I work away from home and every time I leave puppy seems to "lapse" his training. He's 9 months next week and finally for the first time has left our unfenced yard. I knew the day would come. My wife is not from Canada and hates the cold. She also has a newborn so she tells me she's too busy to train him the way I want to. I've been pushing recall training on her and she has him waiting at the roads edge while she checks the mail ok and he comes most times when called but he's not proofed yet. Also he used to get three walks around our property everyday and never left our perimeter. If he tried we ran the other way and treated when he came. My wife has upped the scale of yummieness of the rewards but seems to forget to give them when he does as he is asked. It seems that no one finds training him as important as I do. And when it all starts to fall apart its my fault cause the methods I choose don't work. Very frustrating. They do work, you just need to be vigilant, keep up the work, and it is work, and understand whst and why you are doing it. You can't be lazy or it all goes to waste. So I'll finish with a question. When he left the yard, which I knew he someday would (There is a plethora of wldlife in the area now he's older, entire and confident) and my wife called him, he didn't come until she called for the third time. Because she had to call three times, under my instruction, she didn't treat him. But... having just introduced yummy new desirable treats, should she have given him one just until he knows we've upped the reward ante ? Or was that the correct thing to do? FYI. Where he was standing when he left the yard was where a fox had been minutes before. I'm thinking he did pretty good to come on the third call. There was also some men cutting wood a few hundred yards away whistling at him when she was calling. Why do so many people have to interfere in our training. I'm constantly retraining the bad habbits others instill. Arg. Thanks for listening.
Yes, this is always the biggest problem - other people! Personally, I always treat when my dog comes back, even if s/he doesn't come back on the first attempt, they did come back that third time. Otherwise, where's his reward for that one successful recall? As always, if my dog ignores my recall, the problem is with my training, not with his "obedience". I just need to proof more, setting him up for success so that he doesn't get to practice ignoring me. So, for me, when my dog ignores me, I don't call a second or third time. It's pointless and counter-productive. If I can safely ignore him, I do, otherwise I go and collect him.
I know what you mean about other people interfering with your training, annoying. However, I personally would not call three times as it just degrades your recall and yes I would have given him lots of treats and praise on his return. Do you not have a fenced in yard? If not you are allowing your puppy to self reward by leaving the yard to chase wildlife which is difficult to sort out, the idea is to stop these behaviours. You could use a harness and a long training line to train and proof his recall in the yard, but a fence is a better and safer option. I would hate to think your puppy could get to the road It's really difficult if everyone is not on board with the same training methods. Your wife needs to give him the treats if he has done as she asks or your training might not progress. I hope you can sort these things out. x
I think fencing will become a reality. Unfortunately I have a 400m x 400m property ( 4 acres ). We live in the country and there is hardly any traffic. We've been lucky so far with him staying close to home but the other day another dog showed him how much fun it is to leave the yard, something he was afraid to do on his own up to this point. I understand not setting him up to fail, it's why I'm so uptight about his training. It's just unfortunate I'm not home more often. But when I am I am 24/7 for months at a time so we can really work together. Going to start gundog training in the spring so hopefully next fall my posts will be pictures of him with his catch
Yes, definitely treat when he returns, even if it is at the third attempt, but try to avoid having to call more than once by setting up other strategies.
@Jonny Walker I was thinking, as you have such a large property could you fence an area near the house for your puppy then there would be no chance of running off to self reward, less of a worry? I only stress this point as it happened whilst our rescue dog was with a fosterer before we rescued him and brought him home, she lived on a very large property with 12 acres some of it woodland. She would open the back door let Charlie out to 'explore' this environment Needless to say this caused 3 years of 7 days a week recall training for us on a long line. Also we were not told of his and her behaviour until months after we had adopted him.
