Recall: chloe, Chole, CHLOE!!!!

Zulu

As some of you already know, I'm the proud owner of a now 6month old Labrador retriever. She's great craic, and I'm going to train her - but not just yet as I think she's still a little too young (and I want her to enjoy being a puppy). All that said, I do think I need to start recall training & fast.

I'm fortunate enough to live beside a quiet beach, and I can leave her off the lead with little danger. I start to run into problems though, when another dog comes into about a 50meter range - then she's gone. Unfortunately, I've compounded this problem by running after her in these instances. I've tried to avoid running after her, but I fear that the other dogs owner mightn't appreciate a bounding lab pup sprinting around them.

Most days I walk her, this doesn't happen - it's just us on the beach, but I'd like to visit other (busier) beaches occasionally.

Anyway - I'd greatly appreciate any tips or experiences you may have had training recall to your dogs.

I've read a good few online articles and they're pitching a more or less universal approach, so really I'm asking for tips and experiences (or completely radical approaches if they exist!)

koneko

Dogs enjoy training and learning, I would not put it off so she can enjoy being a puppy, she'll do that regardless

Better to start training and get her into good habits instead of delaying it.

ISDW

Does she come back to you when called if there are no other dogs around?

Maybe get a really long line, don't hold onto it, just let it drag on the floor as she goes around exploring, then call her, if she doesn't come, you can stand on the line first, then pull her into you. Lots of praise and treats when she does come back, even if its because you've made her with the lead:D

The thing is, she's just a playful pup, but she may go up to another dog that isn't dog friendly, and then she could end up hurt physically or associate other dogs with bad things, and become dog unfriendly herself.

piperh

ISDW wrote: »

Does she come back to you when called if there are no other dogs around?

Maybe get a really long line, don't hold onto it, just let it drag on the floor as she goes around exploring, then call her, if she doesn't come, you can stand on the line first, then pull her into you. Lots of praise and treats when she does come back, even if its because you've made her with the lead:D

The thing is, she's just a playful pup, but she may go up to another dog that isn't dog friendly, and then she could end up hurt physically or associate other dogs with bad things, and become dog unfriendly herself.

Thanks ISDW thats a great suggestion for my 2 6mnth olds. They come back to their name and to the whistle even if they're digging or interested in the smells but if theres another dog around its a different story, they think all dogs are going to play with them and it'll take a minute or two for me to get their attention. I actually had an old man hit the one with his stick the other day because it was running around with his little terrier. I'll have to try the long lead.

liah

Thing we tried after exhausting all other ideas on one of our pups was we got an extendable leash (the ones that roll up into the big plastic handle), let her go out to full length of it (ours was about 50ft!) 'locked' it so there was slack, and called her to come back, and if she didn't, gave a short tug, then let it slack, then called again, if no reaction tug again, etc. with the obvious treat when she finally copped on and came. Ours picked it up that way relatively quickly.

Spitfire_24

how we trained our girl to recall was, call her name loudly, clap our hands and then run a few steps in the OPPOSITE direction to the one she wanted to go, calling her again...she generally would lose interest in whatever had her attention first and she'd come running to us for fun and chase...lots of attention and praise when she'd come back plus a little treat. the thing we found was to make us seem more interesting than the other dog/bird/football/bumblebee
we also recall if there are no other dogs or people around just to make sure she's listening and so she doesn't associate recall with other dogs or being put on the lead...worked for us!

tk123

Firstly she's not too young for training - it's a great way of using up energy wearing them out. We train every day - my guy LOVES it. Also she's going to turn into a little rebel soon so you should try and get the basics covered now and build on them as she gets older. People always tell me my dog is good (i think he's bold lol) but it's because I put the time in with him and we both enjoy it. Recall and loose lead walking are one of the easier things to learn imo because you walk the dog everyday so you can pretty much get some practice in everyday. That said it's not an overnight thing but put the time in and it'll pay off.

