Don't see where anyone said is simply about making the dog hungry enough to obey ..... So maybe u should read the thread

I think what the op is trying to figure out is what reward Dex would respond to best and what overides his longing to see otherdogs....doesn't matter how many times u repeat something if the dog thinks what u have/ are not interesting or valuble enough.

I read several pages and I read all of the other thread as well

yes the dog has to find the reward rewarding, but the op said in the other thread she has a good recall in the house and in the garden, and she talked about all the yummy treats she had tried

It dosent matter if you have the best most amazing thing in the world if the dog dosent come back they cannot be rewarded for comming back

It is about making sure that the distractions are build up slowly enough that the dog is set up to succeed - and making the reward good enough that they are likely to repeate the performance

as from what I had seen in this thread and the previous one there had been plenty talk about the reward - so I was simply saying I was not getting into talking about the reward bit of it but talking about the getting to come back in the first place - as from the first thread and bits on this thread THIS is actually what I think is the biggest bit of the problem that needs to be looked at and not the reward at all
Its not a case of getting such an amazing reward that he will suddenly have a 100% recall with all distractions - its building up the distractions step by step so that he learns to work with the distractions

Thats how I see it anyways- its simply far to big a step to go from the quiet garden to the great fun park with all the dogs to play with and other amazing new fun things, yes make the reward better in a more difficult place - but also take smaller steps

Ah - now I wonder if you've hit on where I'm going wrong???

I don't wait until he's tired before recalling, I've tried to recall either while he's set to approach the other dogs OR when he's still really caught up in play.....

Many thanks, I think from on I shall do as you suggest and ONLY recall when he's already getting a bit tired of the playing. Once we've got that down pat, then I can hopefully recall earlier.

Oh and yes, thanks, I am careful not to always put him back on lead - almost always I recall and then let him go again

Many thanks indeed, very helpful

I am sorry but I am not going to read 10 pages of to starve/to not staeve/ it is starving /whatever

TO address the origonal post as I see it

imo it is not simply a case of making the dog hungry enough/making the food amazing enough for the dog to instantly obay

a recal, like any other dog trick takes time, you have to build up locations and distractions so the dong understands 100% what is expected and so much so that the recal cue can actually get into the little head of the dog when he is totaly focused on something else

Taking a dog who can recal nicely in the house then waiting till they are in full on stalking mode of a major distraction of other dogs is like teaching your puppy to sit in the house infront of you then yelling' sit' as they charge towards a road in hot pursuit of a rabbit

Its not going to happen - even if you have smoked salmon in your pocket - because they dog is not well enough trained to understand what you are asking of them


I have totaly nothing against feeding a dog his meals out on a walk

- but any left over at the end of the walk I feed my dogs

Its great, you can train loads and not worry about overfeeding
But its just training - its not a magic tool

Dont call your dog when he is focused on something else and not likely to come back - he is not ready for this step yet

do 100 recals when he is already running back to you and reward him like crazy and have a fun game

then do 100 recals when he is looking at you

then 100 when he is not looking but not focused on anything else

Then when he is walking the other way

Then when he is casually sniffing

Then when there are dogs a long way away but he is not totaly focused just aware

100 isnt that many if you are taking all his food out to a park - 10/20 times a day - thats about a week or less

Dont move onto the next step until he is 100% on the last step

Play as many recal games as you can, run away from him make him find being with you the most fun amazing thing in the whole wide world

There is no magic training thing that gives you 100% recal 100% of the time - except for time
the more sucessful recals you have with realy fun rewards then the better chance of even more good uns

The more times you call and fail the more likely failures are

Wish I was closer...I'd have no hesitation in meeting up with this little lot.

I dont recall Khal when hes 'on a mission' I wait until hes reached his bogging off destination, start walking towards where he is, shout his name, wave his treat bag like mad "whatssssssssssssss thissssssssssssss" in a ridiculous voice...then Ruuuuuuuuun away like a mad woman. He comes back, but I look like a right loonytune hahaha

Tabitha, dont take this the wrong way. Just been reading between the lines abit,

It sounds as if you "could" have been rewarding him for looking at the other dogs, by mistake in a attempt to get his attention.

This has probably been said - apologies - but, to me, dog training is about changing responses. So the automatic response to a whistle is to trot towards the reward, not to head for the hills.
So repetition is all for me. And not asking for recall when it ain`t gonna happen.
With Toffee, my elderly mini-mutt who has never been trained and appears to have always hauled round on a flexi, I am simply saying come / rewarding every time he will respond. It is working and we will get there, but I`m expecting it to take many months. After all, I have years of ingrained habit to overcome.
I think retraining a dog with established behaviours is different to training a `blank sheet` puppy because it takes longer, so you need more patience. The dog doesn`t need to understand what you ask, as with human teaching - he needs to respond on a visceral level. So establishing those patterns takes time.