Reliable recall training

Hi, I'm new to this forum, so someone may have asked this question before, but I didn't see it. Anyway, hello everybody. I have a 1 1/2 year old great pyrenees who is wonderful and on her way to getting Therapy Certified. However, the one problem I have with her is recall. She'll do great some weeks and we'll go to different parks and she'll come back when I call to her, but then another day she'll be completely distracted. I know that there are a lot of people who say that you just can't off leash train a great pyrenees, but there has got to be a way. Anyway, I've been training dogs (usually foster, but also friends dogs) for over a year, and she has been the most challenging dog I've worked with, and even though we've done well with everything else (positive training methods and strict boundaries are definately her thing), this is the one that I don't know what to do about. I can't figure out what to do to make it more worth her while to come back than to smell all the awesome things at the park. If anybody has any suggestions, I would really appreciate it!

Maliko

Hi and welcome I have a BMD and have invested in a dog whistle as Ollie has trouble focusing on me on or off the lead too many other interesting smells about and other dogs are a magnet for him.I am having some success twice he has seen other dogs and ignored them when I blow the whistle and change direction that could all change though,Ollie is 71/2 months old.Good luck with it I think they tend to have selective hearing plus I find it takes a couple of minutes for a command to sink in.

You have to make yourself more interesting than everything else around her. You could try extra specially smelly food - my dog loves home made liver cake with garlic in it but I have also used chicken, cheese, hotdog sausages and various other items.

If your dog is not food orientated then a special toy that only comes out on walks may well work.

I would go back to basics and have her on a long line that trails along the ground ( we have a 15 metre long tracking line). If she does not respond when you recall her you can use the line to gently encourage her back to you. Don't keep calling her though if she is ignoring you as she is then learning to ignore the recall command. The one thing you should never do is tell her off when she finally returns to you as she will associate coming back with being told off. It is very hard to be wonderfully welcoming when you have spent an hour standing at the edge of the sea while your dog happily swims up and down totally ignoring you but scolding doesn't make them want to come back. Keep a happy cheerful tone while you think murderous thoughts in your head

I am no expert at all but these are all things I have done with my own dog who had a brilliant recall until we hit the teenage stage and then he developed very selective deafness. If you look in the articles section I am sure there is an article about recall training.

Personally I'd do all of the above, but rather han reeling the dog in start to move off in the opposite direction!

It might help to start to get the dog used to recall in the house, for example try to be somewhere hidden in the house so that everytime you call the dogs name she has to come looking for you. When she does, reward with a tasty treat and praise!

Once this is well established move into the garden - everytime the dog looks away or finds something more interesting to do, you call her name and begin to move away. This way the dog learns to keep one eye on you because you're not predictable and might not always be around. If the dog doesn't react straight away to this, it helps sometimes to make some exiting noises etc to get the dogs attention. If that doesn't work you've probably moved too quickly from the house recall, therefore it's best to go back to that until it's properly established.

When you feel this is working well I'd move out into the open with or without a long line, depending on how confident you feel. Continue the above - calling the dog when distracted and moving away at the same time - but also change direction when walking to make the dog keep it's eye on you even more.

Eventully you'll reach the point where you won't have to move away and then you can start to add in distractions etc, to the point where you're out on your normal walk. :smt001

Good luck!

Yes I forgot to say that I hide from my dog when out walking - he comes rushing back to see where I am and now does a quick check every few paces or so to see if I am still there.

I still have the odd problem if we are somewhere very open like the beach or a field as he can see me from much further away and tends to wander further away. But - how I hope I am not tempting fate by saying this - tonight he was an absolute angel at the beach and came straight back every single time I called him.

Another thing I do is I will sometimes call him back and put him back on his lead for a few moments and them let him off lead again so that he doesn't only associate a recall with a walk ending. I might do this three or four times on a walk so he never knows quite what I am going to do next and doesn't anticipate my next move.

Cassie still has selective hearing and when she doesn't come back, she goes straight back on the lead. We keep her on for a few minutes before we let her off again. Also, running the opposite way never fails to make her come back. Hope this helps

Thanks everyone, for the advice. Unfortunately I have tried all the things (except the dog whistle) that have been noted. Its just kind of an on and off thing with her which is very frustrating, mostly because it can be dangerous if she decides to go one direction travelling much faster than I. Luckily she doesn't do that anymore, and she is getting better. The going in the opposite direction tactic worked very well for a little while, but once she figured out that I wasn't really going that far away, she'd wait for longer and longer until even if I hid from her I'd be waiting at least 5 minutes before she even lifted her head to see where I was. She is selectively motivated by different things. When she's out it seems as though all she's motivated by is whatever she is investigating. Her recall in the back yard and even the non fenced front yard is pretty much spectacular, but any new place everything seems to go a little down hill. In terms of a long lead when at the park, I have had trouble because she knows exactly when it is on her and when it isn't. I have a very light weight nylon long lead, but she seems to always understand that it is on her and that means we're definately down to business. Her recall on the long lead is almost always consistent, but as soon as the long lead comes off and I allow her to go wide, she just becomes very very easily distracted. Anyway, I just am not sure what else to do, but maybe I'll invest in a dog whistle and see if that proves helpful.

Hi Mailko,

Sorry you are having problems with your recall, my boy has also reached the selective deafness age, sepecially when he with the other dog but I also use the whistle when out and he will always come to that, his name however, is a different story!
so I defo agree with Lynn, give the whistle a go. I use a 'silent' (not) whistle as you can change the range to suit your dog (aparently they have differing ranges depending on the ear type) see ..
http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/ccp5...-whistle.shtml
- Good luck !!

hi
try training tour dog to associate a dog whislte with food.
so whenevr you feed your dog, make it sit and wait abd then blow the whistle in three short "pips" to signal it can eat. it will then associate the three "pips" on a walk with getting food and should hopefully come back. take treats so if your dog does come back it gets rewarded. that the way all our dogs have been trained and so far has worked. hope this helps

Hi
Where do I get a 15 metre long line from. We are having recall problems with our teenage NI as he is so friendly and inquisitive. He will do recall in the house, garden and at dog class but outside is a no go. Thanks