Anyhoos my baba had an operation last nov and was ok to go off the lead in march - his recall was out the window so we had to learn it all again. This is how we learned it :

First you need a word/phrase instead of her name- we use come here. The reason behind this is you come down and she's chewed up your iphone, your winning lotto ticket or she's shredding your new runners - more than likely you'll shout in horror "CHLOE NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo":pac: so they can sometimes associate their name with negative things. You want a word/phrase that she assoicates with getting a treat and praise.

Step 1 - In the house get some treats and throw one away from you - being a greedy puppy she'll eat it and come back to you for more - as she's coming back you say the phrase/word and when she comes back get her to sit and take her collar - LOADS of praise. Repeat this every day in the house/garden until you don't need to throw the treat and she's coming when you say come here - make sure you're treating and praising her when she gets it right.

Step 2 - when she's on her lead out for a walk let her take up the slack on the lead and give her the command - again loads of praise. Repeat, repeat repeat * I'd be wary of using a retractable lead with her because it's probably going to teach her to pull and you'll be back in a few months when she gets bigger and stronger. Labs are gundogs and are famous for pulling - my guy used to be a nightmare and put my back out one time - and i had to get xrays the pain was that bad (nurse - is it a big dog?? tk - eh no he's a 4 month old puppy)

Step 3 - get a long line and let her have a wander then give the command - if she comes back praise, if she doesn't pull her in. I find it handy to make some knots/loops in the long line so it doesn't go flying out of your hand if they decide to have a run For this I'd do it at quieter times in the park so there's less distractions.

Step 4 - I let him off but call him back every few mins and let him go again - this is so he doesn't avoid coming back - a lot of people will only call the dog back when it's time to go so they run the oppostie way so they can stay at the park/beach and have fun :pac:
At the moment when my guy is off I call him back every few mins and give him a treat and then let him go off about his business again. When you call them back you want to be excited and happy - come here and see what I have for you - not come here so I can kill you lol . We have a doggy backpack for when we train in the park so he can carry his long line himself :pac:

If they ignore and don't come back you chalk it down to needing more practice - don't scold as you want them to associate coming back as postive and fun not being told off.

EDIT - lol I had a bit of a ramble there - sorry

piperh

Great advice TK. As i said for my 2 their recall is great we've never told them off when they've come back even if they've escaped onto the front garden, and they are both whistle trained and its only other dogs that distract them and i think this is in part to the fact that they run around with the dogs at socialisation class so think they can do the same in the park.

Kali_Kalika

Don't delay any longer in training! It's never too soon! As someone else said, better to get ahead of bad habits than behind them! My girl is 6months old now too and long ago she mastered: Sit, (lie) Down, Give the paw (both left and right, whichever you hold out to her she'll give you that one), she'll drop and roll onto her back if you point your thumb and finger like a "gun" at her and say BANG (I thought it was hilarious because of the face on her when she does it!), she loves to play fetch as well and will run after it as many times as you'll throw it and neatly drop it back between your feet each and every time, and she has a near perfect recall (also having the issue of other dogs/distractions (mainly joggers) but I've gotten her to the point of at least not chasing after them (in a friendly I want to run too way!) and can get her (at worst) into a down and stay until they move on far enough.

Personally for the recall issue I started off using a retractable lead and she'd pop herself back when she reached the end of it - even on walks a small tug or pop on the leash and she knows she's been corrected and will then resume walking normally, forgetting about the distraction that caught her. So we moved that theory into the park and its worked perfectly. You need to figure out what your dogs "drive" is - the one thing in the world that they'll ignore everything else for. And for my girl, that's her bouncy ball, so that's been key in the training. Basically - running off and meeting other dogs or running off to join joggers is WAY WAY WAY more fun than running back to Mum/Dad (especially if you get harshly corrected!) that's no fun at all to them - so you have to BEAT the distraction. With my girl, when someone goes jogging by - I'll hold her ball in my hand, occasionally tossing it up and catching it - it totally has 100% of her focus as, you never know, it might to flying to chase after. Then, once its ok for her to run free again - I'll say "ok, good girl, ready to go" and she knows then its ok to stand up again and play time resumes. You need to find your dogs drive and be more interesting and fun than the distractions, and as the pup gets older, it gets a bit easier aswell as they have more ability to focus on the task at hand (at least, that's what I'm finding with my girl!)

