How To Get My Puppy To Recall

[jr_inoz]

in need of advice here...

my 7.5month old shetland sheepdog puppy is growing up and beautiful, generally does what is asked - but has a stubborn streak a mile long.

She wont come when she is called.

She will at home, in the house and in the yard. (especially if there is fritz (devon) involved).

I tried in the area next to my house - comes sometimes, not at others.

No hope at all if there are any distractions. (which out of the backyard is all the time... birds, smells, noises - let alone another dog or person)

At obedience, when we practice recall, she will start to come toward me, then run off to meet the nearest dog.

Frustrating, cos i would love her to get more exercise off lead and things at the park or beach, but cant risk it - she will run the other way if i try to catch her - and she is fast.

adivce will be greatly appreciated.

[sugclasco]

i had this problem with cisco when he was younger, i bought a 5meter lead would let him wonder than call him and pull him in than praise him with lots of pats , i did this every day for around 10 min at home out the front yard and when ever i went to the dog beach or park i had him on the lead and did the same thing , only took about 1 mth now he comes every time he is called

[~*Shell*~]

I bought a horse's lung line (just bought it from horseland for about $20) and took Zero down to the local park (lots of distractions there). I let him wander while on it (it's about 8 metres so he could wander a fair way away) and then i called in a loud, high pitched, excited voice. If he came, lots of pats, treats and praise, if he didn't, he got pulled back in anyway and then we did some focus exercises so he got rewarded for keeping his focus on me, rather than for having to be pulled back to me, but the experience of coming back to me either way was positive.

His recall is now much better and the trainers at my obedience club (well the ones that understand that huskies are very difficult to train a recall with any reliability) can't believe how good he is at it. I still wouldn't trust him off leash in an unfenced area but i'm sure we'll get there one day!

[TerraNik]

I bought a horse's lung line (just bought it from horseland for about $20) and took Zero down to the local park (lots of distractions there). I let him wander while on it (it's about 8 metres so he could wander a fair way away) and then i called in a loud, high pitched, excited voice. If he came, lots of pats, treats and praise, if he didn't, he got pulled back in anyway and then we did some focus exercises so he got rewarded for keeping his focus on me, rather than for having to be pulled back to me, but the experience of coming back to me either way was positive.

His recall is now much better and the trainers at my obedience club (well the ones that understand that huskies are very difficult to train a recall with any reliability) can't believe how good he is at it. I still wouldn't trust him off leash in an unfenced area but i'm sure we'll get there one day!

We did the same... Used a long line, let Jedi wander and then called him in a really excited voice with some wide welcoming arms! If he didn't come, I reeled him in. He learned that come means you come whether you like it or not! LOL Lots and lots of treats, a play and some pats. Now Jedi will come even when he's having a wrestle with other dogs. The only time he doesn't come is when he's swimming... Gotta work on that!

I can vouch for Zero... His recall at OB class is awesome!!

[jr_inoz]

thanks guys

will let you know how it all goes

(least i dont have to worry about the swimming - she hates the water)

[charli73]

We do lots of lpngline training too for recalls...

The other thing we did was to play out in our yard then recall her and if she didnt come we would stop play immediately and go inside leaving her there...

She quickly learnt that when she didnt come all play stopped... If she came we continued playing and it has been working reeally well in terms of teaching her she couldnt ignore our commands...

At the park we dont let her off lead often but once we did and she wouldnt come so we got her attention, called "come" then ran away from her... I couldnt believe how fast she chased us....

[fainty_girl]

My dog is the same! We adopted her from the pound 6 days ago and she was a stray, and it was estimated by the pound that she is 8-9 months old.

She is a very clever dog and learnt her new name (we call her Tilly, but her registration name is Matilda) by the second day, and in the home she has responded well to her name since then.

At the dog park is another matter though! The first time I took Tilly to a local dog park on an extender lead, she got very over excited and was keen to run off the lead, but I knew she wasn't ready on that day. Her extender lead was a pain in the butt...she ended up tangling me, other people and other dogs during our time at the park. Then when I was untangling the lead from my legs, she launched herself into the water chasing another dog. Her extender lead got dragged in the sand and didn't work after that.

On another day my dad and I took Tilly to the same dog park and we let her off the lead. She was so happy and ran like crazy all over the park and in the water. She was having too much fun to listen to us when we called her name though. To get her back on the lead my dad had to try and round Tilly up into the water!

How do you get a dog to recall in situations that are very exciting for them? I don't think Tilly spent much time out of a backyard with her previous owners. She gets so overexcited about a lot of things and so many things seem new to her.

