Hey guys, yesterday River and I went for our usual walk, little earlier than normal, so we could trot along the park and have a bit of play time. Didn't quite work out that way. Even though she's been really good in the past, River decided not to listen to any of my commands yesterday, running all over the place and coming back with real difficulty... I nearly ended up flat on my stomach in the mud... Sigh... Anyway, I think being off the lead is out of the question for a little while, but as I don't want to deprive River from stretching her legs, would anyone be able to recommend the size of a recall training lead for a lab? You reckon 15m is long enough?
That's very, very long and will be a handful to manage if you're not used to it. They can be very dangerous (to you, the dog and other people!) if not used correctly. Don't you have somewhere safe she can be off lead? I know you've mentioned about it before - she's never been off leash, is that right? This is the problem with delaying it until after they lose the inherent desire to stay with you, because you don't get the benefit of training the early behaviours with that "safety blanket". But, all is not lost. I would use a 5m line for now, and just use it for working on recall games. First thing first, you need focus. Until you have that, you will have nothing. So, put the line on (always connected to a back loop on a harness, never to a collar or a front loop) and, as soon as she looks at you, throw a treat away from you. Then wait for her to turn back, which she will. It might be immediate, or it might take a couple of minutes, but as soon as you get the slightest glance in your direction, click (or mark with a "yes") and throw a treat away from you again. The idea is that you're throwing the treat away so she has to make a deliberate effort to reorient to you. After a few repetitions, you can judge whether she's ready to engage with you and, if so, try adding in a really simple cue that she normally responds to very well. If she does it, mark and toss a treat again. You're using this exercise to work out how distracted she is by her environment compared to being focussed on you. When you have that focus, you can start working on recall games. Ping-pong recall is one of my favourites. Count out ten big chunks of treats into your hands, you bowl one in one direction (12 o'clock). As soon as she turns back to you, turn 180 degrees and bowl a treat the other way (6 o'clock). Repeat for all the treats - on the last one, you feed it at you. You should find that, after a few goes, she's turning snappily and running straight at you as soon as she's grabbed the treat. Have a couple of sessions of this (but only maybe three or four times a week; it's very demanding on young joints) and, once you know she has the idea of the game, you can start including your recall cue as she's running towards you. After a week of cueing as she's approaching you, change the timing so the cue is immediately before she turns. This will get her used to snappily turning back to you when you give your cue. Over time, you can start playing these two games in more and more distracting environments. They will make a big difference. Good luck! Edited to add: the ping-pong recall game is very high energy so will work her brain and leave her physically tired.
I used a long training line (about 8 metres) with Maisy at the beginning but please be careful as she got it caught round her leg and darted off really quickly ending up with a rope burn across her stomach.
Yup, this is one of the dangers. They can also easily break a person or dog's leg if they get wrapped around (or worse - if it gets wrapped around the neck, yikes), so it's not a tool to be used lightly. You need to be constantly aware that the line stays outside of the dog's legs, and that you coil up any slack as you use it. You should never put yourself in a situation where the dog reaches the end of the line and gets jerked to a stop - even with a harness, this can do huge damage. Not to mention how easy it is to get nasty rope burns on your hands. Proceed with caution, definitely.
