I had just finished a walk today and was 50 yards from the car park walking back across playing fields when a large deer thundered across our path at high speed. My dogs are terrible for chasing deer if they find them (one reason we were walking on playing fields) and set off in hot pursuit. I walked towards the direction they had gone, gave them two minutes and then blew my super exciting recall whistle. Pewee,pewee,pewee continuously and they turned, left their chase and jumped back out of the paddock over the fence onto the playing field and super fast. A woman came over to me and commended me on such a fabulous recall as I was putting one of them on lead. My other dog who is frightened of strange people exited at speed on the opposite direction. I eventually found him in the car park trying to get back into the car. So my walk today consisted of ‘la la la’ ‘doh’ ‘wohoo’ ‘doh’ and a final ‘thank god’
Must be the day for it. Today just before we headed out a couple of deer sauntered across the yard in her line of sight, the tastiest treats in the world could not get her attention. Quick potty breaks today has been the limits and indoor training. The bitter cold here has also hindered outdoor training. Rosie(adopted) has NO RECALL... Sadly this also means I'm fearful of off lead time. We live in the country; acres and acres of free land - BUT 50 feet from the road, deer and other fun critters to chase. We are working on it - signing up for class and getting the book & whistles #hopeful.
Well done @Peartree, it's such a great feeling when that happens! I have recently hit a recall problem ==rabbits!!
@Rosevett don't despair with your rescue dog! Simba had zero recall when we adopted him at 8-9 months old. Total Recall absolutely was a game changer as he had learned to ignore his name but the whistle was a new start on Recall. The suggestion to scatter treats as we walked also gave him a reason the stick close, and even to this day (almost 6 years later) when he stops and looks back at me he is rewarded with a treat. The long line also was a lifesaver...I still put it on when we go for walks, just as insurance, but he mainly doesn't need it now. The dog who would previously disappear into the woods, not to be seen for half and hour, now will mostly take a quick sniff off the path and then come back right away. So patience and perseverance and you will get there!
This is late to the party but we live in a fairly developed area, it's not uncommon to spot deer on nature paths and on lawns from time to time. Teller has never really encountered a deer but has shown interest in them, he lives to hunt and I figured he'd give chase if ever he did meet one. Having read about various horrors: pet dogs killing deer, chasing them into traffic, getting kicked/gored, I've taken care to avoid this situation. Well, the other day T goes out in the backyard of my parent's house (fenced) to potty and is frozen in stalk mode. Normally he'll point but always he waits for me to walk up behind him and release him to flush whatever game he's after. If I don't come he will just sit down in place for an inordinate amount of time. Keep in mind I didn't train any of this and rescued him from the shelter. Such a weird dog. Right so I see the squirrel he's likely focusing on and cue his release, he takes off to the edge of the fence 20 ft away and 'flushes'. Two squirrels run in opposite directions, a bird flies up into the air, and out of my periphery I spot a white bum fleeing into the trees of our property. Strange because I've never seen deer near our house nor have I seen them moving about in daylight. I think it's all over and walk off leaving T to do his business. Maybe 2 minutes later I return and there's no dog in the yard. Then I see the hole in the fence and hear crashing through the underbrush before I see a wagging yellow tail disappear. There are several busy roads in the immediate area so I'm beside myself, run in the house and grab his whistle and pray that he will listen. I blow a short trill and no Teller. After the second time I hear more crashing and see a smiling yellow lab bounding towards the fence. As all this is happening I see not 1 but 2 deer 15 ft from the dog just frozen but he didn't turn back to chase them; though he is a fool and had to be shown how to come back through the fence. Once he was back in the yard he ran up to me so happy and proud of himself. I totally expected him to give chase causing a 50 car pile up and demolishing the neighbor's flower bed in the process. But I guess he just wanted to investigate what those big, stupid-looking hooved 'dogs' were doing outside the fence? At any rate I am both stunned and pleased with my boy. Now stay tuned for the next round wherein he makes me eat my words and I get featured on the local news/become a viral video like Fenton the lab forcing me to move to a different state and change both of our names.
