Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:16 am Post subject: Getting dogs attention to recall?
OH and I took Boomer out for a walk at our local common yesterday.
As the weather was pretty yuck we were about the only ones there. Boomer was off lead and whenever we called her back over to us she came back with loads of enthusiasm and sat right in front of us for her reward.
All was going well until a person walking their dog appeared on the horizon - they were a long way off. The movement must have caught Boomer's eye because she ran off full pelt in their direction, not even turning back to see if we had followed or gone home
We both called her several times as she was running off (until it got to the point where she wouldn't be able to hear us any more), then I started to run after her as I had no idea who the person and dog were on the horizon.
Luckily, just before Boomer got to them she turned round to check where we were. I quickly turned on my heel and ran away from her. Thank heavens she followed and came legging it all the way back to where OH and I were standing.
Now, I went to praise her (she did come back after all) but OH went to rollock her as she had run off. We then had a 'debate' over the whys and wherefors of what we should have done and if she would have thought she was being punished/praised for running off or coming back.
What I'd really like to know is how on earth you're supposed to do recall training when your dog doesn't even look back. She knows 'come' and is fantastic at it with no doggy distractions, but as soon as there is another dog about anywhere, her ears go into the off position (even when we've spotted the dog first and started a game to distract her) and she legs it. We have got a 5 metre lead that we've used in the past but she pulls like a tank on that, and we also end up getting all tangled in each other, the bushes, and other dogs if they're brave/stupid enough to come near us!
The temptation now is to walk her places where there aren't any dogs about, but I think this will make things worse and would really like to go where there are more dog, but need control of Boomer.
Jenni - have you checked out a similar post on general lab forum re. 6 month old running after other dogs - it links to an excellent post from Di about long line training. I still have this problem with Daisy and by the looks of all the recent posts about similar problems, so do many many others. I think it's a combination of the dogs growing out of it and constant training - with a long line if necessary....
Thanks Em, I haven't seen that post but will go and have a look for it now. Have you any idea what it was called? I'm terrible at finding things on here
I went to praise her (she did come back after all) but OH went to rollock her as she had run off.
You were right If you tell a dog off for running away once it has come back to you... well, it would put you off returning if you thought you were going to get told off whenever you came back Hope that makes sense.
Last edited by Karen_theArtist on Thu Feb 15, 2007 4:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
Hi i have a tip you might like to try i carry an empty film pot with me i put some hard treats in it so when i shack it, it makes a noise it works most of the time give it a go and if you make a funny noise rather than call there name that gets there attention to
You were right If you tell a dog off for running away once it has come back to you... well, it would put you off returning if you thought you were going to get told off whenever you came back
Yep thanks, that's what I was trying to tell OH. Glad I was right (again )
Quote:
Hi i have a tip you might like to try i carry an empty film pot with me i put some hard treats in it so when i shack it, it makes a noise it works most of the time give it a go and if you make a funny noise rather than call there name that gets there attention to
Like the idea of the treats, not sure it would work once she'd got so far. It's like she goes totally deaf. Her recall is fine when there's no one around, but she'd chose another dog over treats anytime
I read your post out to my OH and we had to laugh a bit Jenni as we both said "sounds just like Boo" we often see her bum disappearing off in the distance. We use a whistle and run the other way, it sometimes works.
The other post mentioned above was by Pieeater on 14th Feb. I cant do that post link thingy but if you look at all posts by Pieeater of thier profile you will get it there.
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If you tell a dog off for running away once it has come back to you... well, it would put you off returning if you thought you were going to get told off whenever you came back 
