Forget the spray collar and the starvation, you are trying to build trust up with her, not make her fear you ??

I would do as other shave suggested, find out what floats her boat first, a toy/treat, and us this for her recall.

You can also start at home, generally round the house, call her to you at any given time, calling for food /dinner, out in the garden, in from the garden, this is all pre -recall work getting her used to coming to your command.


The long training line is a good idea ( try Robinson's online , a lunge line) they are for horses, but work equally as well with dogs.


For now allow her to go as far as the line will let, keep calling her back in, use your treat /toy, when she progresses , you can allow the line to trail behind her on the floor, never let her get further away from yo u, than you can put your foot on the line to stop her going further.

As Wysiwyg says, dont just put the lead back on when its time for home, do it through out your walk, let her off(length of line) call her back, do a little heel walking, a bit of obedience, work, then give her the "ok off you go" command , and allow her free time, keep doing this throughout your walk.

She needs to know, when she returns to yo u, its a good thing, she gets good things, and she wants to be with you.

If you carry on with the spray, all she will learn is when you call her name, you back it up with something nasty , so why should she come back.

Would you go back to someone who had just hit you or was going to hit or shout at you for not obeying.

But you would come back to someoen who was going to give you a hug, or a nice piece of chocolate.

its very early days yet, a bit of work and I am sure , dont forget you have a Colliex gsd you already have a head start

or a nice piece of chocolate.

NOOOOO you must NEVER EVER give dogs chocolate you will kill it!

http://www.vetrica.com/care/dog/chocolate.shtml

i would not like to be that dog, some want to frighten it, some want to electrocute it, some want to starve it, others want to gas it and now someone wants to poison it

No wonder it won't come back

I don't think Jackbox meant that the owner should literally give the dog a piece of chocolate as a reward for recalling More like a sort of metaphor for something nice. For a human, chocolate. For a dog, a bit of chicken or a squeaky toy.

I think the OP was refering to the owner coming for a hug and a piece of chocolate not the dog

Okay folks, thanx very much for all your advice and suggestions. I have just turned down the offer of the gas collar, because having read each and everyone of your postings I realise that is not an option and could be ultimately a deterrent to her returning to me. I have decided on a whistle training regime, and have started this indoors, a short whistle and then she gets a treat. When I let her off last week, for the first time in 3 weeks, I had been taking treats out with me but she didn't take them from me when outside, altho she will indoors. She is extremely ball orientated and also adores her squeaky toys, so I will be getting a ball-thrower so I can concentrate on play when I let her off in the future. I know nothing of her history except her previous owners lost their home and had to go into temporary accommodation where they weren't allowed dogs (terrible shame as there were children involved and everytime she hears children's voices she perks up almost as if she is expecting them to turn up). I was told also that she hates cats, but then so do I, so that's not a problem. I will keep you updated as to how she progresses but I will not let her off again until I'm happy that she will return to me.

UMMM, I believe the piece of chocolate was meant as : "you as a human being would run a mile if I zapped you, but would come if I offered you a piece of chocolate....." No-one was suggesting giving a dog chocolate.... next time.... read the post properly please!

With any aversive you start on the lead so the dog makes the right choice (return to you).

Feeling bad about using a spray or e collar is fine, but it won't help your dog if you can't train her and she has to remain on lead for ages/life. I suggest you give the whistle training a go and if it doesn't get results in a month try my suggestions.

Adam

I think a E collar would be a great aid teaching a dog recal


Honestly


Put collar on yourself and if the dog blows you off then give yourself a zap for putting the dog in a position it wasnt ready for and calling when you knew they wouldnt come back


What a cowerdly way out of training AP, you are unable to make yourself interesting enough for a dog to want to come back to you so you resort to making the rest of the world so scary and unpredictable that the dog is scared to run off and behaive like a dog

Whistle training is great just take it slow and keep it fun

Why would you be interesting enough to call a high drive dog off actual prey. After all thats the most interesting thing in the world.
Re take it slow. Dogs aren't dumb, they;re very smart. If the training is good they will learn very quickly.

Adam