Poodle owner " Newbie" (recall issues)

Hi all,

Love the idea of forums to share ideas and helping one another with issues. Are there any other Standard Poodle owners on here?

I have three S Poodles, love the breed.

I have recall issues with my 4 yr old intact male, he is fine when there are no other dogs in sight but when recalled he looks around first to check who's about before returning to me!!! If he sees another dog then he turns and runs toward it to say hello, he is a big dog and I am sure it would be quite daunting to see him running your way! However he has a lovely temperament. I just want him to recall all of the time!!! Am I expecting too much?
Thanks

Good question! We have a toy poodle cross-he's very clever cos of the poodle in him. I find if I let him know I have yummy treats with me at the start of the walk he's more responsive-been learning lots at puppy class about recall, calling him over just for treat, calling him and having a toy to play with etc etc. he's great when no other dogs are about- and I know he'll always come back but other dogs are just to exciting and he'll ignore me while he goes to say hello He's just had the 'snip' thought this may help?
Can wait to hear what the others say to help!

No you are not expecting too much.

It sounds to me as though you have "trained" your dog that when you recall him it is because there is "something interesting" about.

A common error.

You have to do more recalls when there is NOTHING about to change his expectations.

Whether or not a dog is neutered is irrelevant. Whether or not your dog is friendly is irrelevant, other dogs (and their owners) may not be.

Perhaps the following will help.

Why can’t I get a reliable recall?

‘Come’ is no harder to train than any other behaviour but in real life it has a huge number of criteria that have to be raised one at a time in order to guarantee success.

Often when puppies are brought home to their new owners this is the first time they have ever been separated from their dam and siblings and so they naturally attach themselves to their new family by following them about everywhere. Owners find this quite attractive and wrongly assume that this trait will continue into adolescence/adulthood, whatever the circumstances. A dangerous trap to fall into…

At some point in time, usually from around 6 – 10 months, depending on the individual, “Velcro” dog will morph into “Bog off” dog (this is especially true of a breed that has been developed to exhibit a high degree of initiative). This is the time when owners suddenly realize that their dog will not recall when it sees another dog/person etc. Not only is this inconvenient but potentially dangerous as the dog could be at risk of injury from a car/train/another dog etc.

How and when do I start with a puppy?

My advice is to prepare for this inevitability from the day you take your puppy home. If you are lucky the breeder will have started this process whilst still in the nest by conditioning the puppies to a whistle blown immediately before putting the food bowl down during weaning.

Dogs learn by cause and effect ie sound of whistle = food. If you, the new owner, continue this from the moment your puppy arrives you will lay down strong foundations for the future.

By using the whistle in association with meals/food you need to establish the following criteria:

• Come from across the room.
• Come from out of sight
• Come no matter who calls
• Come even if you are busy doing something else
• Come even if you are asleep.
• Come even if you are playing with something/someone else
• Come even if you are eating

Once this goal has been realized in the house, drop all the criteria to zero and establish the same measures, one at a time, in the garden.

Once this goal has been realized in the garden, drop all the criteria to zero and establish the same measures, one at a time, in the park/field etc.

To train this, or any other behaviour:

1. Make it easy for the dog to get it right
2. Provide sufficient reward

Do not expect a dog to come away from distractions in the park until you have trained it to come to you in the park when no diversions are around. Be realistic and manage your expectations; your sphere of influence/control over your dog may be only 20m to begin with, therefore do not hazard a guess that the dog, at this level of training, will successfully recall from 50m or more away. Distance, like every other criterion, must be built up over time.

Some simple rules to follow when training the recall:

• Whistle/signal/call only once (why train the dog to deliberately ignore your first command?)
• Do not reinforce slow responses for the dog coming eventually after it has cocked its leg, sniffed the tree etc (you get what you train!)
• If you know that the dog will not come back to you in a certain situation, go and get him rather than risk teaching him that he can ignore you. (If you have followed the programme correctly you will never put your dog in a position to fail).
• Practise recalling the dog, putting him on the lead for a few seconds, reinforce with food/toy etc and immediately release the dog. Do this several times during a walk etc so that the dog does not associate a recall with going on the lead and ending the walk or being put on the lead with the cessation of fun.
• Eventually, when the behaviour is very strong, alternate rewards ie verbal praise, physical praise, food, toy and also vary the “value” of the rewards, sometimes a plain piece of biscuit, sometimes a piece of cooked liver etc so that you become a walking slot machine (and we all know how addictive gambling can be)!