[wuffles]

fainty_girl, we are in the process of training a reliable recall in our rescue dog. He is probably about 70% reliable off lead which is nowhere near enough for us to let him off!

Until your dog is reliably trained, you should probably try not to put your dog in situations where it is likely they will not recall. Unfortunately sometimes we just "expect" our dogs to know what we want them to do and depending on the dog, recall training can either be easy or extremely hard.

The only places our dog is let off leash is at a local, tiny, fenced dog park (realistically we shouldn't even do this), and the fenced paddock at our obedience club with known dogs. That is until he is 100% reliable.

As others have suggested, try using a long line and control the situations until your dog will always come when called!

Edited November 18, 2008 by wuffles

[fainty_girl]

Good news Wuffles, Matilda went to the same dog park twice today and her recall was great!

The first time there she played fetch with my other dog for ages and she responded well to her name.

Just this evening I took her to the park again without my other dog (she was exhausted still from the first visit!) and her recall was great again. She's super energetic so does run around the whole park heaps, but I could tell she was keeping an eye on me, and when I whistled and called her name, she would happily run over to me to be rewarded with a pat.

[CP*]

Your girl may be flexing her independance. When mine reached puppy adolescence I put them back on lead for a while (we walk everywhere off lead) as their recall cannot always be trusted at that age.

Also - carry cheese or salami or cabonassi or something equally smelly and tasty. Haven't met a sheltie yet that wouldn't come back for a tasty treat. Give her a piece when you first head out so she knows you have the treats. Keep doing this while you get thru adolescence. Eventually you will have a little shadow (my shelties are attached with velcro!) - it's just a difficult time for pups.

[kyliegirl]

does she know her name?

Most people think their dog knows their name, but most times they dont. People also thing because the puppy came when you called it, it is now trained, most cases puppies follow you when young because they rely on you to defend them from predators. Once they get older they begin to get more independent and begin to wander around, they never learned to come when called it was just an instinct.

heres some videos explaining on teaching your dog its name, and reliable recalls

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=bNObVSQk8K4

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ck7wmjrG6OY&...re=channel_page

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=tkiBjHNaAGc&...re=channel_page

you also must remember just because she came 100% reliably in your house doesnt mean she will outside, or in the kitchen, on the couch, on the road, in the park.. You have to treat these as brand new places and the dog will need to relearn the come when called in these new areas as they had not learnt in these areas before. They arent humans, they dont think "well when she said this word in the house it meant for me to go to her so I better do it here" dogs dont think like that. Every new place is a new experience and they need to be trained in these new places to know that its also expected in these areas.

Edited December 17, 2008 by kyliegirl

[Got Spots]

know the recall feeling well

Have trained our rescue that had no manners.

Down the beach - no one near

Let off lead and run down the beach with her leaving my partner behind, then he calls her in very excited voice and sometimes runs backwards to encourage her. When she gets back she gets lots of praise and play in the shallow surf. Great game

If we feel like wearing her out I will call her back again in excited voice.

We have practiced this lots and she loves it

BTW is a whippet - so running is a great game

Now we have a pup and the game is even more fun cause they race

[wind in the trees]

Best of luck with all advice. I have had an adult dog that came with recall issues. Its so much easier to fix at the start.

[pnsdc]

was just thinking the same thing windinthetrees

[Guest belgian.blue]

My 5 month is good with recall 90% of the time. Took her to an open park yesterday and she was off leash the whole time, unless we saw another dog or kids on bikes.

She was really responsive and did as she was asked to. Then it was time to head back to the car. I tried to get her to come back to me about 10m from the carpark but no way! She kept moving on ignoring me .. so I started walking in the other direction to get her to follow. That didn't work.

I looked back and she was waiting infront of my car, sitting down looking at me as if to say 'come on hurry up I'm waiting' I then walked closer calling her but she went into play mode. So I thought stuff it, went and opened the car door and she jumped right in.

I'm thinking I should worry less and trust her judgement. She knew our car out of about five others parked near me.

Though when my mum 'accidently' lets her out the front door at their place her recall is bad. I've tried to teach my mum how to make Ivy not run out the front door and it's slowly working.

[sausy.dog]

I'm thinking I should worry less and trust her judgement. She knew our car out of about five others parked near me.

Sorry but there is no way I would be trusting the judgement of a 5mo near cars. If she is able to get to an area where there are 5 other cars parked she can run out and be run over.