Wondering what your thoughts are on the use of long lines for teaching recall ? Its not for Sam, his recall is pretty good but for my little rescue terrier Flynn , I`m sorry to be asking this on a Labrador forum , but needed some sensible advice ! I do let Flynn off lead at the village dog field, he is happy to stay with the group, coming back when called, I do call him up regularly and put him on lead for a few moments so that he doesnt associate the lead with the end of fun and he is realy good . Where I am scared is other areas where there are strange dogs and people, he adores other dogs and I worry that he will forget recall and run after them to play . So I have ordered a 30 ft long line for him , my thinking being that in these strange situations, I can give him some freedom whilst retaining control and testing his recall when others are around , do you think they are a good tool please ? Thank you
Re: Long lines Hi Kate, I've found the long line really useful when doing training but I struggled to manage it on a walk as Riley doesn't range at it's full length but trundles at varying distances so I was always trying to reel it in or let it out. I changed to the longest flexi lead I could find which was 8m I think. You can get longer cable flexis but you hear stories of thin nylon cables cutting people and dogs so I use a tape lead. I always have my long line in my game bag with my dummies just in case Riley gets a bit wayward!
Re: Long lines Thanks Barbara , how are you and your lovely little girl doing ? Thanks for the reply , the line I have ordered is not a nylon one as I`d also heard some horror stories about them , its a flat tape one . Thankfully I can almost forget Sam on walks, well not forget him as such but not worry where he is !! So , any entanglement I get into can be sorted out, I hope, without having to watch two dogs , Sam doesnt tend to go far from me and if he loses sight, panic big style I feel a bit of a defeatist as I always used to say how sad it was to keep a dog on a lead, but a rescue is a bit of an unknown entity and I`d rather be safe than risk the little devil legging it
Re: Long lines Long lines are excellent training tools, though they can be tricky to manage in undergrowth. I think you are sensible to use one for Flynn whilst you work on his recall amongst distractions. Pippa
Re: Long lines Hi Kate, We're all doing ok it's quite a dramatic change though ;D 4 more weeks of term and then we'll have 6 weeks together as a family which will be wonderful. Riley has got used to the pram quickly although he has crept forward of heel so he gets a better view. I'm relieved the weather is ok so we can all get out and about. There's a good pocket in the back which holds a couple of dummies very nicely
