There Goes His Recall :(

[anthony mazzeri]

I guess it starts wearing off 2ish weeks before because it seemed like 'to the day' everything was back to normal.

Thanks for your observation. I'll be sure to take Alfred in for his next one a couple of weeks shy of the due date.

Like Luke, having a double-coated dog I've gone the implant route to try and maintain coat quality, so am planning to do it annually (with the 12 month implant) just like a vacc booster shot, so I also would be very interested in any known long term effects on the thyroid.

[anthony mazzeri]

Oh, and change "Barkly" to "Alfred" (who's 17 months old now) and I could have written this:

He used to have such a great recall.

"Barkly Come" - and he'd come running no matter what he was doing.

Now - 1/2 the time he doesn't hear me, the other 1/2 the time he looks at me, then goes back to what he was doing. The other 1/2 of the time he starts coming, then decides to veer off and smell that tree. I realise that's three halves

[corvus]

I am also cursed with an adolescent boy who has forgotten most of the things he knew a couple of months ago. This one doesn't have balls, though. He has good days and bad days, but that's an improvement on the all bad days we had about a month ago. Kivi is also on the long line again, and we are also almost back to the beginning with RRR. It didn't help that just as Kivi's recall was something to be excited about, he had a bout of car sickness that left him with an aversion to the high value treats we were using and it took us a couple of weeks to find an alternative. Bugger.

I am hopeful he will improve in the next few months. He is better now most days, but some days he's like: "emergency recall? Ehhhhh...mmmmmm..... naaaaaaah." So much for conditioned response. It's hard to not use the recall when he's not going to come when you totally thought he would!

[Gayle.]

Benson lost his balls at 4 months of age, and had a lovely reliable recall til around 7-8 months. Then he not only went deaf, but lost his distance vision as well.....otherwise he'd surely have seen me jumping up and down waving madly for him to come back.

Finally, at around 18-20 months, the ear canals have cleared, his bi-focals have kicked in and he now comes back when he's called....every single time.

I think it's the age more than the hormones. Benson is also a lot more focussed than he used to be.....his heeling, his general attention to me, his responsiveness, have all improved out of sight over the past few months.

[Luke W]

Benson lost his balls at 4 months of age, and had a lovely reliable recall til around 7-8 months. Then he not only went deaf, but lost his distance vision as well.....otherwise he'd surely have seen me jumping up and down waving madly for him to come back.

Finally, at around 18-20 months, the ear canals have cleared, his bi-focals have kicked in and he now comes back when he's called....every single time.

I think it's the age more than the hormones. Benson is also a lot more focussed than he used to be.....his heeling, his general attention to me, his responsiveness, have all improved out of sight over the past few months.

18-20 months ?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Gayle.]

18-20 months ?!?!?!?!?!?!

Yep, although I saw a gradual improvement from about 14 months, but it's not until the past couple of months that I've actually felt confident I can let him off-leash and have him come back to me. In the meantime, he was only ever off-leash in a fenced oval or at agility and obedience training.

I am feelling your pain. It's SO frustrating to watch a clever and reposnsive puppy turn into a deaf, dumb and blind "I know nuffin" adolescent.

[MonElite]

Desexing or chemical implants dont teach the dog to recall.

Lots of training does, I suggest you get some advice asap as the longer you leave it the worse your dogs recall will be. Looks like the dog is already making its own decisions on when and how to come.

[Luke W]

Desexing or chemical implants dont teach the dog to recall.

Lots of training does, I suggest you get some advice asap as the longer you leave it the worse your dogs recall will be. Looks like the dog is already making its own decisions on when and how to come.

Seems pretty common around this age...it's just adolescence I guess.

I appreciate your comments. I'm pretty confident about teaching and maintaining a recall.

He's back on a long lead, he always get a reward when he comes, I try to avoid recalling him unless I'm 100% certain he will come, he doesn't get recalled for anything remotely unpleasant, he get's recalled and sent on his way, I do the backward runing, the excited squeels, I play the throw food/come back for food game. I've got Really Reliable Recall

I deon't really expect the implant to have any effect on his recall (I can always hope though).

Edited November 24, 2008 by Luke W

[Cosmolo]

Developmental phases are normal- progression and regression in training are normal. However, how long these phases last is ultimately the result of training and management.

Dogs don't have to regress for months as part of a phase- the longer the behaviour goes on, the more important the learned component becomes and then the learned component maintains the behaviour rather than the developmental phase.

[Luke W]

Developmental phases are normal- progression and regression in training are normal. However, how long these phases last is ultimately the result of training and management.

Dogs don't have to regress for months as part of a phase- the longer the behaviour goes on, the more important the learned component becomes and then the learned component maintains the behaviour rather than the developmental phase.

Cool - I thought 8-10 months - arghhhh - I hope not.

He's still pretty good at most stuff. Still learning new things, still top of his class at obedience school, heelwork continues to improve, still works with enthusiasm, etc.

Anything else you'd suggest to get his recall back on track (or at least stop it from becoming really hard to get back on track when he's over this phase) ?

[Gayle.]

I tried not to call Benson when he was off and running and clearly NOT going to come back to me. I would just do something interesting, like throw a toy in the opposite direction, or start jogging away.....or even just walk away and ignore him, and when he started to come back THEN I'd call him, run backwards, give him a big welcome....so that he always got it right.

It took a while (seemed like it was taking forever!) but eventually it worked and now he does come when called, all the time. There is probably a more clever, quicker way but this one worked for me.

I read somewhere that you shouldn't teach a recall then put a lead on them because they'd associate coming back with having a lead on. Benson comes back and if he sees the lead, he hold his head out so I can attach it to his collar. Because having a lead on after a play means going home and getting something nice to eat. Or having a ride in the car, which he absolutely loves. It never means anything bad.