Lurcher recall training

I have a female lurcher (greyhound cross - but not sure with what!) who I got from Dogstrust in January this year. They think she is about 7. Her training level was non-existent although she would walk very quietly on the lead. We have now taught sit, paw, wait and come - all brilliant in the house.

When she gets out on a walk and off the lead she will come when called - UNLESS there is a rabbit (real or imaginary) to be chased! Then tunnel vision sets in and I don't think she even hears me. She does eventually come back but of course I am concerned the chase will take her through barbed wire or across a road.

I walk her on an extendable lead at the moment due to my concerns with recall but if there are any tips to be had I would be very grateful!

Here are a few helpfull tips for training recall. First, it should be a very gradual thing. She already knows how to come inside perfectly so then you take it a tiny step further and have some noise and distractions going on in the house while you try to call her to you. After she gets that down well, you can take her outside on a long lead and practice recall. Have her sit and stay then walk backwards a few steps and say "come" enthusiastically (dogs will get bored with just a simple "come" you have to make it exciting at first). Then gradually after each time she comes get further and further away from her. By the time you have really got this down she should be able to come to you (on a long lead) from quite a ways away. Then you are able to (in a big enclosed area) work on recall off the leash. Some good tips when you first start this is to play hide and go seek with your dog. Have them sit and stay then hide behind a tree or something then call them to you. They will LOVE this and usually come right to you. This works best if someone is able to hold the dog while you hide. Another good tip for recall off lead is to get down on the ground and call the dog with an enthusiastic voice. Making a high pitch noise with your voice (a noise you dn't normally make) can catch their attention and add to the effect as well. I hope this helps! Let me know if it does!

Welcome to the forums I have a Lurcher too

As for recall I agree with DrIvEn. And can't think of anything that wasn't covered in her post.

P.S. Have you heard of a squaker? They usually work well with any dog that has sighthound instincts.

Hi Back to basics i think. Lead training and more lead training. I must say im not a fan of extending leads, your not in control. Good old fashioned heel, sit, stay. Its worked for years, and come on what lurcher worth its salt would'nt be tempted to chase what after all it was bred to do. If its off the lead make sure its where theres no wire

Thanks for the advice Driven. My main concern is that although she is faultless when her attention's on me it's when she focusses on "them pesky wabbits"! It's only happened a couple of times (hence the lead now) but you could have heard my high pitched squeaks and seen my madly waving arms 100 miles away! Not Amber though

I agree John100 with your comment it is indeed what they are bred for! I am keeping her on the lead because I can't rely on her attention at all times.

Hi Greyhoundgirl - never heard of a squaker - more info please!!!!!!!!!!

i would agree but you should recall from a wait not a stay cos stay means stay where you are i'll come to you

Old wives tale.

I do not use the words wait or stay.

I use

stand
sit
down

as in order to actually wait or stay, the dog has to be in one of these three positions (unless you know better)

If I say sit/down/stand to my dog it remains in that position until I give it another command or release it.

It also is clear to the dog and gives it a precise behaviour, whereas stay/wait is abstract.

But millions of people use the stay/wait superstition way to train and have great success.

I cannot be fagged to give two commands when one will do.

I am a lazy trainer!

In Schutzhund and Obedience, where you have positions on the move for example, there is not the ability to give TWO commands, only one is permitted.

Hi
My wolfhound pup has never been used for coursing (obviously as he is only 6 months old!!!) but he has the natural instinct to chase ANYTHING!!! Think its only to play, hope so anyway!
He has mastered all other commands 100%, but the recall is still an issue. Like your dog, he gets distracted and nothing will encourage him to even look at me let alone come back!!!
I use an extendable lead, let off only in a secure field, then when I want him to come back, I "squeak" (yes, really!!!), say "Albie Come", and give a gentle pull on the lead. He then turns towards me, sees me doing a little jig and squeaking, so comes over to investigate whats wrong with me!!! I then give him lots of praise and cuddles.
We've been doing this for a bit now, and although he is much better, I still use the lead to give me confidence that I do have control over him, more than I would if he was off lead completely. We'll get there eventually, I hope!
If flexi leads are used responsibly, and to the manufacturers instructions, they are fine and can be very useful.
Hope this helps.

