His recall is good when there are no distractions. I treat him EVERY time he comes when I say 'Come,' and that is helping a great deal. If he sees dogs he could play with, he's often (not always) the same as he is with sheep and just gets so excited about potential play, it's as if he doesn't even hear me. He HAS got better than he was, but he's still not brilliant yet.

Just to add to the equation, I now have another dog. I only took them out for their first proper off lead walk together last week. (Had to drive quite a way to find somewhere safe.) Although my new dog has had no previous training, her recall was 100% and the good thing is that everytime SHE came back, Spike couldn't resist coming back too (even when they were in the middle of playing with other dogs).

I have no idea how the new dog is around livestock. TBH I'm not sure how best to test her without taking a risk and I don't want to take any chances.

Because you asked a question which had already been answered, so I gave my original reply to your question.

We took Cosmo to some great classes. The trainers idea for a great recall was to have a word...as you have done..that you ONLY use when you want your dog to come. So, you choose a word (Cosmo's is Anne Widdicombe...don't ask) and reward reward reward...startingnint he house...say the word as your dog is approaching anyway and have a high value food reward...only use this for these specific recalls to the word. When your dog gets to you, instead of giving it a big chunk and that's it, 'fine dine' it (their words), so small amounts, reward reward reward whilst telling your dog it's the best dfog ever and getting jolly excited about it.

Start this in the house and for the first week d it 5 x a day...then move it the following week into calling it from a different room 5 x a day...then from the garden the following week......be consistent, only give the high value treat and always fine dine it. If it fails at one point, go back.DON'T push it too quickly, time and patience etc.


In the meantime play recall games with other people in the garden with the dogs name etc...make yourself interesting and exciting. Perhaps have a toy that he only gets when out, that sort of thing.

The recall word does seem to work. Have you considered using whistle feeding etc as well, like when you puppy walked?

Whereabouts in Lancashire are you? I know of a lady in Cumbria who specialises in helping owners train dogs to stop chasing livestock.

I used to live just outside Lancaster and went to herding classes with both of my collies and know the trainer did get the odd dog in to help stop it chasing stock, so could give you his details too.

Just to reiterate, that it doesn't matter whether your dog is just "playing" with the sheep, it is still extremely stressful for sheep and many farmers would shoot a dog that is seen to be chasing - whether in play or to attack. Please don't put your dog's life at risk, and keep him/her on a lead until you are certain he/she won't chase stock.

Have you considered exercising your dog on a long line or a flexi-lead?

I am in Bolton and Cumbria is a little too far away - but Thanks very much anyway!

I don't trust flexi-leads as he is such a strong dog (he snapped one within 30 seconds at only 3 months old!). I have bought a horse lunge rein (20 odd foot) which I use for recall training esp. when livestock are in sight and his recall is great with that on. But as soon as he's off lead, he knows it.

He knows 'wait' and 'leave it' and on the whole he's pretty well behaved. The problem is if he even THINKS about chasing he's as good as gone - it's as if something really urgent just takes over him and just doesn't even see livestock fencing as any kind of barrier.

ABSOLUTELY!!

He does get plenty of exercise as I take him cycling.

I know it's possible to get him to ignore sheep, as we managed it easily during the e-collar training session - just wondered if there was another way to get the same effect?

I use training lines for dogs that cannot be let off lead. I usually buy them from e-bay and have been able to get them up to 50ft long. If I want to give them a really good run and have a nice open area so they wont get tangled i'll attach 2 together and the dog has a 100ft long line and they can run with the others. Works great for my guys.

Would be better to test your new girlie on something like this that means she can have effect of being loose but cant actually do a bunk on you if she decides she wants too.

Hi Sally you could try clicker training .
A little while ago one of our members 'Wysiwyg' a very knowledgeable lady posted a link and video about controlling prey drive in relation to squirrel chasing.

I can see how the method could be adapted to use with any chasing related behaviour I will post the link for you so you can read/watch/get some ideas of the method.

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1282

Once again thanks to Wysiwyg for providing another good link.

I think lots of obedience training on the tennis court will help. Putting him into a down at distance over and over again, then calling him for a treat, will help to keep his eye on you. Is he obsessed with a ball or anything? You need to find a way for him to be always looking towards you, wondering what command or nice treat you're gonna give him next. You need lots of this before you think about going near livestock, so he's used to looking towards you and thinking about you. Once he forgets about you, his mind will be on the livestock, then you've lost him. Jax

Hello,

I haven't read all the other posts so sorry if i am repeating what someone else has said already. Wagmore bark less are a company in Glouscestershire that use positive methods and do all sorts of courses, one of them is a livestock course where they train you to teach your dog not to chase livestock. It is on a farm so they have their own livestock to practise with.

My friend has a whippet with very high prey drive and foudn the course very successful, she can now talk him on walking holidays without fear that he is going to get himself shot!