Bella's recall has vanished!!

Well, Bella is now fast approaching a year now. Yes we will be having cake!

She has always come back when called and when we go walkies we walk with on average 5-6 other dogs in the forest/park. I use one word to recall and when she comes she has always got a treat or a fuss.

In the last 2 weeks she has taken to ignoring my calls and even dissppeared under someones fence! Felt like a naughty school girl when I had to knock and ask for my dog back!!

I have treid to make the treats more appealling (cheese, ham and other scraps) She even won't come back for my friend who she loves!
Generally she runs off to see other dogs and if I ignore this behaviour and walk off she will stay there and still ignore me!

She has always been well socialised and has a wide range of doggie friends.

Have we made her too friendly- if there is such a thing!?

Have a look at the post below titled "Is Heidi having a laugh at me". Heidi is a gundog, but the principle is the same. Put your dog on a long line so that she has no choice but to comply with your recall command. Your dog will probably get over this 'forgetful' phase quite quickly, but in the meantime do not allow her the opportunity to ignore your commands.

I am having the same problem with my puppy right now.

She was so good at four months, at five she started to get a little less compliant and now at six months she is 'miss independant'.

she is usually fine if there are no other dogs and comes back most times in that case, but when there are other dogs she just has to play with everyone which I don't mind as I would rather a very social dog over an aggressive dog who doesn't know how to mix well, but sometimes other people don't want their dogs to play with my puppy and that is where the problem begins...

I try to call her back to me but she is hell bent on trying to get said less social dog to give in and play sometimes to the other owners distaste for whatever reason and Keena goes completly deaf and does not come back at this point...

So in the past if I just started to leave in the opposite direction she would be quick to run after me but now she ignores that and continues trying to play so I end up going right up to her to put her back on the lead so she can stop 'harrassing' the other dog and it's owner but she turns into a slippery eal and everytime I get close to grabbing her she runs around to avoid having to stop her game...lol...

It frustrates the hell out of me at times and I put her back on the lead and keep her on it till she can act right. Once I have put her back on the lead and we see another dog and she tries to bolt after it I just sit down and get her to sit next to me quietly to get her to see that other dogs can be around without her having to make them her business.

The thing is when she was new to walks she was so shy of all dogs that she even yelped when a tiny Jack Russell pup went near her, it didn't even touch her! After the embarrassment of having my rather large puppy be so scared!! I went out of my way to socialize her with all dogs that were around on our walks...BUT now it seems she is 'over friendly' and she must go out of her way to greet everyone! Which personally I like and don't mind but some owners just don't want this interaction and can get quite stroppy...

So the recall at this point is a must to avoid unessasary situations with less friendly people and dogs!...I too have taken out very tasty treats to intice her back...dog treats just don't cut it and she will ignore them but liver etc works quite well and I praise her so much when she returns each time even when it takes her a while...but still we are having a few teething problems while Keena tries to assert that 'it's ok mum, I am just over here playing'!

As above - keep her on lead or on a long line until her recall is reliable. She may just be going through a stage & her recall will improve later, but every time she fails to return when called she is learning that she can ignore you. You must be in a position that she can never do this.

Also, as you realise, not every dog is friendly and if she picks the wrong one to bounce up too it could be very damaging, both physically & psychologically. It can be very annoying for other dog walkers, especially when they have their own dog on-lead, to have an uncontrolled dog insistant on playing. They may wish their dog not to interact for various reasons, e.g. age, infirmity, aggression, etc. You should never permit your dog to approach an on-lead dog without first asking the other person if it is ok.

I would keep her on a lead too. Where I live we have leash laws.