In my experience recall training should be consistent and relentless for the first two years of a dog’s life before it can be considered truly dependable. You should look on it as a series of incremental steps, rather than a single simple behaviour, and something that will require lifelong maintenance.

What about an older or rescue dog?

Follow the same programme as outlined above however for recalcitrant dogs that have received little or no training, I would recommend dispensing with the food bowl and feeding a dog only during recalls to establish a strong behaviour quickly.

Your training should be over several sessions a day, which means you can avoid the risk of bloat. It is essential that the dog learns that there will be consequences for failure as well as success.

Divide the day’s food ration up into small bags (between10 – 30), if the dog recalls first time, it gets food, if it does not, you can make a big show of saying “too bad” and disposing of that portion of food (either throw it away or put aside for the next day).

Again, raise the criteria slowly as outlined in puppy training.

Hunger is very motivating!

For those of you who believe it unfair/unhealthy to deprive a dog of its full daily ration, not having a reliable recall is potentially life threatening for the dog ……………

How do I stop my dog chasing joggers/cyclists/skateboarders/rabbits/deer?

Chasing something that is moving is a management issue. Do not put your dog in a position where it can make a mistake. Again you need to start training from a pup but if you have already allowed your dog to learn and practise this behaviour you may need to rely on a trailing line until your dog is desensitised to these distractions and knows that listening to you results in a great reinforcement. Chasing is a behaviour much better never learned as it is naturally reinforcing to the dog, which makes it hard for you to offer a better reinforcement. If you want to have a bombproof recall while your dog is running away from you then use the following approach:

Your goal is to train so that your dog is totally used to running away from you at top speed, and then turning on a sixpence to run toward you when you give the recall cue.

You need to set up the training situation so that you have total control over the triggers. For this you will need to gain the co-operation of a helper. If you have a toy crazy dog you can practice this exercise by throwing a toy away from the dog towards someone standing 30 or 40 feet away. At the instant the toy is thrown, recall your dog! If the dog turns toward you, back up several steps quickly, creating even more distance between the you and the toy and then throw another toy in the opposite direction (same value as one thrown)..

If the dog ignores you and continues toward the thrown object, your “helper” simply picks the ball up and ignores dog. When dog eventually returns (which it will because it’s getting no reinforcement from anyone or anything), praise only. Pretty soon the dog will start to respond to a recall off a thrown toy. You will need to mix in occasions the toy is thrown and the dog is allowed to get it ie you do NOT recall if you want to make sure it does not lose enthusiasm for retrieving.

For the food obsessed dog, you can get your helper to wave a food bowl with something the dog loves in it and then recall the dog as soon as you let it go to run towards the food; again if the dog ignores you and continues to the food, your helper simply ensures the dog cannot access the food and start again. (It is extremely important that the helper does not use your dog’s name to call it for obvious reasons).

Gradually increase the difficulty of the recall by letting the dog get closer and closer to the toy/food. Praise the moment the dog turns away from the toy/food in the
early stages of training. Don't wait until the dog returns to you; the dog must have instant feedback.

Once the dog is fluent at switching directions in the middle of a chase, try setting up the situation so that it is more like real life. Have someone ride a bike/run/skate past. (It is unrealistic to factor in deer/rabbits however if your training is thorough the dog will eventually be conditioned to return to you whatever the temptation in most contexts).

Until your training gets to this level, don't let the dog off-lead in a situation in which you don't have control over the chase triggers. Don't set the dog up to fail, and don't allow it to rehearse the problem behaviour. Remember, every time a dog is able to practise an undesirable behaviour it will get better at it!

Most people do not play with toys correctly and therefore the dog is not interested in them or, if it gets them, fails to bring it back to the owner.

