Hi, my dog is a Border collie x Springer spaniel coming up to 3 years old, she is a brilliant dog appart from one thing, she doesn't come back. This is a real problem as she is an active dog and needs time running about. The problem I think is is that she is too clever, she knows what you want her to do but also knows that she would prefer to stay running about in the fields so this is what she does. We have two fields we take her to normally one a field surrounded by houses and here she is perfect but its not very big and quite boring, we do some training and play ball for a bit but she will get bored of this before she gets tired out. The other field is more in the country and there is lots of wildlife and this is where she totally looses interest in me and wil not come back, she does however respond very well to 'this way' and will change direction almost the moment you say it. Any ideas on improving the recall? Sorry it was so long

Hi,
It's a hard one but my advice would be to go back to basics.
How is she motivated? Toys or treats or both?

I don't know a huge amount about springers but I own a collie myself and in my experience, they tend to work on rails so to speak, especially the worky ones.
I find my collie's love of toys (in particular ball) really useful in recall training and all forms of training. But he's one of those who loves his toys but won't say no to a nice treat if it is up for grabs too.

Perhaps take the training back on to a longline in the fields where she looses her concentration. Also you said she enjoys playing ball but looses concentration as she gets bored, I'd say stop the game of ball before she gets bored if that is possible.
If you can get a friend or family member to join you, play some recall games. Each have some really tasty treats and call her inbetween you treat and praising her lots and lots when she comes. You may sound like a wally praising her madly but it is worth it as the positive associations made between her coming to you and the praise and treats will reinforce her recall.
Another point is try and make yourself really interesting. More interesting then anything she might wonder off to explore. If you have a friend with you, hide and seek games and randomly running away from her (but keeping her in your eyesight) could be good (keep her on a long line if need be at first then proggress to offlead). You could even give these games a try indoors too. This makes you unpredictable and so you will find her keeping a closer eye on where you are.

You may find this article really useful:
Why won't my dog come back? | Behaviour & Training

Hope this helps

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Dogs leave paw prints on your heart

Yes I have the same problem with mine. It wouldn't matter what treats I was carrying or if I turned and walked in the other direction. He wouldn't give a monkeys. I am using a long training line until I can get it sorted so that I can call him back to me and give a gentle tug in my direction on the training line and then when he comes back he gets praise and occasionally a treat. He's a lot better than he used to be but tbh I only really let him off if it's in field with no livestock in it and where I know there's isn't likely to be any other dogwalkers - which is not difficult round here as tis quite remote.

I hope to one day get it so that I can rely on him coming back every time but am a long way off that at the moment! If I'm going somewhere where there are other dogwalkers I keep him on a long lead but long term I want to be able to call him back to me if we come accross another dog and know for sure that he'll come back.

Will be interested to hear peoples suggestions too.

Great advice from Lemmsy, that will definately give you something to work on! I would just add in a bit of clicker training to reinforce the recall from the moment she strats to return to you and make sure that for the first few weeks you always have a really high value treat to offer. This is a link to a liver bread recipe, the dogs love it and it's all natural ingredients Doggie Treat Recipes

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Some days you're the dog: some days you're the lampost

Thanks for the replies I will give it a go, she is motivated by both toys and treats however when we are in the field where she misbehaves she is totally uninterested in both. She is very prey oriented and will chase any small furry/feathery thing that moves she is very fast and has caught rabbits and a few birds in the past. Once she is in 'chase mode' there is no stopping her so recently she hasn't been let off here but then she just goes madder the next time like she has to make the most of it. Someone at a show suggested to whistle train her like a gundog but I have no idea where to start

Hi it's interesting you say she is a chaser but not surprising when you consider it really and her breeds. Border collies are built for chasing and herding it is what they do and springers are used for flushing and retrieving game so they would have a pretty strong chase instinct too.

Yep that is because when a dog is in full flight all their attention is on the thing that she is chasing- so she simply doesn't hear you.

A great way of tackling this would be to teach a chase recall. This article I have found an excellent help myself with my collie:

How Do I Stop My Dog Chasing? | Behaviour & Training

The article explains in detail how to create this chase recall which means that you can recall your dog before he or she gets into full flight by supplying an activity that the dog enjoys more. To this you will have to build up the dogs chase instinct and love of playing ball or fetch with a favorite toy. With a collie x springer you should have little trouble with this as both breeds generally love playing fetch (collies often to the point of obsession )
By the end of the proccess you will be able to call "ball" or "toy" and your dog should turn or come running back to you to play ball. Eventually the dog may even learn to completely ignore rabbits altogether.
Best of luck and I hope this helps.

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Dogs leave paw prints on your heart

Yeah shes like a gundog but has no need for the gun, she does the flushing, chasing, catching and retrieving all by herself. If only I actually wanted a rabbit!

That article looks realy good will definatly give it a go thanks

Here is a pic of her:

aww what a pretty dog she is
and clever i bet too if she is a sprollie

I just had a thought- once you get her recall sorted she could make a fab agility/flyball or working gun dog.


Let us know how you get on

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Dogs leave paw prints on your heart

So far its going well but we have only practiced in the field she behaves in at the moment.

Yeah I would love to do somthing like that with her as I feel it would be so good for her to have somthing to focus her energy on. I have done a bit of agility with her and we went to a show and had a go at agility there and the lady showing us was soo impressed with her as she would do anything and wasn't faised, she even did the sea-saw and a huge A frame.

By the sounds of it you need to go back to basics.

Where most recalls break down is that, like you say, most dogs will come back if they aren't doing anything that interesting to start with and they think it's worth it because you have treats/toy etc. When it all starts to go wrong is when the dog is doing something that it considers more desirable than treats/toy.

What you have to do is start from the very beginning (a very good place to start, la la la) and get the dog SO conditioned that even when it's doing something fun, it responds to the recall command without thinking.

You need to pair a sound - a whistle is good; it tends to "break through" a "deaf" dog's ears more than a voice can - with something wonderful. Either treats or toy, or most likely both (depending on the circumstances - I find recalling a dog away from another dog is easier with a toy, you're swapping one kind of fun with another).

You need to start REALLY easy, in the house. Feed a yummy treat, while tooting the whistle. GRADUALLY (you can't really skip steps) work up to whistling the dog to you for a treat. Work up to calling from different rooms. Then from the garden when he isn't doing anything in particular. Then when he's slightly distracted etc.... don't make it harder until you're 100% sure that the step before is reliable.

Then progress to outside, whistling in low-distraction circumstances, GRADUALLY building up. If you aren't sure the dog will obey (say if he runs off after another dog and you haven't got that far yet) DO NOT WHISTLE. Either go and get him, or wait until he starts to come back THEN whistle.

Ideally, if you do it right (and it takes time but it's worth it) you will never have a failure. If you build up gradually enough, the response will be so ingrained that even in high distraction situations, the dog will turn and come back BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT HE'S ALWAYS DONE

It's all about pairing cues/commands/sounds with actions. A dog whose owner calls "Rover! Here! Rover! Rover! Rover! Here boy! What's this?? Here! Come on then! Rover!" when it's running away is actually hearing "Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah" - or even worse, is viewing his name/the recall word with "That noise she makes when I'm running away from her"