walks/leads

[picklesmum]

Hi there. I was wondering today about walking on/off the lead. Pickle (18 wks) goes on 2-3 walks a day on the lead (fairly short lead). He's ok - pulls a bit, but we're working on that. However we also occasionally let him off the lead e.g. on the beach, when there is no-one else around, and both myself and hubbie are there to catch him if necessary. He is not good at re-call though, and gets easily distracted both on or off the lead. I guess I want to know - how do we improve his recall outdoors, as we dont want to take any risks, letting him off the lead where he could get in to danger. His recall is fine in the house, by the way, we've mastered that, but outside is a different story.
Roughly at what age do you think I should expect him to have mastered recall outside? Is he too young to be off the lead at 18 wks?
And does anyone have any tips on how to re-inforce recall? Treats in the pocket are fine, but he sees a world of treats all around the grass/beach that look equally good (seaweed is his latest find!). Sometimes I feel whole weeks goes by and he hasn't improved at all.  :oops:
Anyway......
Emma and Pickle xx                    

[KellyP]

Hi Emma,

you could try getting a long long lead to attach to him when he's off the short lead - its about 30ft long I think, I can't remember what thy're called, but basically it means that even though he's far away you could still 'jump' on the lead (not literally of course!) and get control of him again - if he's too far away for you to do that, you can shout to others around and ask them to step on it.
Basically it kinda makes him realise that even though you're far away, you are still in control! - obvious practice the recall at the same time - also practice it in the garden / house etc. Something I did to try to get Millie's attention when she was 'distracted' (i think this is a cocker thing ) was too take a squeaky toy with us on our walks - a couple of good long squeaks together with re-call and she comes running                    

[Shirley]

Hi Emma

We took a similar approach to Kelly.  I tried the long lead but it got dragged through all manner of disgusting things  :?   :roll: so gave up on that and moved on to the squeaky toy - that worked a treat     Just make sure it's not a toy that Pickle has access to all the time otherwise it might not be so interesting.  We had one squeaky that Morgan only saw on walks     I was letting him off lead in enclosed areas from about 16 weeks I think.  We no longer need the squeaky but sometimes take it for fun anyway                      

[KellyP]

hehe , yes Shirley, a long lead can pick up allsorts of 'interesting' debris!!

Something else we did, well actually .. we still do  :oops:  :oops: is to squat low to the ground with our arms open wide and shout in a silly high pitched voice .... we don't do it all the time of course.. but it helps to do it occasionally anyway .. you look like an idiot, but surprisingly are very interesting to a dog ??!                        

[PennyB]

Mine went off lead almost as soon as they could go down to walk outside. Not had too many problems. The idea is to keep calling them back before they get too far and playing games with them when they return or treats or praise or squeaky toys (mixture of all four best at different times as cockers suss you out really quickly).

Distraction is the best thing if they look like they're about to run—I use things like 'what's this' or 'look what I've got' very loudly (or the squeaky toy) while waggling something interesting and then masses of praise when they return.

Jumping up and down and generally making a fool of yourself is a great way to grab their attention.

Hiding behind trees etc works as well as its really amazing how they get worried quite quickly if you're not there.

Running in the opposite direction works as well rather than chasing as they will always think chasing's a very good game and will take twice as long to catch.                    

[Loraine]

hehe , yes Shirley, a long lead can pick up allsorts of 'interesting' debris!!

Something else we did, well actually .. we still do  :oops:  :oops: is to squat low to the ground with our arms open wide and shout in a silly high pitched voice .... we don't do it all the time of course.. but it helps to do it occasionally anyway .. you look like an idiot, but surprisingly are very interesting to a dog ??!    

Yep have done this too!  Being more interesting than anything else around often calls for hands waving around like a mad person, silly voices and generally looking stupid.  But if it works...  

Loraine                      

[T]

These are the things (as well as the silly ones!  :wink: ) we do when the 'Spud is off the lead ... but we've not been short of a few scares when he goes too far & too close back to the car park/road!! MMmm!

We've not tried the squeaky yet tho' ... but it's sure to be next as we try rotating the ideas, as PennyB said, they get wise quick!  :wink:

Also we recall him back as much as often, mainly with a treat, to cover a time when we really want him to come back, that is if there's a dog ahead we're unsure of, or a horse, or worse a road/car park!!                    

