A Faster Recall?

[Jumabaar]

I have a kelpie that FLIES down to the box to get the ball and comes back fast… but not as fast as she goes down.

I was just wondering if you could think of some Ideas to get her back faster- in the end it doesn’t really matter that much too me as I only do it because she enjoys it, I guess it is just something that I can continue to work with her to improve.

My problem is that she doesn’t like to be rewarded at the end of a run- she doesn’t tug, will sometimes chase after a ball if I throw it for her as she is coming back (and sometimes she wont), she doesn’t like food (although she is normally a food driven dog- she ate in between having puppies!!)- she really does see it as her JOB and so you don’t distract her with these things. Her mentality is to go down and get the ball, you come back so that you can line up to go back down for the ball and anything not involved in this is a wast of time!!

She is supper reliable (when I get it right) but I would like to think that there is always room for improvement.

(have just started clicker training- I think i am finaly co-ordinated enough to do it so any tips are welcome!)

[TerraNik]

Stick another set of jumps and a flyball box in the opposite direction

*grin*

[Jumabaar]

Stick another set of jumps and a flyball box in the opposite direction

*grin*

She would be in HEAVEN

[Sayreovi]

I haven't done training in ages, but what I would do is stop doing full runs and retrain the recall aspect of the run until she will take food then slowly introduce the ball again and continue adding extra down jumps but only if she is accepting the reward.

Try and get her to understand that the recall is another part of the exercise and therefore gets another reward. Ideally dogs should see it as 2 seperate things, go fast down and get ball which is the reward and come back fast and get another reward. If that makes sense?

Good luck, maybe some other flyballers who have faster dogs then mine will respond on how they got their dogs coming back just as fast.

[LilBailey]

Flea was very much like your girl. Once she started to compete she got faster as she likes to race.

She also does't tug or care about food at flyball. I started just cathing her and letting her line up again as this was the best reward I could give her anything else was a punishment to her.

Now after 2 years? of competing and training she now comes back for a second tennis ball and to watch the others race or just line up again as she often runs last.

The best thing you can do when training anything is that your dog is an individual and what works for her might not be the norm.

[Jumabaar]

mmm been doing some thinking- to anwer my own question.

Would you consider the tennis ball, tug toy or even food to be a kind of target for the dog. She may not like to tug but perhaps if i taught her that she had to touch the target before she could run again?? (off to teach Abby to target better using the clicker!!)

I do agree that she needs to learn a better recall (in general the rat bag!) so would using a target help this?

[Sayreovi]

Definately, if she thinks that getting back faster and touching a target will get her another run faster then I would certainly give it a go.

Perhaps if you can train her with a clicker to touch your hand and when she has a pretty solid touch going just on the flat, get her to recall over one jump and just work from there.

I would be avoiding using a ball for a reward at this stage just so she has a chance to actually think about what is required rather then just go into working mode. Just use food with the clicker.

[CP*]

Do you wait for her or run away? My female was doing the same (slower run back) or would cross lanes. Now once she is over the first jump with the ball I start running away and whistle to her - just make sure the rest of the team is out of the way.