Play the two ball game, once you have a dog ball crazy. Have two balls the same, throw one to the left, when the dog gets it, call him like crazy waving the next ball; as he comes back throw the other ball to the right and keep going left right so that YOU are the centre of the game and the dog gets conditioned to return to you for the toy. Once this behaviour is established you can then introduce the cues for out and then make control part of the game ie the game is contingent on the dog sitting and then progress to a sequence of behaviours.

HTH

Ultimate Recall: 4 Day Course with John Rogerson

• Training a reliable, automatic, non-negotiable, reality recall
• Building block and foundation training of the recall
• Relationship/influence building in recall training
• The chasing/emergency recall
• Sit and/or down on recall
• Freeze/stop on recall/running wait
• Distance/direction control
• Calling dogs off of distractions
• Out of sight recall (owner hidden)
• Obedience/competition recall (dog is called from a stationary position)
• Free running recall (dog is called while in motion)
• Type "A" recall (dog re-joins his owner in motion)

JOHN RESERVES THE RIGHT TO ADJUST COURSE CONTENT BASED ON THE ABILITIES OF DOGS AND HANDLERS ENROLLED ON THE COURSE.

Dates for Ultimate Recall Course:

At Caersws, Wales
7th-10th June, 2012; 4 days duration 9.30 am-4.00 pm
To register contact Gail Gwesyn-Pryce at gailconcenn@btinternet.com

At Andover, England
7th-10th August , 2012; 4 day duration 9.30 am-4.00 pm
To register contact Pauline Wise at pauline@wiseowl.wanadoo.co.uk

http://www.johnrogerson.com/2012coursesschedule.pdf

Chase Recall Masterclass (with Practical Demos) with Stella Bagshaw

Date: Friday 22nd June 2012 Venue: Chobham, Surrey Max number of participants: 22

Teaching a chase recall needs to be strategic, methodical and motivational – for both dog and owner.
With unique understanding and first-hand experience of successfully teaching remarkably effective
chase recalls, Stella Bagshaw will show you how to teach this important skill step-by-step, including:
What signals to use – when and how
Equipment, including line handling
Theory versus real life!
Motivation – what it really means to the dog
Handler commitment and motivation.
Prey – what the dog considers prey
Environment – where you walk your dog and why it matters
Practical demos included. Everyone should do this course! Donʼt miss it!
The cost is £145 per person, to include refreshments and a light lunch.

http://www.apdt.co.uk/documents/Masterclasses2012.pdf

Books

Stop! How to control predatory Chasing in Dogs
by David Ryan

Chase! Managing Your Dog's Predatory Instincts
By Clarissa Von Reinhardt

DVD

REALLY RELIABLE RECALL
by Leslie Nelson

Website article:

http://www.dog-secrets.co.uk/how-do-...y-dog-chasing/

I'd have him on a long line so he doesn't get the opportunity to practice ignoring recall and work on it from scratch again. It sounds like you may have inadvertently conditioned him that recall means there's another dog around so I'd be making sure to recall him, reward him and send him off to do his own thing again a few times throughout each walk.

Smokeybear has a great recall article, I'll try and dig it up and post a link to it.

ETA: Never mind, she beat me to it.

Wow!, Thanks Smokeybear, Sarah and Cavapoo.
You are totally right about recalling when other dogs are about, we recall a few times inbetween but he has gotten so used to looking for the reason of the recall, sometimes when I go to attach his lead he goes into catch me if you can mode and I generally just turn away to let him know it is not a game. My 2 girlies are great at recall unroll they see him run off then they follow but return very quickly...a bit like the naughty child who says " look mum I' m the good one I'm not being naughty!!! He responds to all other commands
, sits at the curb before crossing roads etc its just this which is very frustrating!!!! I will take your advice and see how we go!
Thank you. I can't get to the Ultimate Recall classes I am in NE Scotland, will it be coming here anytime soon?

ps if you are going to use a long line, it MUST be attached to a harness and not a collar and wear gloves!

My friend has 2 standard poodles.
Their recalls are good, she often has treats with her and does recalls for no reason.
I am used to bigger dogs but still wouldn't want a strange dog running at me and my dogs, the article SB posted is good.
Good luck with your training and I think you should post some pictures