So, I have been taking my dog to the dog park to get socialized for nearly 2 months now. He is one of the regulars and gets on well with them. He is the youngest of them all and most but one are not puppies. They are pretty good with recall. Tiger seems to have his 'head in the clouds' so to speak. He is 7 months, but it seems this has always been an issue, its lamost like he CHOOSES when he wants to come and its not as if I am a mean owner. Ive seen owners there that call their dogs in a commanding voice and it seems to work but with this pup - taking the mean or nice approach almost seems to get you no where. Its 50/50. Any suggestions?
Re: Puppy mind and recall For a really simple recall, and to start off with, you could use the tastiest treat, something that is his favourite, and call out trreeaatt! insert name, crouch down with open arms, to greet your pup, as he bounds up to you. Its not really refined recall, I would get Pippas book for that, maybe you could get it on Amazon if you arent in the uk. This will work, he will get to recognise the signal you are giving him, and maybe use a smally treat, so he smells food ! Maggie x
Re: Puppy mind and recall Maggie's advice is great Tigersmom,Total Recall would really help you to train an effective recall ,if you can get hold of a copy you would find it really helpful,it was a great guide for me with my first dog.Racahel has mentioned a lot of other things you can do in your other thread about encouraging more focus on you from Tiger.......before I started training total recall we did a lot of running away from Dexter!when he looked at us we would say Dexter come and run in the other direction....he used to come barreling over at a terrific speed then of course lots of praise and rewards x
Re: Puppy mind and recall Well, I tried the treats but I gave it away so often that he didn't care much for hte treats anymore, lol. I have stopped that ages ago so the new treats that I get have some value! When I first took him to the dog park, it was dropping things that became an issue but I understood it now - its a game for him, especially if its bark and dogs just love to run around with sticks...and labs love to teeth on them! If he didn't come to me, I used to walk off to the exit gate and say BYE TIGER...and THAT is how he used to come running to me, fear of abandonment I suppose, however, as they grow, they get more secure and confident and he just may not care to follow me. Either ways, "Bye Tiger" shouldn't be the new command fro 'Come Tiger".
Re: Puppy mind and recall I can recommend Pippa's book 1000% She takes you through what and how to treat, when and how to use 'jackpot' treats. It's a real step by step guide which will get you there - all it takes from you is tons of patience.
Re: Puppy mind and recall [quote author=TigersMom link=topic=6210.msg81564#msg81564 date=1401024420] Well, I tried the treats but I gave it away so often that he didn't care much for hte treats anymore, lol. I have stopped that ages ago so the new treats that I get have some value! [/quote] You can also take a variety of treats from low to high value. Pippa wrote an article on the gambling effect which I did have a link to but it's not working. When I track down the article I'll post it up for you Edited to add article: http://totallydogtraining.com/the-gambling-effect-in-dog-training/
Re: Puppy mind and recall Tigersmom ,I've got a very food motivated dog so food rewards always work for is : ,does Tiger have a favourite toy,maybe one that squeaks that you could use?
Re: Puppy mind and recall I would say these days hes more toy motivated than food. Yes he loves the squeaky balls, but what if its something even better thats not very good for him to be chewing? Any suggestions?