Is she ball or toy driven? If so you can practice recalling her away from moving toys (similar although less exciting than moving animals). Smokeybear has written a great post on how to do this so I won't reitterate it - have a look on other recall threads or she might be kind enough to repost it.

I also found putting my recall on a whistle helps a lot. It is a much louder more obvious noise and much less easily drained out than our boring voices! The key is if you do this yo make recall THE most exciting thing with lots of treats or toys as a reward at the start. I always reward kestral after a whistle recall as usually these are harder ones like when she's chasing something or found a deer etc.. So I like to keep her keen.

Why can’t I get a reliable recall?

‘Come’ is no harder to train than any other behaviour but in real life it has a huge number of criteria that have to be raised one at a time in order to guarantee success.

Often when puppies are brought home to their new owners this is the first time they have ever been separated from their dam and siblings and so they naturally attach themselves to their new family by following them about everywhere. Owners find this quite attractive and wrongly assume that this trait will continue into adolescence/adulthood, whatever the circumstances. A dangerous trap to fall into…

At some point in time, usually from around 6 – 10 months, depending on the individual, “Velcro” dog will morph into “Bog off” dog (this is especially true of a breed that has been developed to exhibit a high degree of initiative).

This is the time when owners suddenly realize that their dog will not recall when it sees another dog/person etc. Not only is this inconvenient but potentially dangerous as the dog could be at risk of injury from a car/train/another dog etc.

How and when do I start with a puppy?

My advice is to prepare for this inevitability from the day you take your puppy home. If you are lucky the breeder will have started this process whilst still in the nest by conditioning the puppies to a whistle blown immediately before putting the food bowl down during weaning.
Dogs learn by cause and effect ie sound of whistle = food. If you, the new owner, continue this from the moment your puppy arrives you will lay down strong foundations for the future.

By using the whistle in association with meals/food you need to establish the following criteria:
• Come from across the room.
• Come from out of sight
• Come no matter who calls
• Come even if you are busy doing something else
• Come even if you are asleep.
• Come even if you are playing with something/someone else
• Come even if you are eating

Once this goal has been realized in the house, drop all the criteria to zero and establish the same measures, one at a time, in the garden.

Once this goal has been realized in the garden, drop all the criteria to zero and establish the same measures, one at a time, in the park/field etc.

To train this, or any other behaviour:

1. Make it easy for the dog to get it right
2. Provide sufficient reward

Do not expect a dog to come away from distractions in the park until you have trained it to come to you in the park when no diversions are around. Be realistic and manage your expectations; your sphere of influence/control over your dog may be only 20m to begin with, therefore do not hazard a guess that the dog, at this level of training, will successfully recall from 50m or more away. Distance, like every other criterion, must be built up over time.

Some simple rules to follow when training the recall:

• Whistle/signal/call only once (why train the dog to deliberately ignore your first command?)
• Do not reinforce slow responses for the dog coming eventually after it has cocked its leg, sniffed the tree etc (you get what you train!)
• If you know that the dog will not come back to you in a certain situation, go and get him rather than risk teaching him that he can ignore you. (If you have followed the programme correctly you will never put your dog in a position to fail).
• Practise recalling the dog, putting him on the lead for a few seconds, reinforce with food/toy etc and immediately release the dog. Do this several times during a walk etc so that the dog does not associate a recall with going on the lead and ending the walk or being put on the lead with the cessation of fun.
• Eventually, when the behaviour is very strong, alternate rewards ie verbal praise, physical praise, food, toy and also vary the “value” of the rewards, sometimes a plain piece of biscuit, sometimes a piece of cooked liver etc so that you become a walking slot machine (and we all know how addictive gambling can be)!

In my experience recall training should be consistent and relentless for the first two years of a dog’s life before it can be considered truly dependable. You should look on it as a series of incremental steps, rather than a single simple behaviour, and something that will require lifelong maintenance.

