Hattie has always been a 10 - 15 meter dog, but you could play hide 'n seek behind trees, play fetch or tug, you could also teach a hand touch as you have a border collie these things should be very easy to teach. I don't do lots of recalls as I save them for when I really need it. I do stop whistle, long distance hand touch, follow me and I reward all offered behaviours such as heel, check ins, look at me. The thing is to make yourself interesting so that your dog does check in without recalling. How old is your Collie? x
Well...I think I'm being too uptight...decided to relax today. This is really about as far as he goes, and he checks back frequently like this
Lucky is very similar to this, he has no natural instinct to stay close or keep an eye on me, and also assumes that if he needs to find me he can. I also relied on recall a lot, but found that it damaged my recall because I used too often and it became really boring for him. I also found it was a lot of work having to tell Lucky to stay with me, and it is much easier now I have taught him to do it himself. I still have a lot of work to do on it though but it's improved our relationship a lot! Here is some helpful information about changing direction: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/dog-recall-the-about-turn-walk/ The other things I do is: - Reward any eye contact or approach initiated by him (I use a clicker or say yes or good boy) - Reward for stopping to wait for me to catch up - Magically find treats hidden on the floor, on trees etc - Generally engage with him during our walks - Have off lead and on lead time so he doesn't get too absorbed by the environment After doing this consistently for a week or two I noticed a change, now it's been a few months and he's doing really well. If he's having an off day and is very disengaged, I keep him on the lead for more of the walk and have shorter off lead periods so he doesn't get back into the habit of having fun by himself.
Harley doesn't tend to go far unless another dog has pinched her ball, in which case she will follow that dog until they drop it! She checks in with me constantly and generally goes no more than 20m. She does have a good recall, but I don't use it often as she naturally keeps an eye on where I am and comes running if I change direction.
I used to be a bit of a continual recaller. Now, I hide a bit of beef on a tree or similar and call out "FIND IT" - Coco comes back to me to find it! Because of this, Coco's been sticking a bit closer, so I've been extra-vigilant to any glances at me which are rewarded with a "GOOD" and a treat.
@edzbird I would like to thank you for that great training tip. I took a tube of Primular 'Cheese' and left blobs all round the garden on bushes and trees for him to 'find it', he lapped it up enjoyed every second. He has been following me round to keep playing I'm really going to work hard on this and hopefully it can be transfered to his walks xx
..and I thank you @charlie - I'll take a tube of Primula - great idea My treat hiding has become more difficult as Coco tends to keep a close eye on me and sees where I'm hiding stuff! It's backfiring - in a good way
The Primula is so easy and not messy, glad to help you too Yes, I found Charlie was really watching me to see where the next blob was been placed x
Great idea! Just came back from the store, wished I'd seen this so I could have grabbed a tube! Will make do with bits of chicken in the meantime
@charlie , @edzbird , @SilverFalcon , this is all very interesting, I will be shopping for Primula soon
Have you not heard of the Sausage Tree? That's my magic word, and a brilliant game my lot adore. On walks, J will take the dogs ahead and I will stuff all the cracks I can find in the bark of a tree with bits of ham, cheese and, of course, sausage. Then, I shout "SAUSAGE TREE", they come belting to me and I help them find all the bits, and pull down branches where they can't reach. It's a real team-building game. I can't remember where I first read about it - maybe in The Other End of the Leash? J did one once on a stone wall. He called out "Sausage Wall!". The dogs looked at him like, "wuh?"
I got my "FIND IT" from your "SAUSAGE TREE" Fiona. There is only me on the walk so I can't hide loads of bits, unseen. It's a great approximation though. Sausage Wall
Don't remember the Sausage Tree! I have the same problem as @edzbird walking alone. I am only training with Charlie in the garden at the moment but I have lots of Sausage Trees x
If I'm walking alone with the two older ones (or either of them), I can put them in a sit/stay and prepare the tree. Less of the element of surprise, but Willow is so smart that as soon as J walks ahead with them, she knows what's going on anyway. The little chocolate horror isn't quite proofed against sausage tree for her sit/stay yet
Plum doesn't tend to go far unless she spies/smells something to roll in, otherwise she's pretty good at checking in. Often she'll stay by me for most of the walk and if others are walking with us and ahead, she falls back to be with me. I also play 'find it' on every walk and reward check ins and staying by me but I also like it when she goes off to explore. As an aside, on one of our walks she got spooked by a hole in a tree and by a curling bit of bark on another, barking and growling and scared to walk past! So I lured her to the trees with treats and put treats on the piece of bark and in the hole. She was still a bit scared at first and even now, still gives a little gruff almost bark, but she also puts her head inside the hole now looking for treats. It's so funny what spooks them.
Shadow and Willow were awful when I got back to Spain after my trip to the UK with Luna. Whether because J was calling them back a lot to keep them close, or some other reason, I'm not sure, but they were ranging into the trees and well out of sight. So much so, I put them on lead for the remainder of the walk a couple of times, which doesn't teach them anything, but I couldn't deal with them roaming at that time. In the last couple of days, I've pulled it back a lot, by using the about-turn, rewarding heavily for check-ins, and using my secret weapon, the Chuckit ball, as a jackpot reward. Within a very short time, I saw Shadow was constantly listening back for me, even when moving away, so I'd capture that and reward. It's certainly not back to where we were, but a few walks where I'm focussing on it more has already made a big difference. I find that, when I walk my dogs individually, all of them are 100% tuned in to me. I have the bigger issues when we're on walks together. They've obviously learned that they get less individual interaction on these group walks, so they don't need to stay as interested in me. So, that's a note to myself that I have to work harder and still give them individual jobs when we're all together.
I think the sausage tree is from Chase! by Clarissa von Reinhardt - I think it has other ideas to keep dogs with hunting instincts close.
