Hello, I'm going through Pippa's Total Recall training programme with my adult dog to retrain her recall as she frequently runs off after wildlife. We are still in the basic recall phase training indoors at home. Today I made an error which I'm worried has undone all our work so far. I recalled her successfully away from a plate of chicken 3 times in a row and rewarded her with the chicken after each time. Then I put her normal wet food down and tried to recall her but she didn't come and started eating her food. I know it was a mistake - I did it on impulse because I'd got overly confident. Was this error catastrophic? Has my dog whistle now lost its power?
I wouldn't worry. I doubt there's anyone who hasn't had the odd 'failure' during recall training. I would just do a few very easy recalls using the whistle (so not from food or any distraction) before returning to where you were in the programme. (Ignore the posts saying to change your whistle - it's the conditioning of the whistle and gradually adding distance and distractions that matters.)
Hi Claire, don't worry. As Joy says, everyone makes mistakes. If you make a mistake, just go back a step to a point where you were succeeding, practice for a bit, then move forwards again slowly.
