Tilly Has Turned Into A Snot

[kja]

So I know my dogs aren't winning any obedience awards but 99% of the time we all do just fine. The last week Tilly has been a real snothead when it comes to coming when I call her. And yesterday I thought my head would explode from keeping my frustration and grumpy in check.

The last week she will sometimes come right away, all happy and stand or sit quietly for as long as I want her to. But now and again I could have a dumptruck load of treats waiting for her and she wouldn't obey. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to when she will and won't. I've tried to dissect the actions each time it happens and there's just nothing consistent to tip me that THIS is going to be the time she doesn't come. It seems to only happen once during a walk and the rest of the time she's fine.

What can I do, other than keeping her on a leash at all times, to kick start her training/behaviour again? Even her favourite treats are not enticing her to come when she gets in a mood.

[bedazzledx2]

NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) Sorry I haven't time to go into it now but if you google you'll find heaps.

[kja]

Ah, well, thanks. Not so helpful really.

She was a total gem last night on our walk - no chasing cars, came every time she was called even when she was engrossed in something, well, gross, played nicely with some friends' dogs & came when I called when she was playing. No sign of the dingbat.

[corvus]

IME, the more you jackpot recalls the stronger they get. Kivi has always been one for kind of randomly not coming when called. He has spitz moments. The times he doesn't come are slowly but steadily decreasing. He is 3 1/2 and has been practising recalls for most of his life. He only gets more reliable, so keep plugging away.

[Aidan3]

How old is she, kja? I would probably go back a few steps, it doesn't sound like she is earning the freedom right now so I'd probably use a long line until you get through this. If food isn't motivating her, look at what happens if you cut her morning meal in half, it could simply be a lack of desire. Or it could be that a different reward is more motivating.

There are a lot of different things to look at. Cues, other things in the environment, difficulty. Keeping track of a few numbers might help, recording success or failure for every time you call her. You should get about 80% success, if it's anything below this, something is making it too difficult so you need to adjust your criteria.

[Kavik]

What are you doing when you recall her? I have found calling and then running away works quite well. Also if you do it fairly frequently, before they get too far away.

[Weasels]

Is she keen for chasing a ball? I got the best results training a recall on my girl by stopping a game of fetch, calling her in, then throwing the ball back behind me. So it's kind of like i was doing her a favour by getting her halfway to where the ball was going to be, if that makes sense. Worked great for the foxdog, anyway.

[lilmisssascha83]

oh I feel for you. Sasha is EXACTLY the same at the moment. Its driving me nuts. I have looked up nothing is free techniques and been practicing that. I also have taken up your suggestion Weasel about practing recall with a ball as Sasha loves to play fetch. The only thing is that if there is a ball in sight she will just hang around me and not going anywhere ( unless she sees another dog) and then when I try to call her back she's too interested in greeting the dog.

So frusterating but will try to perfect this technique. Usually she just wants to say hello to a dog and will come but other times she won't. I feel like when I go to school that they think I dont practice yet I do every day .

awww well just keep practicing. Maybe she's having an off week

[Weasels]

Lilmisssascha good luck Fox is ball-obsessed 24/7 and not at all interested in other dogs so in one sense we were lucky there, since we already knew her highest reward.

With Weez i did a bit more trial and error to find what he'll work best for, he works well for food (usually 4legs treats but sometimes meat scraps if he's really lucky) but to really bomb-proof a behaviour i'll practice it around sheep and let him herd as a reward, and the commands do seem to still work when we're nowhere near sheep. So trying multiple things to find the best reward can be worthwhile, and can be different for each dog.

The other thing I need to do with Weez is keep an eye on him and intervene before he gets 'zeroed in' on something. For example if i see another dog and it doesn't look like the other owner wants it to socialise, i get in and do focus work with lots of treats and put him in a heel to walk past as soon as he notices the dog and before he starts to approach, since once he's off there's a chance he'll make the wrong decision and keep going The idea is he then gets a history of reward by staying with me and doesn't get to practice/self-reward by running off to the other dog without permission. Then if staying with me is already super-fun that should help recall too.

This is just stuff that worked for me tho, hopefully both lms and Kja you find what works for your pooches