Again - this is all just personal experience and I cannot say it will work with everyone and every dog - but its fairly sound common sense as well - so I'd maybe try that!

Taltos

Hi OP - maybe you should also consider some formal training? (not sure if we can mention companies here but I use one on Blanchardstown that is great)...

Having had dogs as a kid I was 100% certain I knew what to do - but did not factor in that there were more than just me raising my childhood dogs. Also - we all approach a dog with our idealized method for rearing and so bring along all our bad habits and misconceptions. Someone like DTI can help reset that - though to be 100% honest in my first few sessions I had to fight to get past my own prejudices. I am a control freak who has always (or thought I had) a natural affinity for dogs - so having a number of other people showing me a better way to do things - went against pretty much my whole being.

One other thing though - as much as you love seeing your dog free and off the lead - maybe just maybe you need reconsider letting them off the lead until such time that you know that 9 or 10 times out of 10 they will come back to you. The advice above about training is spot on from tk123 - if you cannot spend 15 minutes each day even just try for 5 - just be consistent. Make it all about fun and no matter what happens just keep doing it over and over. One thing that has been hammered into me is generalization though - make sure that you train your dog in as many places as possible - otherwise they will only associate the action with where you do it.

Best of luck and maybe consider formal training. Know it helped me (saying that as I type this the arm of one of my chairs has just been nobbled <sigh>)...

Zulu

First off – thanks for all the replies & sorry for not posting sooner.

ISDW wrote: »

Does she come back to you when called if there are no other dogs around?

Yes. …Mostly. The odd occasion (particularly if see see’s the lead) she decides she wants to play chasing. I don’t chase her.

Maybe get a really long line, don't hold onto it, just let it drag on the floor as she goes around exploring, then call her, if she doesn't come, you can stand on the line first, then pull her into you. Lots of praise and treats when she does come back, even if its because you've made her with the lead:D

I’ve been doing this lately. I got a long cotton clothes line & use that. I think I need to extend it though (it’s only about 10m).

The thing is, she's just a playful pup, but she may go up to another dog that isn't dog friendly, and then she could end up hurt physically or associate other dogs with bad things, and become dog unfriendly herself.

That, & she may run up to a person or child that’s frightened of dogs, or she might pickup something dangerous, or…  This I why I want to get the recall done right – I fully understand the dangers.

tk123 wrote: »

Firstly she's not too young for training - it's a great way of using up energy wearing them out. We train every day - my guy LOVES it.

When I say training… We have her sit, come, wait, down, jump & leave it commands excellent (in the house).

Also she's going to turn into a little rebel soon so you should try and get the basics covered now and build on them as she gets older.

I was advised that this was part of the reason not to start training as a lot can be undone when they get rebellious.

Step 1 - In the house get some treats and throw one away from you - being a greedy puppy she'll eat it and come back to you for more - as she's coming back you say the phrase/word and when she comes back get her to sit and take her collar - LOADS of praise. Repeat this every day in the house/garden until you don't need to throw the treat and she's coming when you say come here - make sure you're treating and praising her when she gets it right.

Step 2 - when she's on her lead out for a walk let her take up the slack on the lead and give her the command - again loads of praise. Repeat, repeat repeat * I'd be wary of using a retractable lead with her because it's probably going to teach her to pull and you'll be back in a few months when she gets bigger and stronger. Labs are gundogs and are famous for pulling - my guy used to be a nightmare and put my back out one time - and i had to get xrays the pain was that bad (nurse - is it a big dog?? tk - eh no he's a 4 month old puppy)

Step 3 - get a long line and let her have a wander then give the command - if she comes back praise, if she doesn't pull her in. I find it handy to make some knots/loops in the long line so it doesn't go flying out of your hand if they decide to have a run For this I'd do it at quieter times in the park so there's less distractions.

Step 4 - I let him off but call him back every few mins and let him go again - this is so he doesn't avoid coming back - a lot of people will only call the dog back when it's time to go so they run the oppostie way so they can stay at the park/beach and have fun :pac:
At the moment when my guy is off I call him back every few mins and give him a treat and then let him go off about his business again. When you call them back you want to be excited and happy - come here and see what I have for you - not come here so I can kill you lol . We have a doggy backpack for when we train in the park so he can carry his long line himself :pac:

If they ignore and don't come back you chalk it down to needing more practice - don't scold as you want them to associate coming back as postive and fun not being told off.

