Really, your dog would actually rather drop dead in pain and anguish before simply returning for the food that she, I presume must be eating the rest of the time from a bowl anyway? but has the energy to go for a walk and ignore you to play with dogs?

At the end of the day I never said that this method is exclusive of others and that it is a one size fits all!!

If this method wouldnt work for you but say, play would then it would make sense to use play as the reward surely?

As I said before other methods were recommended too but Tabitha chose this one as she KNOWS HER DOG and felt this was the way to go as after months of no improvement......which the dog has proven is helping by responding well until he was fed at night....not hungry enough. We are not talking about a dog that whines at the end of a line or potters about for 5 mins before coming back here.....

sorry if that sounds a bit snippy but I have basically sat here while it been implied that I too am inhumane etc as I dont agree....

I think you need to weight up the probability of a dog being seriously injured with actually starving (while food is there for the taking) before shooting a method down in flames thats all

You set the dog up to succeed though. You don't immediately go out to the park or field and expect the dog to recall around god knows how many distractions. You wouldn't do just one session either, or I wouldn't anyway. Personally I'd do several per day so it's highly unlikely the dog is going to go a full day without eating something. If it does then you need to take a step back and go somewhere less distracting to practice imo.

exactly, I wish people could see past the 'omg my dog missed one meal' thing

No-one is being forced to use this method and on top of that I think its more cruel to let him run accross a road or have his face taken off approaching the wrong dog etc etc.

He does not play with toys and he does not play with his owner outdoors and if like peoples argument seems to be; he is not food motivated, then he wont come for treats anyway so what else has the OP got then? (and relying on a line isnt any good when he can pull it right off her)

My dog very rarely gets his meals given freely in a bowl. Most of his meals are given in training sessions a small handful of kibble at a time.

Rupert seems to find food in a bowl boring and will happily ignore it a lot of the time. Food that he's had to work for on the other hand has a MUCH higher value.

I personally wouldn't give a full meal on a walk, instead I'd do several shorter walks and use part of a meal on each one. Same way I use it in training sessions at home.

My point exactly!

How have I 'immediately' gone to the park etc?

I have been trying for over SIX MONTHS with a long line, toys, you name it.

After having a busy day today, the OH & I took the 3 dogs out together...Khal , normally fab at recall, recalled fantastically well this morning (AFTER brekkie) but tonight both him & Ruby (who has 100% recall since around 6 months old) decided to ignore me... I walked to where they were, put their leads on & brought them home..I fed sasi first, (who recalled 1st time I shouted for her) & made the other 2 wait an hour or so before I fed them.

I'll try again tomorrow with Khal on his longline. I take out garlid sausage (as suggested to me by some-one on here) & before I let them off I give them a taste (Khal * sasi)of what is in the treat bag...so they know I have it, I know they want it (as theyre both greedypants)

I've been out most of today (with the OH & kids) calling in every 3-4 hours to let dogs out etc so I'm taking Khal & Rubys not recalling as that they havent had as much attention today as they would normaly have..I'll see how they are in the morning.

My theory is..if I am hungry I cant concentrate, if my boss has more work for me & I cant get my lunch at the usual time & am starving it takes me longer to do the job than it would normally take as I cant concentrate...I apply this to doggys too.

I'm not a trainer (far from it) & yes I understand where you (SB & doberman) are coming from BUT if I I had to eat my meals in a park, out of breath from running back & forth & then had to walk home say 5 minutes after eating I doubt I'd be bothered about coming back when some-one shouted for me either..just IMO.

Um...I didn't say you had. That was in response to someone asking how long you starve the dog for when using this method.

SARAH: My apologies, I read your post in a hurry. Thank you for your comments





DOBERMANN:


Tried to PM you just to say thank you so much for all your advice, but apparently your inbox is full

Hmmm...I'll consider forgiving you if you get down on your knees and beg

I know what it's like to have a dog who just goes completely and utterly deaf at times. Rupert has improved massively but now and then he'll still take off.

Another thought, have you tried using a stop command rather than a recall? Shadow wouldn't recall but if you told him to wait he'd stop dead and not move until told he could. Not ideal but better than nothing.