced A LOT. Then I used my grandkids for some distraction in the back yard and we practiced until he would come 100% of the time and then I moved to the front yard which isn't fenced and offers much more in the way of distraction. I also used my grandchildren in this scenario after he was good with the basic distractions and they would run down the driveway and step off the property and I would tell him to "stop" and/or "come" and it was great practice since he loves the little ones and especially when he can run beside them. LOL During all of this process I would practice in the house all through day/night at different times and even treat on occasion when he came straight to me.

It can be very frustrating teaching this command and in my opinion (Aside from "focus) it is the one that take the longest to acheieve but of course it is one of the most important. Hope fully someone can help you with some suggestions concerning collars. I have only ever used a martingale on mine but I have heard some fantastic things about the prong when used correctly.

I certainly wouldn't be walking him off leash if I were you and that should keep that walking out in the road thing. I taught recall to both of mine the same way. Ruger is 100% at all times. Of course, for Magnum it took longer as come is a hard one to teach to a deaf dog and I had to get the "Look at me" down before I could even start. I would say Magnum is 85% but he is never off leash (nor will he be) except for when inside or behind our privacy fence.

I made sure I was over the top with the praise while training this command so they believed that they had just done the most fantastic thing EVER. Good Luck and I look forward to hearing updates.

 

[eoj89]

Recall is one the hardest things to achieve especially when you are dealing with a giant that is at the age to be going through his "teen" stage. Recall is really hard to work on with distractions also. What I did with was buy a thin 15 ft lead and practice in the back yard with tons of praise everytime he came. I practiced A LOT. Then I used my grandkids for some distraction in the back yard and we practiced until he would come 100% of the time and then I moved to the front yard which isn't fenced and offers much more in the way of distraction. I also used my grandchildren in this scenario after he was good with the basic distractions and they would run down the driveway and step off the property and I would tell him to "stop" and/or "come" and it was great practice since he loves the little ones and especially when he can run beside them. LOL During all of this process I would practice in the house all through day/night at different times and even treat on occasion when he came straight to me.

It can be very frustrating teaching this command and in my opinion (Aside from "focus) it is the one that take the longest to acheieve but of course it is one of the most important. Hope fully someone can help you with some suggestions concerning collars. I have only ever used a martingale on mine but I have heard some fantastic things about the prong when used correctly.

I certainly wouldn't be walking him off leash if I were you and that should keep that walking out in the road thing. I taught recall to both of mine the same way. Ruger is 100% at all times. Of course, for Magnum it took longer as come is a hard one to teach to a deaf dog and I had to get the "Look at me" down before I could even start. I would say Magnum is 85% but he is never off leash (nor will he be) except for when inside or behind our privacy fence.

I made sure I was over the top with the praise while training this command so they believed that they had just done the most fantastic thing EVER. Good Luck and I look forward to hearing updates.

Hi,

If he was my dog and only mine, I wouldn't mind using a prong collar under careful instruction, but as he is a family dog and I'm 17 at the moment, I have no say in the matter of what training equipment that will be used on him unfortunately. He's currently on a semi-choke which he prefers much more than buckle collars and head collars, and the furthest we could go would be a full choke.

To be honest, I think my frustration could be a contributing factor to him not being able to fully grasp it - either that or he's just too stubborn to do it. I think with his genetics, he's the kind of dog that needs a more stern approach (in no way physical of course). We're going to start NILIF training soon as we haven't been so far and if need be, behavioural classes which will also get his socialisation up to scratch hopefully.


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[DennasMom]

Another idea to add to your options -

Teach a new "come" word that's only YOURS... like "purple" (any unique word will work)

Every time he walks up to you, say "good purple" and give him a treat... don't ask for it, just "capture" it as he does it.
Once he learns that "purple" means you give him a reward when he's right in front of you, you can start reinforcing it in other situations... playing in the yard, anytime he comes near you - "purple!" in a happy voice, and give him a treat.

When you move out to locations with distractions, you have to up the reward - a milkbone won't be able to compete with a lab that wants to play... so, don't call for a "purple" if you know he won't come for the treat. Go get him, get really close, and when he stops to take a breath, say "Purple" and get his focus - let him know how happy you are that he looked at you ("Yes! Good Boy! Good Purple")... and give him a treat...

The rest is all the same as teaching a standard recall...
Lots of repetitions. Don't ever use the word if you think he'll ignore it. And don't repeat it more than once (or he'll learn that he doesn't have to listen to it the first time).

Using a new word will help if other people in your household have taught him that the word "come" is an optional command... or if it has come to mean something unpleasant, like "Come here, so I can put on your leash: play time is OVER".

Don't forget that socialization is also about meeting/investigating new places and things... so investigating an umbrella (that opens and closes), a trip to a new park with new smells, or play time in water, or walking on a moving walkway... those all count as "socialization", too.

 

[Max's mom]

I changed "come" to "here" and it's going much better. Max learned it was ok to ignore come because I repeated it more than once and gave the command when there was no realistic way he could overcome the extra stimulation and distraction. Too far away and too fast as mentioned earlier. Good stinky treats for rewards very slowly released from your hand so puppy thinks he's hit bank helps too!

 

[Hector]

When I say fail, it's not personal. I fail all the time and failing teaches me a lot of things. Things about myself and things about my dog that I wouldn't have learned if I succeeded every time. Failing helps me reflect and experiment. It is a great motivator for me.

You should go back and list when your dog doesn't listen vs listens. First thing you should really do is bond with the dog. If you rewarded him every time he came up to you when you two are in the house or in yard, you will have a more powerful response when you call out to him. Of course you're going to have to train the recall cue separately, but letting the dog know you have something good for him or making him feel good each time he checks in will make training easier.

Start logging what his favorite treats are and only use those for recall. Train, but don't over train. For me, I like to keep sessions short, very short. 5 minutes or so. Some days I will use the recall cue once and reward with a mixture of play and food.

Other times you can use the recall cue without needing to try is dinner time and when you are getting ready to take him out for a walk or any event he gets super excited over. If you just did this for a week, his recall would improve without doing any other exercises.

Let us know what you have been doing and what has been working or not. Finding the right motivator is a game changer. Applying the reward at the right time is equally important.

In my opinion, a dog that has a pretty solid recall is one that can be called off when they are in an aroused/reactive state in a place like your yard.

 

[cj-sharpy]

Nothing wrong with failing.
You learn from your mistakes.
I tried teaching recall to his name. Big mistake. He here's his name all the time (though he still doesn't know it) so that wasn't going to work.
Then I tried training recall with a whistle. Works on sheep dogs right? So should work on all dogs.
Well not when I'm a natural whistler. I didn't even realize I'd whistle a tune, release him, whistle a tune, then whistle a different tune and expect a dog to know the difference between a come here whistle and the tune from the great escape.
So I taught my self to whistle between my teeth. VERY high pitch, loud an the sound travels well. Also not a sound he'll hear any other time.
Now to the training. As said capture the moment. He doesn't know what the sound meant. So I'd walk away from him until he followed, when he comes over start whistling. If he walks over he gets a good boy rub, held for a second then released. If he runs over he gets a treat too.
Now he is learning that that high pitched whistle means come here for a treat. 5 out of ten he will sprint over and wait for his treat.

Oh and if you're recalling to put the Leah in an take him home make this fun too. I try to put leash on then treat. Or then drop down for a wrestle or something. Otherwise he might know you want him to come but why would he if that means lead goes in and walk is over?


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