EDIT - lol I had a bit of a ramble there - sorry

Nice one – thanks! I’ll give this a shot!

Cherry Blossom

With just a few simple tools you can progress in leaps and bounds, so to speak.

1. Get a decent dog whistle (a plastic one not the sort that screws apart or you'll loose hundreds of the ruddy things :rolleyes:), instantly gets the attention of even the most easily distracted dog.

2. Nice smelly, tasty wet dog food.

3. As soon as see another dog in the distance call the dog and put it on the lead before she sees it.

A few rules for whistle training, start at home in the house with one short blast on the whistle, give the dog some wet dog food (or something equally smelly and tasty). Build it up slowly by ramdomly doing the short blast on the whistle around the house and reward every single time.

Progress from this to using it to call her in from the garden, and then to other situations. In the early stages use the whistle only when you are 100% sure she will come straight away or she'll quickly twig on to the fact that she doesn't have to come if it doesn't suit her. Also reward every single time she comes, even if it takes a few seconds for her to decide to come at first. If it gets to a point where it seems she's stopped progressing or is going backwards, take a step backwards yourself and go back to the stage before.

When you progress to using the whistle out and about call the dog back often, take hold of her collar, treat and let her go again.

Took me a while to figure it all out, tried just about everything else with a dog with the attention span of a goldfish and this is the only thing that I've had any sort of results with so far :rolleyes:.

piperh

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

With just a few simple tools you can progress in leaps and bounds, so to speak.

1. Get a decent dog whistle (a plastic one not the sort that screws apart or you'll loose hundreds of the ruddy things :rolleyes:), instantly gets the attention of even the most easily distracted dog.

2. Nice smelly, tasty wet dog food.

3. As soon as see another dog in the distance call the dog and put it on the lead before she sees it.

A few rules for whistle training, start at home in the house with one short blast on the whistle, give the dog some wet dog food (or something equally smelly and tasty). Build it up slowly by ramdomly doing the short blast on the whistle around the house and reward every single time.

Progress from this to using it to call her in from the garden, and then to other situations. In the early stages use the whistle only when you are 100% sure she will come straight away or she'll quickly twig on to the fact that she doesn't have to come if it doesn't suit her. Also reward every single time she comes, even if it takes a few seconds for her to decide to come at first. If it gets to a point where it seems she's stopped progressing or is going backwards, take a step backwards yourself and go back to the stage before.

When you progress to using the whistle out and about call the dog back often, take hold of her collar, treat and let her go again.

Took me a while to figure it all out, tried just about everything else with a dog with the attention span of a goldfish and this is the only thing that I've had any sort of results with so far :rolleyes:.

+1 for the whistle training. I whistle trained my 2 around the house first as well and it worked great, mine stop dead on the first whistle and come on the second but with no more than a second or 2 in between. This was so i could be sure i got their attention on the first and then they wait eagerly for the second and the treat. This stops any immediate danger and ensures the focus is on me and not what is around. I had their recall ok (not brilliant) before i started this and after a week of whistle blowing around the house i started to use it in the field where they could run further but were still within eyesight. Within another week they realised that coming back to mom was more rewarding than running away with another dog I still do it around the house and garden every now and then.

I didn't use wet food cus its very messy to carry around but i used tiny bits of unsalted bacon as i could cook up a couple of days worth and keep it in the fridge.

Good luck

Charity Search And Rescue

The only command I use the whistle for is recall. I use 2 short tuts 1 long tut, when the dog reaches me I have a reward ready, I give a reward quickly and keep walking.
I started out using the whistle on a long lead with no distraction, then on lead with distractions, then off lead without distraction, then off lead with distractions.
After the 50th recall - the dog is so accustomed to it's own reaction to the whistle that it doesn't seem to have a choice but to willingly come back.

I use an Acme whistle 210 1/2.

Good luck with the pup..... Jack