Don't give up.
Zipper hit 8 months and his recall went out the window now at 21 months his recall is 99%.
I used a long line trailing on the floor for a while but if there was more than 1 other dog they used to get tangled, and zipper is smart if he had the line on he had perfect recall if i took it off he was a nightmare.
When he went through his teenage months I never called him if I knew I didn't have a hope in hell of getting him back as I didn't want him to learn it was OK to ignore me. I had to get his attention before he got distracted. Or wait until he looked towards me.
Now I can call him back in most situations.

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A dog Possesses Beauty without Vanity,Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.

Thanks Sophie its great to hear success stories, hopefully that will be one day!!

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Hi

I've just started agility with Alfie, we get to let them off in small groups so they play and then we can practice our recall with them. Its great because everyone else is there for the same reason and all the dogs are all as bad as each other!

The other thing the Trainer does is encourage us to ensure they're extra hungry so more like to return, I've been using liver cake which has really worked. It's horrible stuff but he goes crazy for it.

I searched on-line for a recipe but let me know if you want it.

H x

I can't remember, have you tried training classes?

Ive been to some in the past where the trainers went to great (they did have good intentions) but the advantage of this is that the dog gets accustomed to plenty of other dogs being around and it stops being such a novelty.

I assume that the concern with extendable leads causing injury is that the dog runs and gathers speed and then comes to a sudden stop. Is that correct? If so just don't allow them to gather to much speed before you press the break. I've personally used them for the past 13 years without much hassle. I have had it pulled out of my hand a few times, my own fault for not paying attention.

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Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Come on then Shane and Dundee tell us how clever your dogs are at recall

My girl has always had good recall thank god from when we rescued her. She doesn't actually get on with all dogs so I always have to anticipate on walks and make sure she is on her lead before we get anywhere near another dog

Well, as I have working dogs, their recall has to be 100% against distractions - and is

However, I start as pups, and never allow recall to become an issue. Because I have to have a well trained dog that will listen to me in the face of the utmost temptation, it has to see me as the centre of attention.

And although they are pets first and foremost (my young 17th month old girl (with a perfect recall) is lying on the sofa behind me . They do not have the freedom on longs walks that many pets would have.

Just a few pointers:
When let off lead I never just let them go. They may have to do some off lead heel work before, they may have to sit and stay.... but I never let them go off without me releasing them...

When training a young pup, then i will be recalling and rewarding while out. When they are young, they will never go far as you are the centre of their universe. Again, I never allow them to ignore a command, and that may be never recalling if I feel there is a distraction and I have not trained to that level of distraction. If they do ignore it (having been trained to that level), then I let them know I am not pleased - a harsh voice is enough, but it has to be done immediately.

A lot of people hit problems because they think they have trained a recall in one situation and therefore it is learnt. But dogs don't learn that way. They need to learn and be trained in all different situations and then against distractions.

I will often join training classes too, not because I need to learn (although you never stop learning), but because I will be training with other dogs around, which is another distraction.

And, I make sure that I am one step ahead of them all the time, so I do not put them in positions where they are either not sufficiently trained to listen to me, or the temptation is too much.

It's a long process, but a recall is the most important thing for a dog to learn and could save it's life one day.

That is a very valid point, and why you shouldn't compare your progress with others.... some dogs are not as interested in playing etc.... Related to that is only dogs are often more excited to meet new dogs than those in multi dog households.

I'm not sure why you make that comment but I think I already did.

My other dog, a GSD, has a perfect recall but i used my Westie as an example because it was most relevant to the help I was trying to give.

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Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Just a thought, but mine are trained to a whistle (as well as voice and hand signals), and a whistle does get a dogs attention better than voice, particularly when the voice has been ignored. It will need training - it doesn't just happen, but a whistle command is much more consistent.

I use three pips for recall and a pup will be introduced to it on it's first day. Initially I will use it at dinner time to call a dog over for dinner. It will start to associate it with good things. Then you need to train it in all the different situations... starting with an easy situation and then working your way up to distractions.