Leo is 10 months old. We usually walk him off leash at the dog park. We are trying to stop him running over to every dog to play. His recall is good, we have been working through total recall since he was 3 months old. He will even recall from other dogs while playing. However we want him to stop running over unless given permission. Once he sees another dog he will freeze, sit down and stare at them. After a few seconds he will run towards the other dog without a backward glance. We can stop him from running away using the whistle (he will turn around mid run and collect his treat), but then after a while run away again to the same dog or another one. Usually the result is run away, recall, run away, recall until I run out of high value rewards then have to put him on leash or leave the park. In order to avoid this we have been walking him at times when there are no other dogs around. Working on his engagement with toys, games and general training. He stays close and his engagement and attention is very good when we are alone. We have been working on this for 2+ months now but every time we try going to the park when other dogs are around, he still finds other dogs more fun. He would much rather play with other dogs than us. We have heard conflicting advice regarding how much he should be allowed to play with other dogs. Some say he should socialize with other dogs as much as possible so that it won't be such a novelty. Others say if he plays with dogs too much, he will learn that dogs are extremely rewarding, even more so than playing/staying close to the owner. Any thoughts on this? Please offer any tips you may have. When will it get better? At what age did your dog stop running away? I see so many other dogs contently trotting beside their owner or playing fetch, tug etc, can labradors even achieve this due to how social they are? I don't want to walk him alone forever lol
Hi and welcome to the forum . I truly think you should keep walking him around other dogs , avoiding others may be winning the battle, but not winning the war, plus it will make him even more excitable if it becomes are rarity to mix with others . Could you maybe use a long training line for a little while , so that it will make it easy for you to bring him back for the recall ? It needn't be for long, just until the message lands with him and it will do . Make sure that the treats you use are really high value , something like small pieces of sausage or chicken , and use an exciting voice when you call him , even if he is on a long training line and of course, masses of praise when he comes back . Labs are , in the main, highly sociable dogs and also seem to take some time to mature and become sensible Just stick at it, most us have been there with our pups , its just repetition and bags of patience plus tasty treats
Just to add , my lad is a passionate retriever , he adores tennis balls , you can also use this to your advantage where recall is concerned . I found that as soon as Sam realised that I would be carrying a ball , he tended to stay closer to me, just in case
Welcome from Hattie 8 years and rescue boy Charlie 5 years. The only thing I would add to Kate's advice is not to keep recalling Leo every time he returns then runs away because you will poison your recall and you will have to start all over again with a new signal. If he runs to another dog run quickly in the opposite direction, bend down clap your hands or make squeeky noises, hide behind trees and reward him really well with very smelly treats for his return from another dog and lots of praise. Keep him occupied with his favourite ball or toy anything he loves. A long training line might be a good idea to help you during this training period. Do you have any friends with dogs that would help you with training?
I have to say, I am SO impressed with Leo's recall! Recalling away while playing with other dogs? Oh, I wish I had known about the Total Recall program when Snowie was a puppy. But interestingly enough, now that Snowie is 4.5 years old, he generally prefers my company to other dogs. And his recall is much improved. Did this happen from training or simply because he got older and he's "been there, done that" "seen it all" when it comes to other dogs? I have no idea! But from my sample of one, I surmise that Leo will get older and, much like anything else, the novelty and excitement of playing with every dog around will wear off. Bearing in mind I am not behaviourist, but just from my observations of my dog and others that I see around: the puppies are always excited, the adult dogs more discerning. When Snowie was 1.5 years old, I did a recall course that instructed us to keep our dogs on a long line at all times. I found the long line while in the dog park (when Snowie was very excited) extremely difficult to use with a very strong dog and I am afraid it might've done damage to his neck because he'd race at full tilt until he got to the end of the line and then, if I didn't let go, his neck was yanked at the end. The school (which I subsequently left) would not let us use harnesses, but in retrospect that is what I should've used, at least to protect his neck. I also found the leash got entwined around his legs, and I think that is a worry, too -- he once limped after the leash pulled tightly around one leg.
Just to add if you use a long training line you should use it with a harness not a flat collar. We trained our rescue dog this way for 3 years because he had NO recall at all when he came to us as a 9 month old large puppy, it took that long to train but he never came to any harm at all. I would never attach a training line on a flat collar as this will cause serious damage to a dog and could possibly kill it.
It's also worth mentioning that he is in tne 'adolescent' stage so he may be more difficult (just like a teenager!) to recall or get his attention. At this age you may need to go back to basics with training.
