Recall trouble..

I have always worked hard on Kestrals recall. For the most part it is fantastic, 100% in open spaces, 99% in harder areas, until she chases someting... then it is 1%.

Over the last few months she has become even more prey driven. I have been generally able to control it by calling her to me BEFORE she darts off. This is fine when I can predict what she is about to do, but not so fine when she is doing it.

I use her ball on rope as a recall reward which she used to LOVE and come bounding back for.

Recently she has gone off her ball and is just obsessed with chasing / looking for small animals. There are baby squirrels which just sit on the floor and there are sometimes 3 or more in each tree. On Friday and today she has gone off for at least 2 minutes and not returned.
She will now be walked on a lead or a line until I crack this.

I know I am now in the hard situation where for her the reward of chasing something is higher than what I can offer so I'm a bit worried. I only have these problems if I am in wooded areas but most of the walking round here is just that.


I am guessing:
- I need to walk her on a lead and practice her recall.
- Find a better reward than the ball?
- Stop walking her in wooded areas to stop her from getting so aroused by prey
- Perhaps change my recall cue.
- Practice getting her to recall away from moving objects

I am tempted for that 4 day course SB posted, its just too expensive and I'm not sure with Kestrals issues and taking time off work that it is practical...

Help please

try a whistle?

I used to use a whistle as more of an emergency cue, worked wonders recalling her from deer etc.. Until she discovered squirrels and it has failed

For recall I always try to use a super high value reward, such as cheese or chicken, and make sure you allow her to go off straight afterwards so she doesn't just think its no fun to come back as she will be back on the lead.

Thanks, I do use them aswell, although she used to seems to prefer her ball on walks so I tend to use that more but I do always have a tasty stash of food too!

She is always let to go after her recalls and I don't tend to recall her to put her on a lead unless in an emergency but she knows thats not going to happen. She just no longer finds my rewards as rewarding as when she is chasing

goodluck with recall my springer wasnt interested in food,ball nothing hes 11 1/2 now and has just got the recall with a whistle(although have used whistke for a long time with the others) no problem with recall with other 3 always just him but 11 years later hes got it!

Have you ever read this article?
http://www.dog-secrets.co.uk/how-do-...y-dog-chasing/

Yeah the chasing does make it harder, might be a good idea to do a long lead, then take her where she is chasing and work on recall, through repetition she should start getting the message that it is not debatable on whether she recalls or not (of course still treat even after you have had to reel her in lol)

We had this problem with our older dog, she had always been encouraged to go play with all other dogs (last owner was of the "my dog is friendly" type, so of course her recall was bad when she saw other dogs, even from 1/2 mile away! So I did the long line and treats now she is around 95% for recall even with another dog close by.

wow. your dog recalled from chasing deer before not recalling from chasing squirrels

can you go back to square one on a long line re-conditioning the whistle using sausages around squirrel populated areas, but not right up close to the squirrels at first.

Glad you have finally cracked your recall!

Thanks, that made really interesting reading. Perhaps to start I need to just go to a boring field and practise recalling her from a moving ball - just need to get her back in to her ball or frisbee. I used to use the word 'ready' to tell her I was going to throw the ball and she would go crazy for it, but not anymore

Yes I think your right eventually I need to take her to where there are squirrels and do some controlled recalls on a line. I think I should put that on hold for a week or so though as she is just totally hyped up in woods at the moment..

Yes she's fine with the deer in terms of recall. I guess she has never properly had the thrill of the chase, as I recall her as soon as she and I both see them so it is not as rewarding as squirrel chasing.
I will go back to basics, I think realistically I need to not visit any where with a high density of squirrels for a while to allow her to calm down as she just becomes freizied.
Do you think getting a new pitch/type of whistle, and changing the toot toot rhythm would help reconditioning a new recall?