experiment

after max being so naughty on his walk yesterday ie jumping on 3 people chasing off with a large german shepherd and nearly knocking over a cyclist (he saw them all b4 i did so couldnt distract him!) also generally pretending he didnt know me and had never heard the word max b4 i am taking him out on a long lunge line today! ha that will show him!! Anyway I take it I only treat him if he comes back of his own accord and not if i reel him in? also how long should i give it b4 i let him off again or only when he is coming first time as i am worried he will never acheive this he so loves everybody else!!! All advice gratefully received!!

by the way for anyone who doesnt know he is 5 months on friday and he is a chocolate labrador i have been letting him off the lead since he was 10 weeks old and the being a horror only started this weekend prior to this he would turn on a penny if he heard me call!

Katy I would only give Max a treat if he comes back after you shouting on him.

If it takes you a few times before he comes back though- dont treat otherwise you are treating him for ignoring you

I would give him a just a little bit of praise if you have to remind him to come back, but if he comes back straight away when you call then give him a treat and loads of praise, really go over the top, then hopefully he will associate more praise with faster returns.

I found that if I gave just the tiniest of amount of praise, while showing Heidi what was required she seemed to pick it up quicker, then if she did it right I went right over the top, I'm right over the top most of the time any way so its easy for me

Katy - I always found that running in the opposite direction to the dog (calling it's name) works for me, especially if your dog is chasing a cyclist, obviously for training purposes you stand still and encourage your dog to come to you but the above is quite useful for other times.

When Jesse was young we used to pay hide and seek, when we would take jesse for a walk (a wooded area is good) hubby used to hold onto her and I would run and hide and then hubby would encourage Jesse to come and find me and while Jesse's looking for me, hubby would go and hide, it's worked a treat for us as she never goes more that a 4 or 5 feet away from us and the only time I need to use a lead is if there is dog close by on a lead then I put a lead on Jesse out of respect for the other dog owner.

ok well we are back and it didnt really go according to plan as met max's litter sister coco and his half sister evie who is 18 months over the park. Couldnt keep max on the lunge as he would of strangled his siters! he did come back when i called him today as did the other 2 so he was following them and was more the boy i know but will use the lunge when we go to the park tommorrow.he did approach other dogs at the park today but his bog sister always got there first so he wasnt so over the top! i must add though i was horrififed to see that max is now as tall as his 18month old sister!!!!!!!!

hmm well when i let indie off lead.. first and last time! she ran straight off. I tried the running in opposite direction and calling her, but she didnt care and jus kept running, which meant i had to chase her as she was already double the distance away from me and now outof site

Indie usually comes back when i call her, i have her on an 8metre stretchy lead. But if she doesnt come back, then i jus stand still and she eventually comes back realising shes not going anywhere if she doesnt.

Katy, i would praise more when he comes back first time hes called, and less praise when he comes back after a few attempts. But dont scold him bf did this yesterday with indie, she took a few attempts to come back, but when she did come backhe toldher off. But that jus tells her that coming back was what she did wrong

When your dog is on the long line call once only. If he ignores you reel him in. As he gets closer and is coming towards you give your recall command again, run backwards and when the dog reaches you praise & reward. You need to praise & reward enthusiastically every time your dog comes to you, even if you have had to give him a tug on the line to remind him. When a dog is learning recall coming back to you must be rewarding & pleasurable for the dog every single time, under all circumstances.

Ahhhh, so thats the way!!