Dyllan and recall

[Brimbeck(Dyllan)]

Dyllan has been fab at recall. ...........but yesterday and today he ran away from my OH at the start of his walk 
My OH let him off in the field that leads to a wood near us and Dyllan ran back passed him  down a path and on to a road. He then got off the road and sat by the side of the road. He was so lucky each time as although it not very busy the traffic is quite quick on it.

Is this the start of teenage behaviour? He is coming up to 5 mths.

[CraftySam]

Yes he could well be heading into adolescence at 5 months. 

My Lab Sapphi was hit by a van a few weeks ago, as she didn't stop where she usually does according to my OH  .

Its really not worth the risk. If the woods is away from any roads then I would wait until you're in the woods.  Practice his recall while your out loads.  You could always try a whistle, I did when Max, my golden ret, started to fail at recall and it worked wonders. There's a way of introducing the whistle that really works well, which takes about 8 days but has good results. I've put this method in a few posts in the past but if you can't find it let me know and I'll give you the details.

If you're really struggling to keep him safe then a long line may be your answer. I know IWLass used that method with Molo.

[Cob-Web]

Is this the start of teenage behaviour? He is coming up to 5 mths.

It might just be a one off- but it could be the start of adolescence - so you might have to be prepared for a battle of wills 

If you're really struggling to keep him safe then a long line may be your answer. I know IWLass used that method with Molo.

After two or three terrifying incidents (one on a COL meet when Molo disappeared for 10 minutes in a place we had NEVER been to before  ) - I armed myself with a long line and a training booklet 


Now he is trained, I know the extent of Molo's reliable recall and never allow him to *fail*; and one of the things we have agreed as a family (and stick to even now) is that there had to be at least a field length or equivalent between Molo and the nearest road for him to be allowed off lead; unless the area is securely fenced This provides a buffer zone for us and him - unless he is spooked, he is very unlikely to run that far without looking back or getting distracted by sniffs 

All dogs are different; some dogs may roam further than others and need a longer distance between them and the roads - especially at first - but once you have worked out what suits Dyllan, it makes life a lot less stressful for all 

[Brimbeck(Dyllan)]

Thank you both. I may have to get hold of a long line and try that.
Appreciate your help very much:D

[Millomite]

You shouldn't, in theory, need a long line. Repetition and enforcement of the recall command is vital. Always encourage the dog when he/she does something right and make yourself appealing to him to come back to, getting low to the ground etc. Tone of voice should be enough. Make sure your dog is 100% on the recall in an area you know he can't get away from you. Have you tried a stop whistle to stop the dog?

[Cob-Web]

You shouldn't, in theory, need a long line.

Quite true - in practice however, a long line can save a dogs life 

[PennyB]

Thank you both. I may have to get hold of a long line and try that.
Appreciate your help very much:D

Sometimes even if they're not doing this every day assume they will (as they know when you're being complacent)

I used a long line but only for a short while when Wilf hit this stage but I also worked out the best way was to increase my bond with him --- they are becoming more independent at this stage so I needed to make sure he would still at least listen to me. I found the keeping them close through playing games and also changing direction --- if you keep walking the same route each day they become confident enough to know where they're going and you'll always be there. Even if you walk in the same place change direction every so often (you see some people walk the same way round the park every day and probably at the same time but I walk round or across or the opposite way I went the day before or whatever), play hide and seek. I think if you're just following them all the time on walks they will assume thats what you do so why should they go back to you if you're going to come to them anyway!

Even now if they just go that bit too far and am unsure of what lays ahead or there may be danger I have strategies to stop them and get them to come back to me quickly if need be. Because they don't want to lose me they will follow me if I call them then walk back away from them (in the early days of doing this I would jump up and down like an idiot and run madly waving my arms to get them to recall).

