help with recall for a terrier

Ms Tootsie

Hi all

We have been working on improving the recall of our wheaten terrier. Typical of the terrier breed he loved to take off and chase anything that moved within his eyeline so we never let him off-lead on our walks.

We have however been working on his recall and it has been going very well so far. We can leave the house to put rubbish in the bin and unlike before he hasnt taken off and ignored our calls. We can now even let him off lead at night before bed to do his business (our front garden has no gates) and he will still come when called.

We have been using the command 'Frodo Come' so he knows we are not just saying his name and this is a command not just us chatting to him. When he returns we are rewarding him with a small treat. We started training with high value treats (bits of raw chicken).

Yesterday after a few months of constant recall training we tested out our hard work and up in Castletown we let him off lead. It wasnt too bad but unfortunately when distractions were around (people, dogs, birds) he didnt come when called straight away. Any ideas how we can get it across to him that the command means to come to us straight away? He is too over friendly and we dont want him running over to someone who isnt a fan of dogs.

Also he quickly figured out that if he came over when called he usually got clipped back onto his lead. So while he would return when called he would quickly dash off when we tried to clip the lead onto his harness. Any suggestions how to improve this?

ILoveToast

Hey,
When there are distractions around, timing is the key. You want to call him before he has started running after the distraction, whatever the distraction is, dogs, people etc etc.
Start gradually, to begin with try to have the distractions quite far away, then you gradually move closer and closer. While practicing the recall command
If there are a lot of distractions around the treats/rewards needs to be of high value.
Also, if he has associated the recall command with being put back on the lead, you need to alter it, sometimes he does gets put on the lead and other times not. Either way, he should be rewarded for coming back.

You are clearly on the right way anyway, so just keep up the training would be my advice and best of luck with it.

DBB

Everything you've done so far has been spot on, but I feel that you've tried to progress the command too fast, a common problem. So, how do you progress from a good recall on home turf to when you're out in the big bad world?
A harness, and a longline. That's it! The longline can be as long as you want it to be, it should always be clipped to the back ring of a harness, never to a collar.
It acts as an umbilical cord, allowing you to be in more or less full control of your dog, even if he's a distance away. You can allow him to trail it around after him, taking care he doesn't trip people or get tangled up, and if you see a potential problem looming which may make him run away, just get to the end of the longline, and stand on it! Once he loses focus on the distraction, continue with your command as normal.
As time passes, just as at home, you will build up a better recall in higher-distraction areas, without him ever learning to run away. You'll get to the stage where his recall is very reliable, and then you can start phasing out the longline.
You can buy them on various websites and in pet shops, they're often called tracking lines, but I see more and more being called recall lines, or training lines. You can also make your own out of washing-line cord, the plastic-coated stuff, which makes it slide through grass and rough stuff, and it doesn't soak up moisture. Just be careful not to literally clothesline anyone with it :-D

Ms Tootsie

This is all great stuff thanks for this!

Perhaps we did move too quickly from home turf to the big bad word and the excitement got a bit too much for him

Will try away from home with a recall line and high value treats like we used at the start and work up from there.

Thanks!