What about an older or rescue dog?

Follow the same programme as outlined above however for recalcitrant dogs that have received little or no training, I would recommend dispensing with the food bowl and feeding a dog only during recalls to establish a strong behaviour quickly.

Your training should be over several sessions a day, which means you can avoid the risk of bloat. It is essential that the dog learns that there will be consequences for failure as well as success.

Divide the day’s food ration up into small bags (between10 – 30), if the dog recalls first time, it gets food, if it does not, you can make a big show of saying “too bad” and disposing of that portion of food (either throw it away or put aside for the next day).

Again, raise the criteria slowly as outlined in puppy training.

Hunger is very motivating!

For those of you who believe it unfair/unhealthy to deprive a dog of its full daily ration, not having a reliable recall is potentially life threatening for the dog ……………

How do I stop my dog chasing joggers/cyclists/skateboarders/rabbits/deer?

Chasing something that is moving is a management issue. Do not put your dog in a position where it can make a mistake. Again you need to start training from a pup but if you have already allowed your dog to learn and practise this behaviour you may need to rely on a trailing line until your dog is desensitised to these distractions and knows that listening to you results in a great reinforcement. Chasing is a behaviour much better never learned as it is naturally reinforcing to the dog, which makes it hard for you to offer a better reinforcement. If you want to have a bombproof recall while your dog is running away from you then use the following approach:

Your goal is to train so that your dog is totally used to running away from you at top speed, and then turning on a sixpence to run toward you when you give the recall cue.

You need to set up the training situation so that you have total control over the triggers. For this you will need to gain the co-operation of a helper. If you have a toy crazy dog you can practice this exercise by throwing a toy away from the dog towards someone standing 30 or 40 feet away. At the instant the toy is thrown, recall your dog! If the dog turns toward you, back up several steps quickly, creating even more distance between the you and the toy and then throw another toy in the opposite direction (same value as one thrown)..

If the dog ignores you and continues toward the thrown object, your “helper” simply picks the ball up and ignores dog. When dog eventually returns (which it will because it’s getting no reinforcement from anyone or anything), praise only. Pretty soon the dog will start to respond to a recall off a thrown toy. You will need to mix in occasions the toy is thrown and the dog is allowed to get it ie you do NOT recall if you want to make sure it does not lose enthusiasm for retrieving.

For the food obsessed dog, you can get your helper to wave a food bowl with something the dog loves in it and then recall the dog as soon as you let it go to run towards the food; again if the dog ignores you and continues to the food, your helper simply ensures the dog cannot access the food and start again. (It is extremely important that the helper does not use your dog’s name to call it for obvious reasons).

Gradually increase the difficulty of the recall by letting the dog get closer and closer to the toy/food. Praise the moment the dog turns away from the toy/food in the
early stages of training. Don't wait until the dog returns to you; the dog must have instant feedback.

Once the dog is fluent at switching directions in the middle of a chase, try setting up the situation so that it is more like real life. Have someone ride a bike/run/skate past. (It is unrealistic to factor in deer/rabbits however if your training is thorough the dog will eventually be conditioned to return to you whatever the temptation in most contexts).

Until your training gets to this level, don't let the dog off-lead in a situation in which you don't have control over the chase triggers. Don't set the dog up to fail, and don't allow it to rehearse the problem behaviour. Remember, every time a dog is able to practise an undesirable behaviour it will get better at it!

Most people do not play with toys correctly and therefore the dog is not interested in them or, if it gets them, fails to bring it back to the owner.

Play the two ball game, once you have a dog ball crazy. Have two balls the same, throw one to the left, when the dog gets it, call him like crazy waving the next ball; as he comes back throw the other ball to the right and keep going left right so that YOU are the centre of the game and the dog gets conditioned to return to you for the toy. Once this behaviour is established you can then introduce the cues for out and then make control part of the game ie the game is contingent on the dog sitting and then progress to a sequence of behaviours.

HTH