This year Ruby decided to go off on binbag hunts --- she'd worked out where everyone put the binbags down the lanes round here (back alleys or ginels if you're from lancs reading this!) and so as soon as she was let offlead she'd run off and would be picked up an hour later as these blasted lanes are like a maze, or on the way home from our walk she'd go into the woods on the park and disappear only to emerge in the lanes again (not just on bin days though as she'd worked out they left some of the rubbish behind). It was becoming a real problem as now Wilf had cottoned on to this and I had visions of never walking them offlead on the park again. Interestingly though the solution was a simple one --- I took either a ball or the chuckit out with me and as soon as I let them off the lead they focused on me and didn't go on binbag hunts again.

[anita96]

If you want a cheap long line have a look on ebay at webbing and you can buy loads of it really cheap, I used one but to be honest mocha was to smart and he knew when it was on and off, and behaved accordingly.  I even and a spare clip and I used to put it on him so he would think I had put a line on him, but no to clever for that.  I find keeping close is working for me at the moment rather than letting him get to far away from you on the line.  But it is a long hard road and I am struggling.

[Top Barks]

You shouldn't, in theory, need a long line.

Quite true - in practice however, a long line can save a dogs life 

I think it is a very sensible option to use a long line in recall training, as you said Rachel you need to set up to succeed.
It is one of the hardest things I find to get through to my clients.
DO NOT call the dog unless you are sure of success!
If you do you will dilute the power of the cue.
Reward with a really high value reinforcer for a full thirty seconds if you can and always reward your dog with something it wants when it comes to you.
Tone of voice and praise are sometimes not enough.
I use 10 meter horse lunge reins from netto, it only cost me about 3 quid and is one of the most valuable training aides i have.
At 5/6 months dogs enter adolesence with allsorts of hormonal changes going on.
Dogs also enter a second fear response stage at this time where things that they have been ok with up until now can all of a sudden start to spook the dog.
Maybe something he reacted to spooked Dyllan?
remember as well that a recall learned in one location will not generalise easily to other places.
Train your recall in as many locations as possible, but remember always ensure it is happening or will happen before you use your cue and reward every time when the dog comes.
Make your dog feel that coming to you is the best thing in the world.
One of my tricks is to reward with half a roast chicken every now and again. That seems to help matters

[anita96]

mark the roast chicken is great, although I do end up with everyone else dog coming back to!!

[Jan/Billy]

Have you tried a stop whistle to stop the dog?

Out of interest how does this work? I imagine training a dog to "stop" is quite difficult?

[Jan/Billy]

One of my tricks is to reward with half a roast chicken every now and again. That seems to help matters

  I bet it does!  Billy would do the ironing for half a chicken 

[PennyB]

Have you tried a stop whistle to stop the dog?

Out of interest how does this work? I imagine training a dog to "stop" is quite difficult?

I don't know about stop them but a whistle does help recall them --- I've used an acme gundog whistle in the past

[Helen]

Have you tried a stop whistle to stop the dog?

Out of interest how does this work? I imagine training a dog to "stop" is quite difficult?

I don't know about stop them but a whistle does help recall them --- I've used an acme gundog whistle in the past

i use an acme whistle too.  Jan, my 'stop' command is actually a sit or lie down at a distance.

this is how i did it...  start with your sit or lie down command and your dog close to you.  if you can get a sit/lie down reliably, each time you do, add your whistle command (in our case 1 blow on the whistle) so the dogs associate that command with a sit or lie down.

practice practice practice - we started with using the whistle in the house at meal times (a lot of people use a sit and wait with their dogs before the dogs scoff so this is good starting point) and progress outside.

we haven't got it 100% and practice every day but it's getting better! and slowly slowly slowly add the distance (and in our case, our hand signal for wait/stay)

Am finding it so much easier now jarv is 17 months - that learning blip of adolescence seems to have almost disappeared and his random selective hearing is easing off too!!!
 

[Millomite]

Have you tried a stop whistle to stop the dog?

Out of interest how does this work? I imagine training a dog to "stop" is quite difficult?

Livercake has added an excellent post. Basically it's an association between blowing the whistle and sitting down (or lying down). I start it with making them site, then introduce the whistle when I command the sit. Eventually they will sit just to the whistle.

You can build on this by then starting to drop them at distance. Start off at small distances, a few yards in front of you, eventually you will be able to sit them at any distance. It's all about the bond you have with your dog. He must be focused on you and look to you for the next command