We brought our pup home yesterday and so far she's settled in really well. The only thing concerning me is she doesn't follow me in our (quite large) garden! I'm trying hard not to actually call her to me, but get her attention by clapping or making silly noises etc, which does cause her to look at me, but then she either remains still or trots off the other way! On the odd occasion she has come I've given her huge praise and cuddles (and will also start using high value treats), but that's only happened once or twice - most of the time it seems she'd rather do her own thing! Given I believe this forms the foundation of recall training I'm a bit concerned! Should I be? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for any replies.
She hasn't bonded with you just yet - don't worry, it will take a few days I only use slightly soaked kibble as treats for the first 3 weeks or so with my pups, their tums can be a bit delicate at first and high value treats can easily give them a runny tum. .
Maybe she already feels safe in the garden? My dog was a bit like this as a puppy - although when very tiny, he was a little bit wary of new places (only for the first 10 minutes though ), he soon got over any hesitation he had. I watched the videos of a young puppies trotting after their owners....yet when I put my puppy down on the beach, he immediately legged it to investigate kids with ice creams, rocks to climb, footballs etc. He was just an over confident puppy, that had already been well socialised by his breeder, and he was full of himself. He still is. But he now has a great recall. It's been hard work though. I watched in some amazement at my neighbour's dog - they achieved an attentive, responsive dog with little effort, the dog was just naturally much more inclined to stay close and engaged than my dog ever was (or is, I think). They are all different, but that doesn't mean you can't train them - just carry on, it's great you are making an early start on getting and keeping your puppy's attention - that's all you can do, you have to train the dog you have. No point wishing your dog was different (although I've indulged in that a fair bit myself! ). As my trainer often tells me "you have the dog you have - get on with it".
I don't have an answer, just that Jessie was the same from day 1, much to my surprise and panic! I think all the smells were really exciting! We ended up having to block off part of our garden to keep an eye on her. She is still super confident around everything! I am working hard on recall and I am making myself the most desirable, fun thing to be around. Basically a giant treat dispenser who gives out tasty snacks the minute she comes near, both at home and when out, which is working well, although we are a way off great recall yet, it is a start! Good luck!
I think a longer bonding period might help too, you've only had her one day and she doesn't yet know you are her place of safety. But, how old is she? They do get more confident as they mature which is why this method doesn't work for long. They are all different though. Jet was a hazard, she walked between my feet. Oban was supremely self confident and even at 8 weeks old would be 10 feet ahead of me. With Oban, if I ducked out of sight, low behind a snowbank, then he'd come looking for me and we'd have a big play. Food treats outside meant little to Oban, play was far more rewarding to him.
You don't need to be concerned, your puppy is obviously super-confident. It just means you will need to be a bit more inventive about establishing the recall. As you won't be able to rely on the 'following' response you may need to work a bit harder on being interesting to your puppy. The principles are still the same, get the puppy running towards you by whatever means you can, and make it fantastic for her (with food / games ) when she reaches you. You can either trigger her to chase you by running away (you may need to make a noise while you do this) or you can use a clicker and click and treat her for looking at you (then build on this) With a puppy like this, I would also be using all her daily food allowance up with hand feeding - just to make myself the most attractive thing in her life.
Yes - my second pup was like this - put her down and she legged it across the garden heading for the forest - but she has a cracking good recall now, I think because I knew I had to work on it. Lots of click treat for looking in my direction etc. I understand how you feel because I panicked a bit too, but its great that you recognise this now. (My first pup wouldn't let me out of his sight and my third pup is half way between the two, so they are all different - bless them)
