Nailing that recall?

Okay, with all the recent threads about recall I thought I'd ask. How do you get a really good recall?

I've managed a recall to some extent with Rupert who was an adolescent when I got him, already a confirmed sheep chaser and I'm guessing already a killer. If he starts a chase I've no chance of recalling him or stopping him so he's only fully off leash in a secure field, anywhere else it's a long line. If I spot him before he starts to chase it's 50/50, sometimes he'll come, sometimes he'll bolt. He'll come to me if there are people around, not sure about other dogs as we avoid them due to his fear of them.

He has no interest in food, no interest in toys and is the most easily distracted dog I have ever met. He's a constant work in progress and I doubt we'll ever have anywhere near a 100% recall.

To steal Merlin's Mums suggestion from my own recent thread, have you tried a lure toy? If he has such a strong chase instinct maybe you could tap into that? A fluffy lure on a rope might work? I know someone who rubbed their lure toy on rabbit bedding to make it smell really interesting. Good luck

Tried, he realised it wasn't a real animal and that was it, no interest. I've tried the real rabbit fur you can buy, the scented gundog toys, I even made a lure using a piece of cloth I'd let my rats use as a nest and he just couldn't care less.

IMO the best way to train is to start where there`s absolutely no chance the dog won`t come back and move slowly on from there.
So call when you have his dinner, when he`s already heading towards you or when he`s about to leap into your arms.
Then it`s down to persistance, patience and damn good rewards.
A good way to reinforce it when out is to wait till the dog approoaches you anyway. Then to send him on his way (after rewarding).
The time not to train recall is when the dog has the option to refuse.

Polo's recall was pretty good using tug as a reward.

Around dogs, as he is stressy and feels the need to check out other dogs I used the 'look at that' game. Now when he sees a dog I use my clicker-word and he runs at me for a game of tug very reliably.

He will chase deer and this is where his recall lets him down. I am starting to feed all his food outdoors and he is 'pushing' for his food. I am hoping to theakthrough with this otherwise he will have to remain onlead in the woods sadly.

I've heard of that - is it called 'pushing' or something? I seem to recall (no pun intended) something like that in Control Unleashed - the 'go away' game? (or did I make that up )

In my view there are so so many ways to teach a recall. Most involve repetition and reward.

Teaching the dog to "listen" when it is distracted and then listen when in chase and listen when focussed on something else is also good.

We start this in class, by asking a dog to stop, lie down or recall away from a thrown piece of food or toy.

Another way is to builg in a "failure" aspect to continued hunting. Say throw a ball (or piece of food) toward a friend, allow the dog to chase, then recall and if the recall fails, get the friend to pick up the thrown thing. The dogs failure to recall results in failure to secure the tiem, but if it recalls after the failure on second recall command, then the dog is rewarded by handler with equall or better reward in opposite direction. Build this so the dog is sometimes recalled from article, sometimes not and the presence of the "friend" becomes more and more obscure (say hiding behind a tree and only coming out if the recall fails). Build the article from a piece of food, or a ball, to, a rabbit skin, then a dead rabbit. Congratulations if you can et a friend to pickup a dead rabbit.

The dog learns to anticipate the recall in chase and learns to respond for its own interest.

Sometimes with some dogs it is easier to teach a lie down in chase than a recall - as lying down is one of the sequential events of chase behaviour, some dogs accept it easier than ceasing attention on the "prey" and breaking eye contact and returning thus completly ending chase behaviour.

Most dogs have within them, instinctively, genetically, some or all of the following genetic basis's for hunting. Orient, eye, stalk, chase, bite, shake, kill, eat.

Sheepdogs for instance have their kill bite shake part of the sequence halted by building in a stop or down, whilst still stalking. Some have even had it removed to some degree genetically. If that makes sense? In so doing they are not asked to stop hunting but to modify their hunting behaviour or sequence.

It is my belief that with some, fortunatly, rare dogs there is no more rewarding expereince than the actual chase of the "prey" itself and you can not teach a chase recall as with a ball, by using live sheep, so its pretty tricky. But with most, the problem lies in the fact that the dog has not been successfully trained to respond to a recall or other command, whilst in hunting mode. Sensory closire takes place by default in hunting mods with most dogs. But this can be trained to remain open. As with sheepdogs. These dogs, when trained, can then be controlled.

Hope that made sense - written in a hurry.
Good luck. Dx

I'm just surprised that no-one's said e-collar yet!

Or you could use an ecollar!