My dog is brilliant 99% of the time,

the 1% is recall because he's a hound he rarely comes back on command.
He knows he's doing wrong because when he does return he acts really submissive.

Only advice i can find online is basically 'make yourself the most intresting thing in the world' tactic, that isnt going to cut the mustard because be knows im not.

Anyone got any advice on training recall like would keeping him on lead for a month help?

I've always been advised to go back to basics and keep him on the lead all the time until you get 100% recall and treat every time until you get the desired results and then reduce them again!

It may help if you say how you are going about recall and what you are doing at the moment, then it would be easier for people to give you advice on other things to try
instead of perhaps duplicating.

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Best advice is make yourself as interesting as possible.. and give a treat.,. him being submissive maybe makes me think he has been told off for not coming back previously so he is a bit anxious about it now..

If my dogs get a bit far a head.. i can turn stamp my feet a few times as if running and hey presto there back.. (not that they wander) But if you do that and kind of shout him in an excited voice.. He may think cripes your going without him..

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First things first, he doesn't 'know' he's done wrong. He acts affiliative because he can read your body language and associates it with punishment. Countless studies have been conducted on this very thing, with no evidence to show that dogs purposively 'know' when they've done something wrong.

How have you taught recall? It needs to be incredibly fun for the dog to come back to you, and even though you may not be the most interesting thing in the environment, you have to be interesting enough.

Not only would I work in the back garden and start recall training over from scratch with a different cue, but I would do lots of off-lead training in different environments, to strengthen your prevalence to him outside. This can be games, basic obedience and focus work, or simple relaxation exercises. You can practice chase games where you call him back, then chase him around for a bit (on cue so you are on the same terms), playing collar grab games, and teaching run outs and such like.

All these will strengthen your relationship and condition you as a fun and rewarding stimulus in the environment. Allowing your dog to switch off for half an hour outside then snapping the lead on him to go, will only condition him to see the bad consequence, even if you are treating when he comes back.

i have a hound to (lurcher)

my youngest is perfect of the lead and will come back everytime but she has no chase instinct

lexi on the other had will run and not come back till she is done its worse is another dog is in the area.

toys and treats didnt work, runnin away didnt work only thing that has is a long training lead. if she didnt come back then i could gently pull the lead till she did then i would reward her (no treats as she wont take them outside just praise) we are now at the point were i can have the lead trailing on the ground (altho she will still try to go to other dogs) im not sure will ever be able to have her of fully unless in the tennis court.

you could also try teaching 'here' this works wonders for lexi heal; is next to me were here is no more then a foot at the most she wont go for a run unless i say 'go'

good luck with training and hope it works out

ps i love hounds so may i see a pic?

I have a hound too - he is food obsessed so if he knows I have a high value treat he will come back very quickly. I let him know what I have by saying 'Kilo here' a few times when we get to the area where he will go offlead and reward each time I say 'here'.

Other than that, he has a high prey drive, so can be redirected by throwing a toy for him to chase if you think he has 'locked' onto another dog / object / person - that intense stare - and you are unsure that the value of your treat is as rewarding as what he wants to do. If he stares and starts to stalk, i break his concentration and can also get him to 'wait' if I think recall is too big an ask so I can at least walk forward and get his collar if needed.

If in doubt; make yourself look daft and they will come back to see what all the fuss is about!!

There are loads of good ideas for recall and 'communicative walks' in the book 'Chase! Managing Your Dog's Predatory Instincts' by Clarissa Von Reinhardt. They help your dog focus much more on you throughout the walk.

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I go for the high pitched "comecomecome" (said like one really fast, crazy word) and pretend to run off after something when i need Tummel to do a fast recall(he's part hound). Most of the time i'm lucky enough to just whistle and say "Tummel come" and he'll potter over to get his treat and wait for his release command. Get mega excited when your dog recalls as it'll get him excited about coming back and always have some treats in your pocket(if Tummel see's my hand touch my right pocket he'll come back) for good recalls

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All posts are my personal opinions based on the knowledge and experience I have and should not be associated with any organisations I may be a member of



ZACK (1993-2007)
forever in sunshine

I haven't read all of the above posts so apologies if anything is repeated.

My pup isn't fully vaccinated yet so I haven't had any experience with this but after watching alot of Victoria Stillwell's "It's me or the dog" there is a few things that worked on the programme:

If you are playing with your dog with toys, always have one in your hand so that when you call the dog back, the toy will tempt them back.

Using treats for the same reason.

Another technique used was to lie down on the ground. May look a little silly but they get intrigued as to what you are doing and 9 times out of 10 come over to investigate.

It may be that your tone/body language may be making the dog nervous or scared to come back over.

Give lots of praise and treats when the dog does come back and eventually coming back to you will be associated with good things.

good luck x