Maybe it is a US thing, but when I take our dogs to an off leash park I don't make any effort to keep them from meeting other dogs. They are well socialized, and for the most part any dogs we meet there will be too. When people here go to dog park it is partly to let the dogs meet and play if they choose. If I want to work them, I'll take them somewhere they are not likely to meet other dogs, but even then generally if there is another off leash dog, we will just let them meet on their own terms, unless the other owner says it is a bad idea. Cooper will often compete with other dogs retrieving Tennis balls. Most owners here don't seem to mind that at all.
Thanks for the replies and warm welcome. At what age did he start to prefer tennis balls more than other dogs? Leos likes to fetch a lot but will blow it off for a chance to play with dogs. I am also worried about poisoning the recall. I usually just recall 5-6 times then stop and put him on a leash. Problem is if I don't use the whistle, Leo will never look back and will just keep playing, not caring what we are doing. Sadly no friends with dogs. This is encouraging. The issue with Leo is he will also jump on people, another thing we are working on. If he is allowed to freely run to other dogs he will play for a while then start jumping on people, so we need to recall him quick. If he only stopped jumping we would be more inclined to let him play more. It is just a bit frustrating that we put so much effort into being fun and exciting for Leo, yet he will still blow us off for any strange dog that appears in the park.
I think it's very important to train your dog that he can't go running up to any dog he fancies. If you don't know the other dog, it may be recovering from injury, be nervous, aggressive, in training.... the list goes on. You could also end up in a situation where he runs across a road to get to other dogs. It's great that you have a good recall, but as the others have said, the last thing you want to do is poison it by constantly using it to call him away from something fun, so I'd be working on him not running over to the dogs in the first place. If you don't have any doggy friends, then just use the other dogs in the park. Keep him on his lead and keep at a distance he can cope with. C&T for attention on you, ignoring the other dog. If you're happy for him to play with the dog, then after a short while of doing this C&T, uncllip his lead and tell him "say hi", "go play", or whatever cue you want to use to tell him it's OK to engage. Practice this a lot. As he gets better at it, you can slowly make the distance more challenging to him. Then, go back to your first distance and try it without holding the lead (stand on it to start with if needs be). Build it up again. Then, back to the first distance using a thin training line on a harness. Over time, you'll get a dog that will ignore other dogs and only interact when you give your "go play" cue. Using the thing he's after (play with other dogs) as a reward for not playing with other dogs is using something called the Premack principle and helps to build very strong behaviours.
Recalling Leo 5-6 times will quickly ruin your recall because he is ignoring you. If you can't be sure of him recalling from another dog I would not whistle/verbally recall him at all I would try some of the other methods suggested. I have a "go play" cue which works well but it does take time to train.
When you recall Leo what do you ask him to do? Walk to heel, walk close to you, be free? Just trying to work out the sequence of events from him seeing dogs and running off to play, recalling and running off again. There are some relatively simple steps you can use to improve his impulse control around other dogs/people and a long lead is one method. Another methods is training a look at me to gain attention and is something you can gradually reduce the distance to the object of his desire incrementally. All Leo is really saying is that the dog is more fun/interesting than you , so you need to up your 'fun-ness' in his eyes and that can be through some of the suggestions made my @charlie above - squeaky noises, hiding, running in the opposite direction all help to keep attention. I start trotting in the opposite direction and it works like a dream, I have a dog trotting beside me doing a check-in within seconds
Nice method. Thanks I will try it. He actually comes back every recall, however runs off soon after so I will need to recall again. I will try to teach "go play". He will come back to eat his treat then immediately turn back around to play with the dogs again. Occasionally, we can get him to stick around a bit longer (if we are far away from other dogs) by doing some basic obedience (sit, stay, heel, touch etc) and rewarding that. We also reward staying close and paying attention. He does not seem to be interested in fetch with other dogs around. After a while he will look towards other dogs again and stare. It is extremely hard to get his attention again once that happens. I will try turn the other direction and see if he follows. Usually he doesn't look back at us while focused on a dog though.
Ok, that sounds like one of the first bits that needs fixing. He's responding to the whistle to come back but more because there is a treat at the end of it because he sets off straight away again to play with another dog. When Leo is off lead do you ever call him back to you and clip his lead back on and just walk a little way and then let him off again? It's quite good to practice clipping the lead on and off without it signalling the end of his fun as you can then call him back clip his lead on, practice a little loose lead walking followed by some sit/stay/touch/heel etc. and then let him off to be free again. It might help break up his present recall and run back to play routine which is part of the battle. Make sure you have some really good treats though. Another thought which might help you to be more fun for Leo is when you recall him as he approaches, start running in the other direction making high silly noises, he should run after you , as he gets close, change direction again and turn it all into a fun game with some lovely high value treats when you allow him to catch up with you. If you have a partner with you they can also run in a different direction and then call Leo to them and turn it into a game of ping/pong recall - dogs love it. The more fun you are, the less appealing other dogs
