Recall with other dog distraction!

L

lilliput

Hello everyone
Does anyone have any tips / advice for recalling a dog before it bolts off to see another dog or person walking?
I feel like my recall with Betty (14 months) has always been pretty good if it is just the two of us however the sight of another dog or person is just too exciting for her and she ignores my recall 🙈 Once she has said hello / had a quick play she will come back no worries to either my call or to whistle but if I don't get her on to the lead before she spots them then I have no chance. She knows what I want to do and will run ahead of me and won't let me near her 😫. So far it hasn't caused too many problems but when I do come across a nervous dog or human it is far from ideal. She is well behaved around them - doesn't jump up and is very friendly but I feel that I need to improve my recall. Or does this settle with age? As she is still young. Thank you 🐾🐾🐾
 
HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
Hello @lilliput ! Lovely to hear you, and I really feel your frustration with this one. I remember reading the books assiduously which bang on about building up recall with distance (how far away the dog is from you); distraction (other people & dogs); and duration (the length of time the dog is away from you). I guess this is the ‘fail safe’ way to build up solid recall, with the rule being you work on one thing at a time, so only increase distance while keeping duration and distractions easy.
But in all frankness, I never did this systematically. it’s been a growing improvement with Kipper, who’s now just over 2yrs old and is starting to recall from other people and dogs (which are his recall kryptonite). But my husband is waaay more effective than me (I think clearer and less emotionally invested!) and we’re still very much in a learning curve. I don’t know if this helps except to say in our experience it’s definitely improving with age :)
Edited to add - we have also got a lot better at reading Kipper to see the signs of “ooh, there’s something... over... there...” and interrupting it with our recall (or at least my husband is pretty effective with this). So that definitely helps :)
 
L

lilliput

Thank you @HAH I feel better knowing that I am not alone!!! I was thinking just now that I could take cheese on my walks and try that as she loves cheese but I stopped treating with anything other than kibble quite a while ago. Clearly the distraction is more rewarding than the kibble currently!
 
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HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
lilliput said:
Thank you @HAH I feel better knowing that I am not alone!!! I was thinking just now that I could take cheese on my walks and try that as she loves cheese but I stopped treating with anything other than kibble quite a while ago. Clearly the distraction is more rewarding than the kibble currently!
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I think that’s an excellent idea. If you can work it so that you can catch Betty noticing something mediocre interesting a long way off and mark it lightly (with recall word, like ‘Betty, come!’ All upbeat and non-anxious like :sneaky:) and give her the cheese - also maybe make it a little game, where e.g. you bowl a piece of cheese one side of you, then when she gets it bowl a piece the other side and repeat, just to keep her focus on you - then clip on the lead, more cheese, and off you go. A few times of that ideal scenario and hopefully Betty will realise pretty quickly the smart money is on staying with you. Do keep us posted if you have time, it’s not easy!
 
snowbunny

snowbunny

Location
Andorra and Spain
Some of it might become easier as she becomes a little more sensible, but practiced behaviour is always more difficult to change than unpracticed behaviour.
My advice is practice recalls a lot away from doggy distractions, and pay big each time. For the twins, this means the chase of a ball, and for Squidge it means a chicken foot or some wet food from a pouch.
You can use other sorts of high-level distractions which are under your control (food bowls, toys, friends etc) to systematically build your recall under more difficult situations.
You’re not after the reinforcer being better than the thing the dog is recalling from, because there will always be something better, but you are trying to build a history of whiplash turns so the dog hears the cue (I strongly recommend a whistle if you don’t already use one) and snaps round without thinking about it.
Turning it into a game is a great tactic, so if you have a friend who can help, you can play restrained recalls, where one person holds back the dog (as long as she’s happy with this) while the other gets her excited (“reeeaaaadddddyyyyyy steeeeeaaaaadddddyyyyyy”) and then she is released on the whistle, and gets a huge fuss and reward when she reaches you, then do it again the other way.

And another game is ping-pong recall, which I think has been explained elsewhere, so I’ll look for a link later if someone else doesn’t get there first :)

With these games it’s super important to only do a small handful of reps, so she doesn’t start to tire. The point is you want to be training her to run towards you at top speed, so it’s counter productive to do it when she starts to flag.

Alongside this, I would work hard on her seeing the other dog and automatically turning back to you, so there is no need to recall her at all: remember that every time you recall the dog from something they want to be doing, you are punishing the recall behaviour!!
 
Loraseal

Loraseal

Location
The Hague, The Netherlands
Hunter's recall is getting better too. I am also starting to use a whistle which seems to be going quite well. I only use it at the moment in minimal distraction. I practice recall in the house too from another room. Good luck and just keep practicing. If Hunter is already surrounded by 5 dogs I don't even try recall as I know it is a HUGE fail. Hunter will never have a perfect recall but I will keep on trying and training it
 
Atemas

Atemas

UK Tour Guide
Location
North Cambridgeshire
I keep the whistle recall practice up in the house from room to room when Red has her tea. I can hide in quite a few places to keep her on her toes/claws. It’s only used when absolutely necessary outside so I want to keep her immediate response up - also to remind F who does the long off lead exercise what the pips sound like!!! 😊
 
HAH

HAH

Moderator
Location
Devon, UK
snowbunny said:
you can play restrained recalls, where one person holds back the dog (as long as she’s happy with this) while the other gets her excited (“reeeaaaadddddyyyyyy steeeeeaaaaadddddyyyyyy”) and then she is released on the whistle, and gets a huge fuss and reward when she reaches you, then do it again the other way.
Click to expand...
We played this on our walk this morning, and it was a huuuuge hit! Kipper absolutely loved it, he got really fired up and was like a little exocet missile responding to the whistle. Thanks Fiona - an excellent game :highfive:
 
Anne123

Anne123

Location
Vlaardingen, the Netherlands
Recall with other dog distraction is what we practice at training school. Dogs (8) are walking around with their mums/dads. Then one will be picked out by the trainer. When it was Finn’s turn I had to walk to the other side of the field and call Finn. He had to rush to me and he did. When out walking and playing he wants to play, recall is good, as long as I walk away. Finn will rush to me. If I stay still waiting for him to come to me he won’t...
Best thing to practice this is at dog school i think....
 
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