Please some one train me...

[Kibblebit]

So I've had my two year old Jake for almost 6 months and I still have not been able to teach her proper recall. She's fine when hiking in the woods off leash and always comes when called. I take her to a tennis court every now and again to let her off leash. I live in a relatively populated area and I want to be able to let her off leash in the local park. We don't have any dog parks in my neck of the woods. But for some reason I cannot teach her recall. She's my first dog, so I never quite got the concept. I have started with a short lead and worked toward a longer lead, but the second she's off it she is no longer in control. God forbid she sees a person or another dog... she goes flying. So for now I have to stick to tennis courts at night. Any new suggestions that have worked for you? She uisn't really driven by anything except for dogs or people. Neither food driven nor toy driven.

[pansmom]

So I've had my two year old Jake for almost 6 months and I still have not been able to teach her proper recall. She's fine when hiking in the woods off leash and always comes when called. I take her to a tennis court every now and again to let her off leash. I live in a relatively populated area and I want to be able to let her off leash in the local park. We don't have any dog parks in my neck of the woods. But for some reason I cannot teach her recall. She's my first dog, so I never quite got the concept. I have started with a short lead and worked toward a longer lead, but the second she's off it she is no longer in control. God forbid she sees a person or another dog... she goes flying. So for now I have to stick to tennis courts at night. Any new suggestions that have worked for you? She uisn't really driven by anything except for dogs or people. Neither food driven nor toy driven.

 

Figure out what she likes best (for my dog Vala it is attention and SUPER proud praise and petting) and make a HUGE big deal whenever she does listen in non-distracting situations first. Also if your dog is not food driven, you probably just haven't tried good enough food. Think salmon, chicken, Natural Balance sausage in her favorite flavor, it make take a lot of experimentation to figure that out. (Vala likes turkey and chicken and will learn tricks for that stuff and for peanut butter, but turns her nose up at beef. It was expensive to figure this out.)

 

Anyway, I have only had Vala for 6 weeks and I have her under voice control in the only real off-leash situation we've tried so far. We started "off-leash" recall in the house and backyard, then one day when I accidentally dropped the leash on our walk I realized that that if I say her name in a panicked tone she will hunker down and not move (because if I'm scared she's scared). After that point I started taking her to a huge field by our house that is fenced in (larger than a football field) except for three small exits. I bring her there on leash. I make her sit, take the leash off, but she is not allowed to run until I say the release word (taught her that first--it's "OK"). At first I made her come back to me every 2 minutes; didn't let her get more than fifty feet away; and if she disobeyed the leash went back on and we were done for the day. But I always always praised her when she came back and while I was putting the leash on. After while she figured out if she always listens we stay longer. Now even if there is a squirrel on the other side of those exits (her highest distraction) she will avoid going after it if I tell her "eh eh NO" in a serious tone--even from say 50 yards off. I got a compliment today from another dog owner who brings her lassie-collie mix to this park because before Vala went to go meet her dog and her (Vala LOVES people) she saw Vala look at me as if to ask for permission and she didn't take off until I said "OK."

 

Granted part of this is probably because Vala is a bit of a fraidycat and in the beginning when she was really sick and recovering from kennel cough and parasites I picked her up to take her out of situations twice to meet really big dogs that had gotten loose in our neighborhood (she was nervous and sick and underweight) and also I saved her a couple times when she was feeling bad from a two-cat gangup on her in our home, so she may be looking at me for "is this situation safe for me to go into" as opposed to "asking permission." She clearly views me as her protector, hides behind me when she gets scared, etc.

 

But either way, I guess most people's advice, I would bet, would be to slowly work on making your relationship with the dog more rewarding, work on recall and obedience in situations that the dog can listen and reward it BIG TIME, and then slowly work up to these distracting situations where the dog fails (starting with the distracting people/dog at a really far distance, or with people/dog she's not distracted by closer up, in any number of combos until gradually you have a reliable come even with the distractions). You can also use a long lead to prevent the dog from failing during those high-distraction situations and then reward reward reward when the dog does come back to you, even if you had to pull her all the way back. You are basically teaching that recall is fun. Oh and one thing my vet. behaviorist taught me that can work wonders is to always watch for your dog making CHOICES and if you can catch your dog making a good CHOICE and praise big time at that exact moment the dog catches on a lot faster.

 

Also check out the other thread about dropping the leash... People are posting there first-time stories there and their strategies in general.