Recall Issues!

[MyMace]

my bc is such a good boy...and recalls nicely in the house for both me and my husband...

 

however...when we are outside, he will only come to my husband, not to me... This is becoming very frustrating! I am the one who takes him to his obedience classes and taught him everything he knows...on top of our frisbee games and beginner agility...not my husband! any suggestions of how i can take control back???? thx!

[Ninso]

Recall problems have come up recently in another thread. You can find lots of great tips here: http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=18207

 

Just a thought . . . might he associate coming to you (rather than your husband) with having to work or having to stop play? Maybe in addition to the above tips, try some fun recall practice just playing in the yard with games of hide and seek, chase (him chasing you, not vice versa), treats or toys, or a reward of simply being released to keep playing.

[MyMace]

Recall problems have come up recently in another thread. You can find lots of great tips here: http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.php?showtopic=18207

 

Just a thought . . . might he associate coming to you (rather than your husband) with having to work or having to stop play? Maybe in addition to the above tips, try some fun recall practice just playing in the yard with games of hide and seek, chase (him chasing you, not vice versa), treats or toys, or a reward of simply being released to keep playing.

 

thanks for the response! i think you have some great ideas...he seems to be regressing...and well, that means going back to the basics...right? i see you have a 2 yo bc...did you ever have an issue with this? mine is just over a year, and was doing just fine with my recalls...until recently...

[Ninso]

I've never had any recall issues personally with Lok, but I've only had him for the last five months--he was almost two when I adopted him. I'm a little nervous about what will happen to his recall this summer, since its been winter the whole time I've had him and there have been very few interesting smells and furry critters to distract him. The only place we have an issue is at "grandma's" house, because she spoils him with table scraps, so it is a lot harder to get him to listen when she is cooking!

 

I didn't even start using the word "come" with him until we had a solid recall-foundation in place. He liked to play chase when I first got him so I would chase him around a bit, then sit down on the ground and wait for him to come to me. When he did, the game started again! So he first learned that coming to me was a good thing, then I introduced a command.

 

If he was good with his recalls and has recently regressed, you are absolutely right--it's back to basics. I have always heard, "work with the dog you have at the moment." If, at the moment, you have a dog that doesn't know his recall, you should treat him as such, not letting him off lead if he won't come and working recalls like he is just learning. Most importantly, don't let him pick up bad habits, don't let him lead you on a wild goose chases and don't let him get away with ignoring you. (To me, this would mean preventing the ignoring by either keeping him on a leash or long line, rather than trying to punish him for ignoring you.) At one year old, he's still an adolescent. I'm sure his recalls will be solid again soon.

[KJ]

Maybe in addition to the above tips, try some fun recall practice just playing in the yard with games of hide and seek, chase (him chasing you, not vice versa), treats or toys, or a reward of simply being released to keep playing.

 

Would you elaborate on the above idea? Are you using any commands at all when you play hide and seek or is it just all fun? If you could explain a bit more that would be awesome.

Thanks~!

[Sue R]

I don't know about Tania but when we play hide and seek, I will call out "find me!" or my hubby will tell the dogs to "find Mommy". It's fun, it makes them think and use their senses, and it makes finding (coming to) me something that is fun and exciting.

 

I wouldn't do chasing per se with a pup or youngster, or one that gets overly excited. Sure, sometimes I go running around the end of the house or into the barn or something with them running to catch up to me, but I'd be real cautious about even considering it for a pup or youngster as they can get into the nipping-at-your-ankles game all too easily.

 

Fun games like this, with rewards of praise or (as stated) letting the dog back to another fun activity ("coming to Mom doesn't mean the end of the fun") all contribute to making the recall a pleasant and desireable thing.

[Ninso]

Sue got it right. I've never actually done the hide and seek myself, but I've read about other people using it as the basis for a recall, not really using any commands, but just getting your dog to associate coming to you with having fun. So maybe you would call him at first, so he understands what you want, and when he finds you then go crazy with praise, maybe treats. You could probably phase out calling him once he understands what he is supposed to do.

 

When I got my dog about five months ago, I wanted to make sure I trained a really solid recall, so before I even started using any command I would play chase (simply because that is the

only

thing i could get him to play--he wasn't remotely interested in toys) and I would chase him around and he would chase me for a minute, then I would sit down on the ground and wait. And he would try to engage me back in the game. Eventually he would come to me, and then the game would start again. He learned pretty quickly that coming to mom makes the fun start again. He finally became interested in toys and now we play frisbee like crazy, and of course the basis of a fetch game is a recall. Again, coming to mom makes the fun start! Occasionally I will call him away from the frisbee and then go right back to playing.

 

Anyways, I'm rambling now, but the main point is, when the recall is based in fun it makes it a lot easier for a dog to listen.