Recall and big dogs

We are having real trouble with recall and our totally lovely but quite boisterous ridgeback. We decided a few weeks ago to start again - so have been in the garden practising away as he went through a phase of not even coming when we called him there. His recall in other situations is very variable - we go on a monthly socialisation walk with other dogs, and he will come then when recall is practised. Weekly puppy training he won't come at all and on walks when we've tried it in the past it has been variable.

We are now ready to perhaps try it somewhere with more distractions which just fills me with dread as whilst he's not aggressive in any way the worry is that if he is distracted by another dog, he won't come. As he's so big, albeit a total softie, I have had people have a right go at me in the past even though he hadn't actually done anything wrong in the first place. These experiences have left me quite wobbly and I know I have to be calm and assertive which often I'm not feeling inside!

Does anyone have any tips on how we can best get to the next level of his recall training. A long line thingy doesn't work particularly well as because he's quite strong holding onto something long can result in me being pulled all over the shop!

What method are you using now? How old is your dog?
What does your puppy class trainer say?
sorry for all the questions

I found the best way with my puppy was to be totally out of sight around the house when calling her in from the garden, are you doing that? If I ever stood in view at the door and called her she would never come, so I resorted to hiding somewhere, and now whatever she's doing be it out in the garden or out playing with another dog, she stops instantly and comes hurfing over to me. Another thing that helped was to have her offlead all of the time when out (although it petrified me at first at only 13 weeks old! ), but it worked! That way, I use her name often when she's walking on ahead, just to let her know that I'm there and want her to come if I need, sometimes I call her over, sometimes I don't, and if the ball doesn't work, then use her favourite toy in your hand when you call her, or have some treats handy. Every single time she comes when you have called her, you must give her a treat or praise her rotten, never forget this bit and over time, she'll just come anyway, just for nothing! Good luck, you have to constantly work on it at home, but like I said, go in another room where you can still see her outside when you call and hopefully that will work, and use a very happy, silly voice, never call her grufly or normally, it just won't work to start off with, you have to be more interesting than whatever she's up to, every time! Good luck.

we're using treats - if he doesn't come first time we call, we walk away in the opposite direction or hide....ruf is 10 months old and our trainers have suggested the walking away as well as the going back to basics in the garden and slowly introducing distraction etc

Hi

You say you started again after a few weeks....!!!

How old is the naughty boy in question ??? and training is an everyday task especially with a big powerful dog like a ridgeback.

The first rule is, if he won't come back, don't give him the freedom and let him off lead in the first place. It's not only other dogs and owners that might cause him and you a problem. It's roads and cars and if he runs off and doesn't come back, he will end up in far more trouble if he encounters a moving vehicle.

My advice, persist with a long lead in a quiet place and reward him with the biggest love and cuddles when he returns. And remember its rover COME, not ROVER ROVER ROVER come

The above however should only be attempted once you have mastered, the sit, down, down stay, wait commands from a distance and preferrably with hand signals so that he will respond even if he doesn't hear your voice.

Hope that helps

Absolutely!!! Name once only to get the attention and then the command - perfect!

not sure why we have exclamation marks for "we started again after a few weeks"?!* what i meant was we started with the basics again ie. going back to the garden and walking him onlead when we're out and about.* we train him everyday - a mixture of heel work, sit/stay commands as well as recall....we are being successful with recall in a quiet place which i guess can be our garden and an empty field we use but i am just wondering about the next stage of recall practice which inevitably will have to be with other distractions...am not sure whether this should be in an open space where there are other dogs or whether there is an interim step first, like, having another dog in our garden while we do recall?

Have you been to any training classes at all??? The reason I ask is, the one I go to, and I've only been going for 3 weeks now, is that we let 3 dogs off at a time, let them play, let them get wound up and THEN we have to call our dogs back to make sure they will come when called even when leaving other dogs? Maybe you should sign up for some classes and do it that way? I'm just very lucky with mine, and I'm sure that's because I started recall by leaving her offlead the very first time we went out for a walk in the countryside. The dog doesn't want to lose you so it usually sticks to you like glue or comes back the minute you call it's name with the command "come". Play hide and seek too, that's always a good one, and see if your dog worries that you're out of sight, but make sure YOU can see your dog of course! Good luck

Are there two of you?

You could try walking apart and calling him between you, rather than letting him off and expecting him to come back when there are all those lovely smells out there

I would say if your having lots of trouble, find the right treat for him. Something that he just cant resist. Practise when your out and im sure he will soon get the hang of it. Especially if he knows theres a treat at the end

I use salami for my dog. She cant resist it