Duggan is 1 year on the 12th and as naughty as a normal semi-proofed dog his age. He's very attentive and aims to please albeit excitement sometimes briefly takes the upper hand. He is a very strong and confident entire male. I started using a whistle a few months ago and except for one time he's responded every blow. I don't use it when i don't think he'll respond but lately I don't get to use it. I control when he enters or exits an external doorway and he's never on lead except Tarmac walks. Now He won't go far enough from me to give me the opportunity. Sometimes I come in the house and leave the door open a crack and he just pushes his way in and, sits and waits for his treat. I never have to call him back because he won't go away. Lol. I guess what I'm asking is that because he knows he gets a food reward when he comes to me or when he comes in the house that he's not waiting for me to call him anymore, he just comes on his own. Should I stop rewarding for a cue I'm not giving or be grateful he's sped up the process and keep rewarding? Or should I test him in a more difficult scenario even though his life is pretty much his life now, if that makes any sense.
The best walks are those wen you never have to use you recall, so well done on having trained your dog to want to stay close I do think it's worth continuing to proof the recall against more difficult scenarios for those "what if?" moments that you can't control. You can do this by recalling him away from food in a bowl (I would use a special "training" bowl with a few bits of food in, rather than using his dinner), from a ball etc. It's easier with a helper, and start off with it easy. So, put the food in the bowl and have him between you and it, so you're all in a line, and he's closer to you than the food. If you have a helper, then, if he runs for the food, they can pick it up or cover it with their foot. If not, use a long line on a harness to prevent self rewarding. Over time, you can change the angles of you relative to the food, and the distances, to make it more challenging. Releasing him to take the food once he's recalled to you is a good use of the Premack principle. If Duggan fixates on balls, you can do a similar thing, where he has to recall away from the ball in order to get the ball. As for your other question, if you stop rewarding an "unlikely" behaviour (that is, one that doesn't benefit the dog), it will disappear over time. This doesn't mean that you have to keep using food rewards; you can reward him for staying close by playing games with him, or by giving him opportunities to earn treats by doing other things.
Mollie always stays by me and comes back to me at the end of a walk, with no recalls. But I want to be able to recall in an emergency so I do a couple of practices every walk. I get her to sit-stay and walk along for a good distance, then whistle recall. I would keep rewarding for staying close but also practise 'proper' recalls. This payed off in a big way a couple of weeks ago, when Mollie spooked at a leaf blower and ran right out of the park towards the road. The whistle brought her straight back - thank goodness! A panicky voice is not the best recall cue, but a whistle is loud, penetrating and consistent.
Just to expand on Mags' suggestion - if you do recall from a sit/stay to get the distance, then you want to do many more sit/stays where you don't recall, otherwise the dog will start anticipating and break the sit.
Agreed I do sit/stays where I return to her and sit/stays where she runs to me, and I make sure she doesn't know which it will be. .
