Well have started recall training from scratch after purchasing the Total Recall book, I have been diligently following this through page by page section by section and still in the 'house' stage. Of course he has no bother in achieving each and every exercise as there is something to eat for him at the end, can't wait to get further and start phasing out/reducing the rewards - trouble with me want to move too fast but am adamant to stick to the programme.......
Hello there, don't be in a hurry to phase out rewards - often people do this too soon. Myself, I don't phase out rewards for recall. My 3 year old dog gets a reward for every single recall he does.
My 20 month old gets rewarded for each and every recall or even just coming to walk alongside me unasked, and making eye contact with me, after investigating a bush or whatever.
Same here with my 18-month olds. They are very rarely recalled (I'd rather work on keeping them close enough they don't need to be), but when they are, they get something good, each and every time.
Welcome from Hattie 8 years and rescue boy Charlie 5 years. Agree with everyone, mine get rewarded for every whistle/vebal recall, every spontaneous recall, staying close out of choice, look at me. This has been very beneficial with Hattie she stays very close watching me, she isn't recalled very much only when I need to. Even with our rescue boy Charlie who was an absconder this works as he is choosing to check in and stays as close as a Labrador x Pointer stays close he gets rewarded every single time and occassionally I drop a jackpot treat in Take your time working through Total Recall, don't rush the exercises and proof them well, there's no hurry and you and your dog will benefit in the long run Helen x
6 months into our training and we haven't phased out rewards for recall - no plans to do so it any time soon. Sometimes the reward might be low value (though nothing seems too low value for Coco), but he always gets a reward. Belle follows what Coco does because he gets treats, and she lives by her stomach.
yup - puppy, 4 year old and 2 seven year olds all still get treats/ball for recall - and still sometimes really really yummy ones
I always reward recall, staying close, cued or uncued. I have gone back to taking high and low value rewards out every time now. Or to be honest higher value than I had been. Chicken, prawns, smoked salmon or sardine plus normal food kibble.
What type of prawns do you use? Cooked/raw with/without heads and legs? I'm looking to introduce some more higher value treats for Ella and I imagine prawns would be a hit.
I use cooked "jumbo" king prawns because Waitrose often have them on a 2 for 1 offer....Charlie wouldn't care if they were raw though. Rachel, @Oberon says Obi poos out prawn shells, so if I ever have shell on prawns I peel them for Charlie. Charlie once saw a picture of Obi's Australian prawn dinner. He hasn't stopped writing to Trading Standards over Waitrose's description of 'jumbo' prawns ever since....
I think I'll be going for no shells then as I have no desire to pick up pooy shells! Oh, Ella is in for a treat, I'll let you know what our 'jumbo' prawns are like in Melbourne
I use small ones raw, no shell or heads and still break them up as small as I can get away with. That way Dexter gets more than one treat at times as feed several smaller pieces one after the other and it's only one prawn. I also put some of his normal kibble in the same bag as adds to the variety of rewards. I saw @snowbunny video on the nail clipping post, she was using prawns and smoked salmon and it looked raw and gave me the courage to try them (I hate prawns myself). I also brought smoked salmon slice, cut it up and put several pieces into ice cube trays, put the trays into a freezer bag and then froze. That way it's easier to get out a small portion to defrost
I can't even remember now if the ones in that video were cooked or raw. I feed both. I also occasionally feed whole raw king prawns in their shells, heads and all. I've never seen any undigested shell in the poop. If I'm peeling prawns for our own consumption, I keep the heads and put them in the oven on a low temperature for aaaaages to dehydrate them. The dogs go nuts for these. I've tried them, too, and they're really tasty
No I was just meaning one of the stages of Pippa's book is to start cutting down sometimes missing to try and heighten the recall as he won't know when he was likely to get a 'megga' reward and hopefully strengthen the positive recall
I always have a mix of treats with me so Juno never knows what sort of treat she will get - a day to day average treat or a jackpot. Works for us
However thanks to you all for your comments, particularly one about prawns (must admit I would have the tail but would willingly give him the heads!) it's nice to know others experience!
I know. In total recall it does suggest this, but lots of us never fade out rewards for recall all the same.
