Recall Issues

[prada]

Hi I adopted a 10 month old Border collie cross a few weeks ago. He has not put a foot wrong since we got him, no barking, no jumping, no digging, walks well on lead but his recall is basically non existent and it is driving me mental. Todays walk was total hell and it is getting worse as his confidence grows. He doesnt stray too far as he stays close to my other dog but he will only come just outside of arms reach at the park and it takes me about 10 minutes of excited voices and running the other way and laying on the ground until I can get him close enough to grab. If a bike goes past then I have no hope in hell. I need to get this sorted asap. we are about to move onto acreage and if he has no recall he can not be around livestock and may have to go. He is brilliant in every other department and I want to be able to exercise him off lead but stressing about him is doing my head in. I uaully walk with my toddler as well who I cant just abandon to chase the new dog. ahhh any ideas to start with? He is not overly food or toy driven which doesnt help.

And just out of curiosity when does all the excessive face licking and mouthing other dogs faces start to wear off?

[Vickie]

I would not be walking a 10mth old that I'd only had a few weeks off lead at all! He needs time to bond to you. Exercise his mind, not his body. Teach him tricks, use his dinner as rewards. Make him earn everything that goes in his mouth.

You need to treat him as you would an 8 week old pup. Start all training from scratch.

I would also not be walking him with your other dog yet. He needs time to bond to you, not the other dog.

If you must let him run, put him on a long line.

Is he desexed?

Hope this helps.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Vickie

[Vickie]

Ps

when he is at home, call him to you, put your hand on his collar, deliver food, release.

Do this as often as you can. Dogs that play keep away can be very hard to fix. The above should help.

What is he crossed with?

Edited April 18, 2011 by Vickie

[prada]

Your right. it does make sense. i have been so concerned about getting him exercised and not working one on one with the basics. I will take a step backwards and put some work in as I have been setting him up to fail. He is desexed and fully vaccinated. Thank you for your advice. It woke me up

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I have a BC that had horrific recall. Simple answer she wasn't allowed off the lead. Now she is, but only in places where I can have minimal distraction and I know she can't hurt herself (ie by chasing bikes, cars, anything else moving!!).

How did I get there...

Get a long line, I bought a horse lunging lead for $25 at the stockfeed store - best investment ever! Dog can run to end of line and you can recall, plus dog covers twice the distance you do! I would call Kenzie back about every 2 min or sooner, so she was literally bouncing in and out from me. Each time she came back I grabbed her collar and treated her. If she didn't come back I turned and walked the other way.

When doing our street walks on a short lead we practiced recalls about every 2 houses. So even though it was a short lead there was lots of distraction but she was close enough to me to manage it.

I think we did these 2 things for at least 6months before I was game to try her off lead again.

Things that I think are important - make recalls a fun game (be exciting, have treats, let them go again so they don't think coming back to you means they're stuck with you forever - by this I don't mean every single time, but letting them go again seems to cause them to come back and check in just to see where you are). You can play hide and seek at home to teach recall, they seem to find it fun. I also just do random recalls when I'm at home and Kenzie gets a big treat for coming.

But if you don't have reliable recall don't let the dog off lead - it's not safe for them and they can also learn when they hear you calling that it's ok to ignore you (even though it's not, but they've learnt that they have the option to not come back and I think it would be harder to break that than to teach a strong recall to start with).

A book I was recommened (but am still yet to read!!) was "Control Unleashed", you can also find videos about it on youtube.

[persephone]

Get a long line /horse lunge rope and walk him on that occasionally. if he is walked 2x a day on an ordinary leash ..and has a yard/company- 'free runs' are not obligatory

[Nekhbet]

Todays walk was total hell and it is getting worse as his confidence grows. He doesnt stray too far as he stays close to my other dog but he will only come just outside of arms reach at the park and it takes me about 10 minutes of excited voices and running the other way and laying on the ground until I can get him close enough to grab. If a bike goes past then I have no hope in hell. I need to get this sorted asap. we are about to move onto acreage and if he has no recall he can not be around livestock and may have to go. He is brilliant in every other department and I want to be able to exercise him off lead but stressing about him is doing my head in. I uaully walk with my toddler as well who I cant just abandon to chase the new dog. ahhh any ideas to start with? He is not overly food or toy driven which doesnt help.

I find it dissapointing you're angry with a dog you've only had for a few weeks and have done no work with for ... acting like a dog.

He has drive - tonnes of it. He doesnt know that he's meant to get the drive satisfaction from YOU and a TOY. He thinks bikes and other things are more awesome and hence he satisfies he prey drive by chasing them.

Keep the dog on a leash. Start training him in recalls. Make a flirt pole and tie the dogs favourite toy on the end and teach him to play with toys - many dogs do not know how these days because their owners either dont do it or stop them hence behaviour like your dog is showing.