Well i read everyones advice yesterday about how to train Penny Pancake to come back to us when we took her for a walk.

She ignored her breakfast this morning so i knew she would be hungry, so i diced up some cheese and some of her regular treats.

I made sure Penny knew we had something yummier than yesterday.

We got her squeaky ball and my other half, myself and our son started running around chasing each other and making sure we were having a real giggle.

Ok we all looked like plonkers but it worked if she came running towards us we said "Penny Come" and when she did we gave her a fair few treats fussed her and got her involved in what we were doing.

When she saw a man on a pushbike she darted off towards him. Other half was just about to yell and i said no chase me. and he did and i made such a squeally noise and giggle that she turned and came running towards us. Obviously we were having more fun that a boring man on a bike.

We are all knackered...but not once did Penny ignore us. We let her sniff around and do her thing but when we wanted her attention we made sure we got it.

I am so proud of Penny.

Well done, great progress. If you keep this up the recall will become instilled as a reflex and will become ever more reliable. A great start, but without wishing to sound patronising, remember, it is just a start. Carry on building from here and it will all come together.

I also have had good success over the last couple of days; but in a slightly different way - Fred has taken to the whistle and it has got him back from 2 situations that calling him wasn't. One was away from 2 other dogs going in a different direction on their walks and the other when he was barking at a horse in a field and I wanted to break his interest as he was at the point of I'm going in to investigate.

At last - we're moving forward......I hope it continues!

Go on admit it. you had a great time, you OH and your son too. My beagle is over two now and frankly i'm never going to stop making myself interesting to her. I find it liberating ! I never thought at approaching 39 I'd be diving into bracken, hiding behind trees or yodelling, but i love it and i know it brings a smile to any spectators.

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I must admit we had a great time. And i agree it is very liberating.

I think the trick was the yummy snacks and us making it more fun rather than just a boring walk. When she darted off for that cycling my heart was in my mouth. But she did well.

confidence is also a key if you feel confident i am sure it reflects on your attitude when your out.

I cant wait until Monday, we cant use the fields this weekend due to the bike racing on the mount.

Glad it's working, it becomes a wonderful way of life.

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ALERT!
the fields will be a new & more-serious test: that's where the dog has "practiced" ignoring recalls the most.
so be sure to set the bar LOWER on Monday - get the whistle in sooner, just as quickly as a distraction appears
in the far distance; make the rewards BIGGER, & feed jackpots [many tiny rewards, one-by-one] more often, etc.

personally, i'd use a 30-ft long-line & a front-clipped H-harness so that a runaway was not an option.
if the dog gets to ignore a recall even once, that one time helps maintain that behavior ['come' = noise].

we all know that random-rewards maintain behaviors even more strongly than rewards every time -
think of gamblers who win one hand of 20 & brag about it, or lottery-ticket sales with enormous odds:
people don't stop buying because they don't win, in fact if the pot is huge, MORE people buy tickets, thus
making their own winning less-likely. it's a hard concept to grasp, but a very important one:
if the visiting relatives let the dog dart out the open-door ONCE, U'll be re-training that for weeks after!

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terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

I dont think Penny has really practised recall. We have had 1 day where she ignored us and the 2nd day she did well.

She is new to all this without Pongo showing her what to do.

We will be going to training classes as soon as we can and that will also hopefully help to.