[Michele]

Emma, if Pickle loves his grub/treats, you could try training him to a whistle. This is what I did with Otis   who sees it as his personal duty to say hello to everyone when off lead  :roll:  
Any time that a bit of food went in his mouth I blew the whistle, I started in the garden and at meals times etc. Now if he wanders off too far I feel 99% sure that he'll come back if I blow on the whistle  
Here is a link showing the type of whistle I got http://www.acmewhistles.co.uk/dogs.html
mine looks like the 210, and its not silent.
I've attached mine onto my car keys so I know I'll never be down the park without it  :wink:                    

[Gilly]

Thats intertesting actually Michele as I have a whistle but I have never used it.....can you go into more detail how this works as I wouldn't mind giving it a try  :wink:                    

[picklesmum]

Thank you, thank you, thank you - so many good ideas.
I think the main problem will be that hubby and I are not very fit, so we cant keep up with P when he runs away!  :oops: I just can't believe how fast these wee stumpy legs can go! (Pickle that is, not me or hubby!)
Our couch-potato days are soon going to be a thing of the past, methinks!
I like the idea of a whistle - my grannie had one for her spaniel when I was little and I was so impressed when he used to come charging to her from foraging in the bushes and sit at her feet as soon as she tooted it! Very gym-mistress!
I am now armed with lots of tasty treats, the weather is fab at the moment, and I have lots of time this week, so hopefully Pickle will improve a little by the weekend! Will keep you posted!
Emma and Pickle xx                    

[PennyB]

I've found whistles great as well (I've got the acme 210 1/2). I trained Wilf (as per my dog trainers instructions) by also using it round the house and blowing on it then handing over treat, etc. bit like a louder version of clicker training to get him used to it. Outside it doesn't seem to work with mine if there's a fox poo diversion though

Thing is if he runs away your best bet is to find a distraction that will make him stop and break that concentration as with cockers if they are running its often following a scent. If you chase him he will run away even further as its now turned into the best game ever and will keep doing so! I often will break the focus of the scent/running by getting them to look up and then I start walking in the opposite direction (they then think you're leaving them and it isn't such a good game after all).                    

[Kim]

I agree with Penny, so far I have not had a problem with any of mine not coming back when called.
Right from when they can first go out I let them off the lead & just walk away, they don't like this too much & always make sure they stay by me thereafter, just in case I run away again.                    

[Laura]

Like PennyB we hide behind a tree or other obstacle if Brogan fails to look up - this has taught him to watch us intead of us watching him.  

Instead of running after Brogan - we jog off in the opposite direction, or run a wide circle round him - he has never let us leave him behind - not yet anyway!!!  

We always praise for coming back - even if on the slow side or after a song and dance.  If his recall is slow - we make sure that we are more interesting so that he doesn't go off in the first place.  Scenting games, tracking family members, hide and seek, finding dropped gloves, retrieve and tug o war are among our favourites.  As Brogan loves to sniff and becomes deaf - we use his nose to keep his attention!  My kids love the tracking game - we are up to distances of about 400m now - we have walkie talkies which helps.

Just hoping that all this continues to work for us as he matures!!!  Could be tempting fate here!! :shock:

Realized as well (just come back from a walk) that I change direction all the time - so that Brogan is following me and not vice versa - keeps the boy guessing.  Always shout his name and "This way" to warn of a change of direction.  He's been left lagging in the past so this for now shifts his attention back to us.

Sorry have repeated a lot of what Penny B said - should pay more attention :oops:                    

[shonajoy]

Hi there. Indie is 19 weeks and my husband and I started letting him off from 14 or so. I always carry treats, and during our walks call him every five minutes or so, giving him a reward. Last week we had him chasing another dog, and he came instantly, I think it's just a lot of practice, or like the others have suggested, making a total fool of yourslf! :oops:

Good luck

Shona                    

[Dunton4]

Just to add to all these excellent suggestions, we had a good tip from our trainer when Tily was young.  We have found that playing hide and seek with Tilly at home has worked wonders.  Each member of the family has a stock of treats and we hide around the house and garden and call her in turn (whilst she is off "finding" someone else we can change our hiding places!)  Tilly absolutely adores this game (we like it too!) and  we call "Tilly, come"  in a particular sing-song way.  If we use this when we are out of doors, she gets very excited and rushes back to us, probably because of the positive associations of the call and her favourite game (not to mention the treats of course!)  

HTH, it works for us.

Sue