Finley's recall is coming along fine (ish) but like most he has snags around other dogs. To proof, his recall he is on a long line and harness. Again not too bad, he does have a lunge etc if the dog around is loose and running around him and has on many occations carried out double back flips as the lead and harness check his sprint. :-[ PIP PIP, "Finley come" takes too long to shout on a 30 ft lead with his turn of speed. He will then stand there with the lead under tension until I run backwards, shout and try to attract his attention, then he will come for his roast chicken or sardines or cat food, but that can be 10 or more seconds. : My question is in two parts, 1. Is this the correct action and does it just need consistant proofing? 2. What can I do when loose dogs run up to him after he was on his way back and now just stops to fend off or play? Michael
Re: Recall with loose dogs Hi , I think this seems to be one of hardest lessons for Labs to learn or rather for us, the owners to learn Being very sociable dogs , it is second nature to them to want to interact, meeting and greeting other dogs, it is a hard balance to strike as we want them to be sociable, but on our terms . Do you allow Finlay off lead completely yet ? I think dogs tend to react with more fervour when on lead even when it is a 30 foot long line as you use , it causes them to become more exciteable and eager to get to others too . Do you maybe have someone you could walk with who owns an adult calm dog, it can help so much . You do right re the treats , its a case of making yourself far more intersting than other dogs
Re: Recall with loose dogs Hi, Finley has been off the lead in the past, but has run off, not just to dogs, but on his own, even if his companion; Ruby, is beside us or comes when called. The lead is often trailed behind him, so not always held, but only yesterday, during his last training session, he was trailing his lead and ran off towards other dogs. Unfortunately, I don't have another dog other than Ruby to walk with unless we meet someone and then again Finley would have already bowled them over and tangled up in his lead. As a reward, I do let him play with the dogs I recall him from, but he is sooo very boisterous, he jumps all over them and has on many an occation, been told off by the dog.
Re: Recall with loose dogs I wonder - have you got a safe location where you can let him play with other dogs? Let him get his excitement out of his system, then choose a time when he is quieter and looking at you, and THEN recall him?
Re: Recall with loose dogs Karen's right Michael....it feels wrong with the other dog scenarios but at this stage only recall them with your whistle when you KNOW they will come.....I walk with my friend and her lab and cocker,the cocker takes off after any bird he can flush and the other 2 follow.....my friend says blow your whistle as they are dots on the horizon...and gets annoyed when I won't!Dexter will eventually stop and look back at me,then if I blow he will come....or if I gets use in the moment before the chase begins when he is close to me he will come.....it's the bit in the middle that is so hard to get when the interest is up and they want to get to the dog more than anything else.... I sympathise because it's really hard to get consistent practice opportunities,you just have to grab them when you can. I was just about to start working on it on a long line with Dexter when his surgeries started....I haven't blown my whistle for 2 weeks......it will be interesting to see what happens when I do : I hope we haver lost too much ground ,keep,practising but be patient and build up gradually.....I've taken ages to get to where I was
Re: Recall with loose dogs [quote author=Karen link=topic=3001.msg31701#msg31701 date=1382445459] I wonder - have you got a safe location where you can let him play with other dogs? Let him get his excitement out of his system, then choose a time when he is quieter and looking at you, and THEN recall him? [/quote] This is good advice Michael, in other words , dont set yourself up to fail . Once he is running towards you , no matter how long it has taken to achieve this , then call to him and give treat and masses of praise when he finally lands by your side I`m sure we have all experienced the frustrations of calling to a dog who is just having the best time chasing around with others and the worst thing you can do it to tell him off when he does return as dogs remember their very last action, so he will think he is being ticked off for coming back , stick at it , it will all come right with patience
Re: Recall with loose dogs More of the same here.....Riley was (and is) so keen to make new friends I struggled to find stooge dogs. We either didn't meet anyone or we bumped into twenty mad, off-lead dogs all hooning around. Terribly difficult to build up the difficulty of the recall gradually. Two things have really helped us: 1. Classes - general obediance with the distraction of other dogs that are to a greater or lesser extent under control. It's improved Rileys hearing a bit and he's learnt to focus on me even when other dogs are around. 2. I got in touch with a dog trainer and they brought their well trained dogs out while we did some recall exercises. They started by sitting while I recalled Riley past them, then they were loose bimbling about and then they were playing with a football. We're a long way from perfect but we are a LOT better than we were
Re: Recall with loose dogs Thanks all for the advice. I haven't thought of letting him off first, as he is absolutely manic and would clear fields to get to others. My latest training course has been cancelled last minute so I may take this opportunity to get some 1-2-1 from him and get some good "fake" scenarios up and running. Just hope I don't loose him first :-\
Re: Recall with loose dogs Just in case it helps with ideas... We play a recall game. We've taught him to run between two or three people on his recall signal - with variations eg one of us suddenly hides and then the game is "find him!" And if he anticipates going to the other person, he is called back or to a different person etc. or he'll have to wait while someone runs away, so it's not predictable what he has to do next. Treats and toys make it exciting. We can have him whizzing around completely involved in the game. We move the game closer to distractions - bikes, joggers, other dogs. It really seems to work. And it's great fun. It fills up a walk too, keeping him "under orders". If he is free to amuse himself, the best plan that occurs to him is go play with another dog/jogger/kid etc.
Re: Recall with loose dogs Well.... Tried the off the lead first and meet all the other dogs by the river. :-\ I called Finley away from some of the dogs and then let him off the lead to charge the others. He picked on them all, but only a few would "play". : Gladly he was told off for his over zealous jumping; toy dogs Vs 27 Kg Choccie Lab He found a bigger more boisterous dog to play with and tore around for a good 10 mins or so. Not once bothering with me : I had to change direction of walk because the others were going back, but in a split moment he looked at me and I managed to capture that and he new his treat was coming. With an over spill of roast chicken he tucked into his Jackpot and I managed to collect him, re-lead him and move on happily. From there he came when required and played when we were mugged and could do nothing about it. Overall a far better day, so many thanks again for the advice as always. Still may go for the 1-2-1 for re-enforcement.
Re: Recall with loose dogs Sounds great!!!! For us it's definitely one of those challenges that needs proofing in as many locations and with as many different dogs as we can find. Which is quite some feat and takes a while. Definitely worth it though ;D
Re: Recall with loose dogs Hi Michael, Barbara has summed this up perfectly. It is difficult building up recall gradually, and it is hard to set up the kind of 'fake' situations where you can call a dog away from a 'stooge' dog to practice and build up your dog's skill. But it is very worthwhile Trying to practice on walks is quite challenging because you have no control over the variables or level of difficulty of each recall. This is where classes or lessons with a professional (who will use their own dogs to help you) are so valuable. Well done on your progress yesterday, and remember, as Kate and Karen have said, to try not to give the recall command if you know there are too many distractions and your dog won't obey. Set the dog up to win. Julie's game is a good one too. Keep practicing and you'll get there Pippa
Re: Recall with loose dogs Many thanks. Great advice and replies as always. Clicker 2 training back on again ;D fortnight late and this is where we move forward and do the basics again but with more distractions ie instead of loose lead walking in your own space, you move around each other and recall past the rest. This should certainly help us for focus and closer distractions and I can then move on on my own, armed with “Total Recall” and this forum, for the outside work. 6 weeks, here we come.
