I have a black lab who is almost 6 months old. He's doing pretty well with his training, he's friendly and relaxed but we have one problem. His recall is really good but he gets quite excited when I recall him and will jump up when he reaches me. My dog trainer says my correction isn't strong enough but I don't really know what she means. Am I supposed to shout at him when he does it? I don't really see how that will help if he's already done the behaviour? Does anyone have any advice how to correct this behaviour?
Hi @SueH Here is something to try. At home in a low distraction environment get your dog to sit on a towel facing you. Reinforce. Repeat the exercise with a recall getting the dog to sit on the towel at the end of coming. Repeat the two exercises in the back garden with the towel. Reinforce. Repeat the two exercises in a park early in the morning with few distractions still using the towel.. It might be useful to reduce the distance initially. Gradually increase distance, and then distractions still using the towel. Now that the dog understands placement (sit before me at end of recall) start fading the towel. You can double it over, then quarter. Or cut it into smaller sizes. The objective is to reduce the size of the towel until it is no longer needed. Don't under any circumstances start shouting at your dog. Ask the trainer to explain what is meant by connection. You're paying for the trainer. Good trainers like questions.
Goodness, please find another trainer!! If you are working with a trainer and they start talking about 'corrections', then you really (for your dog's sake and to avoid the development of problems in the future) need to find another trainer. Giving a dog a correction as part of training a recall is only going to totally ruin your recall and result in a dog which is reluctant to come to you or comes very slowly or unenthusiastically! If you let us know whereabouts you live, we can give you some directories to look through. You can even work with great trainers on online courses these days, there's no reason to be exposed to punishment-based training. @Michael A Brooks Sue said 'correction', not 'connection'!
Hi @SueH - we had this problem also, but it seems to have resolved after trying a few things. Jo and Michael are the experts and best to advise though. Firstly, I was never too concerned by the jumping up because it showed me how enthusiastic she was to recall which was great. One week at training class though, she seemed to be getting to the place board every time and then bounding up to me like it was a trampoline, and bashing me in the stomach. The trainer suggested that I say "sit" to her just as she got to me (literally a millisecond before she got to me) to remind her to plonk her bum on the floor. After 5 or 6 reps of this, she got it straight away. You need to be careful not to do it until the very end, otherwise she'll interrupt her recall with a sit which you don't want. When we're out and about now and she comes haring back to me on a recall I point to my knees and that gets her focus lower down (I guess she's anticipating the treat in my hand). This nearly always stops her from jumping - she still comes back with speed, but just skids to a stop and sits. Good luck
Thanks Jo for the correction. I feel the weight of the self-imposed P+ and will attempt to stop reading the posts with my mobile phone. Clearly the letters are too small for these old eyes.
Thanks for the suggestions. They sound like something we could do without spoiling the recall! I tried something this weekend, I called him and he raced towards me with his usual enthusiasm. I could see from where he was looking that he was going to leap at me so I turned my back just before he reached me. He didn't jump and raced round to my front, by which time he had slowed down and I could make a big fuss of him with his paws on the ground. Although I may try the sit technique, that sounds pretty good. I live in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Has anyone used any trainers in my area that they would recommend?
