Recall Problem

[dave w]

i've heard cockers are known to sometimes have a problem with recall and today i was out with alfie a 5 month old cocker dog ,i was letting him wander off a little way ahead on the way out and he was coming back everytime i called him and i was praising him and giving him a treat, but on the way back he ran a long way ahead ignoring me calling him and i thought he would stop but no off he went untill he was out off sight, so i had to run after him and couldn't find him anywere ,i was starting to get worried by this time as the path splits into two one track leads back home and the other leads onto the main road   i took the one back home and when i got there he was sitting on the grass looking rather pleased with himself, so i was wondering if getting one of those long retractable leads might be a good idea ,hopefully it will just be a phase he going through i could do with not having a mile run first thing in the morning.  

[PennyB]

Most young dogs go through this and its not just cockers. It is a phase where he's getting more confidence to go out there on his own (but he won't 'get over it' unless you do something proactive). Personally I'd try practising recall at every opportunity, take out the best (high-value) treats, play games to keep his attention on you more, play hide and seek, and run away from him. I think cockers should be allowed as much free running as possible so you have to put in the work to make sure they're safe.

Also, there are many many threads re this so put recall in the search facility and scan through those.

[Colin]

Are you able to vary your walks so he can't guess which way you are going ? I had a spell with Misty where she would trot on ahead if she thought we were going back to the car - I started taking different turns to keep her on her toes, also using the methods Penny suggests to get her focussed on me.

Re the retractable leads, they do give you control and a bit of extra freedom for the dog - they can teach a dog to pull on the lead though, as I found to my cost with Jimmy.

[dave w]

after reading a few posts on here i'm going to order a acme dog whistle and also a long lead to see if i can get him sorted, he did it again tonight, he was happily coming back when i called him and then he suddenly bolted luckily he only seems to run for home which is just off the park.  

[PennyB]

You also need to make yourself as interesting as possible and not to leave the recall for when he just about to run off or too far away. If you get a whistle practise in the house with it at 1st to get him used to it, wear it round your neck and keep blowing and treating (even to give him his food).

[Em - Oscar's mum]

We have the same problem with Oscar.  He used to be really good but now when we take him for a walk and he sees another dog he wants to go and play.  
The other day we were walking him across the local brooks and he saw another dog the other side of the field and no matter how many times hubs and I called for him the little monster just wouldn't come back.

We have a retractable lead for him but as it says above they do encourage him to pull.  Does anybody have any ideas on what type of lead I could get him instead?

[John P]

We had exactly the same problem with Pebbles. He was great at recall but as his confidence grew so his response to recall diminished

We use a harness with a 30' line which we leave on him when he goes for a walk. This serves 2 purposes. Fisrtly, it's easier to grab hold of if he runs after another dog as we just step on it but secondly, we practice recall holding it. If he doesn't come we give him a gentle tug as a reminder and then reward him when he comes back. We've also all decided that the word "Here" is his recall word and we all stick to it.

So far the results have been fantastic He even comes back when called if he's with other dogs. He can be reluctant sometimes if he's found a particularly good smell but if after 2 calls of "Here" we get no response we go to the end of his line and again give him a gentle reminder.


We're now at the stage where we're starting to trust him without the line on and he's still good - in fact we're really proud of him. I'm sure we'll get a relapse but we'll just go back to the line again for a short while

Hope this helps

[PennyB]

We have the same problem with Oscar.  He used to be really good but now when we take him for a walk and he sees another dog he wants to go and play. 
The other day we were walking him across the local brooks and he saw another dog the other side of the field and no matter how many times hubs and I called for him the little monster just wouldn't come back.

We have a retractable lead for him but as it says above they do encourage him to pull.  Does anybody have any ideas on what type of lead I could get him instead?

[snapback]150025[/snapback]

What happens if you make an idiot of yourself jumping up and down then running away from him. Just calling back in the early days isn't interesting enough for them. Practise recall at other times and play games (I play chuckit with mine and they are mesmorised) or get them to chase you or play hide and seek. Silly I know but it makes you more interesting to them, and scares the pants off them if they think you're going to leave them or have disappeared (even if you're just on your hands and knees behind a bush or tree).

Trouble is if you just use a line or retractable lead all the time you then rely on it and don't actually practise recall.

[John P]

Trouble is if you just use a line or retractable lead all the time you then rely on it and don't actually practise recall.

[snapback]150088[/snapback]

I think this depends on how important recall is to you. Because it's really important to us that Pebble's recall can be trusted as we want him to walk off lead we're forever practicing recall with him on the line. It just gives us the opportunity to give him a gentle reminder if he chooses to ignore us on the occasions when he goes "deaf". We also let him go loose with the line still on - this gives us the added security that it's easier to stand on the line if he starts running off rather than try to chase after him.  

I can honestly say that using a line to help Pebbles recall has worked for us

[PennyB]

Trouble is if you just use a line or retractable lead all the time you then rely on it and don't actually practise recall.

[snapback]150088[/snapback]

I think this depends on how important recall is to you. Because it's really important to us that Pebble's recall can be trusted as we want him to walk off lead we're forever practicing recall with him on the line. It just gives us the opportunity to give him a gentle reminder if he chooses to ignore us on the occasions when he goes "deaf". We also let him go loose with the line still on - this gives us the added security that it's easier to stand on the line if he starts running off rather than try to chase after him.  

I can honestly say that using a line to help Pebbles recall has worked for us

[snapback]150118[/snapback]

I'm not denying this but I was replying to a statement about someone who wanted it to just get their dog back and I was reminding that it was really no substute for also actually practising recall in other ways in those circumstances (in the 1st part of my reply and earlier). Lines themselves are useful tools (as Colin says re retractable leads, they do give control and a bit of extra freedom for the dog, but personally I would never use a retractable lead for recall training) as part of a variety of different ways of training recall (I've used a longline briefly on one of my dogs).