hiya, ive got a 13month old staffordshire bull terrier, in the past my dad has always been the one to walk the dogs, so he has trained them to recall once off the lead. but now i have my own dog and do not live with my dad i have to train my staffordshire bull terrier on my own.

i have let her off the lead, but once she sees another dog or people she gets excited and runs off to greet them, therefore im nervous of letting her off the lead in case she gets hurt by an aggressive dog if she runs off to meet them.

Also all of my old dogs wouldn't go too far away from us once off the lead, they'd walk next to us. Therefore any techniques, advice would be appreciated

One way is get an extending lead let her go long then call her back if she comes fuss her or give her a treat or what ever she likes best and let her wander off again. If there is anything she couldn't ignore coming back for you could use that. Example with my dog he loves squeaky toys so I sometimes have a squeak from a toy in my pocket incase he does go too far or anything but I only use it for emergencies where there could be danger if he doesn't come back. Like once when it was icy I took him to my nans she likes on a quiet side road off a main road and when we could see her door I let him off to go to my nan so I wouldn't slip, but with knowing if he wandered off he could get onto roads I had a squeak in my pocket just incase he went near the road. I didn't need to use it but it put my mind at rest knowing he would be safe.

Another good thing to try is hiding from your dog and getting her to find you then praise her. This will put your mind at ease if she does go a bit far if you know she will at least look for you.

orite thank you. i shall try that. she hasn't got any squeaky toys cause she's too rough and destroys them, she only has a Kong toys. but i might buy her a squeaky toy and see if she takes a liking to them and ill try your technique thank you

Have a look through the dog training and behaviour section - there are lots of threads in there about how to train, proof and perfect a reliable recal.

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"For all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world"

The problem is the more she runs off and greets and meets and does her own thing, the more rewarding it will be for her, so you will find she will listen to you less and less. It will then become an ongoing battle and harder and harder to get her back on track.

Personally I would keep her on a flexi giant the extending leads with the wide webbing all the way through (the cord ones can be dangerous) or better still a long line. That way she cant go deaf and totally ignore you while you are retraining her.

If she has got deaf and switched off to your voice, you could try a whistle, it seems to have more impact on their hearing and senses. You need to find her most favourite treats, high favourites are usually, cheese, chicken, hotdogs sausages or anything liverbased. Start at home first have your treats and the whistle and every time you blow the whilstle while walking around indoors then give her a treat, literally whistle/treat whistle treat, you should find she will follow you about. After a couple of sessions of this try it when she is sniffing in the garden, try it with you by the back door, and if thats successful try it inside the house. If that works then take it outside to use with the long line.

Let her have her freedom on the longline, but call her back periodically throughout the walk, dont let her wander too far, or get too involve sniffing either before you do it, call her back, treat her, but then send her off again with go play each time. Also vary the rewards, try throwing a ball a few times before putting it away and release her with go play. Other times play with a ragger or squeaky toy, another call and run in the opposite direction so it becomes a chase me game, other times you can hide and treat when she finds you. Mix up the rewards to keep her guessing, and always send away with go play again.

When she gets good at this, then you can drop the long line, and use it as a drag line, do all the same things and vary it as above, but if she does start to wander too far or miss a re-call then you can grab it and bring her back on track. once that goes Ok for a period of time and she is reliable like that. Let her off, but start in areas at quieter times of day with lesser distractions, if she still recalls ok, then gradually build up the distractions, guaging as you do how responsive she is. if She starts to listen and not re-call,
the minute she does back on the long line, then the drag line again for a few sessions.

Golden rules of letting them off too are, Never just take a dog somewhere let her off, and dont re-call until the end and going home. They get wise to it and wont come knowing its the end. Never run after them to retrieve them, it then turns into a catch me if you can game, it doesnt take them long to work out they can outrun you, and that they can call the shots if they dont feel like returning or going home. Keep calling back and releasing again and keep her guessing they dont know then when its the end. Do use different rewards of favourite treats, games and toys, again it makes you more interesting and keeps the interest and focus on you.

Hope this helps.

Just one other thing if there are two of you anytime, you can walk separately a distance from each other for part of the walk and both have treats and toys, and recall he backwards and forwards between you too, that builds focus on you and is another variation of a game and way to teach recall.

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Why can’t I get a reliable recall?

‘Come’ is no harder to train than any other behaviour but in real life it has a huge number of criteria that have to be raised one at a time in order to guarantee success.

Often when puppies are brought home to their new owners this is the first time they have ever been separated from their dam and siblings and so they naturally attach themselves to their new family by following them about everywhere. Owners find this quite attractive and wrongly assume that this trait will continue into adolescence/adulthood, whatever the circumstances. A dangerous trap to fall into…

At some point in time, usually from around 6 – 10 months, depending on the individual, “Velcro” dog will morph into “Bog off” dog (this is especially true of a breed that has been developed to exhibit a high degree of initiative). This is the time when owners suddenly realize that their dog will not recall when it sees another dog/person etc. Not only is this inconvenient but potentially dangerous as the dog could be at risk of injury from a car/train/another dog etc.

How and when do I start with a puppy?

My advice is to prepare for this inevitability from the day you take your puppy home. If you are lucky the breeder will have started this process whilst still in the nest by conditioning the puppies to a whistle blown immediately before putting the food bowl down during weaning.

Dogs learn by cause and effect ie sound of whistle = food. If you, the new owner, continue this from the moment your puppy arrives you will lay down strong foundations for the future.
By using the whistle in association with meals/food you need to establish the following criteria:

• Come from across the room.
• Come from out of sight
• Come no matter who calls
• Come even if you are busy doing something else
• Come even if you are asleep.
• Come even if you are playing with something/someone else
• Come even if you are eating

Once this goal has been realized in the house, drop all the criteria to zero and establish the same measures, one at a time, in the garden.

Once this goal has been realized in the garden, drop all the criteria to zero and establish the same measures, one at a time, in the park/field etc.

To train this, or any other behaviour:

1. Make it easy for the dog to get it right
2. Provide sufficient reward

Do not expect a dog to come away from distractions in the park until you have trained it to come to you in the park when no diversions are around. Be realistic and manage your expectations; your sphere of influence/control over your dog may be only 20m to begin with, therefore do not hazard a guess that the dog, at this level of training, will successfully recall from 50m or more away. Distance, like every other criterion, must be built up over time.

Some simple rules to follow when training the recall:

• Whistle/signal/call only once (why train the dog to deliberately ignore your first command?)
• Do not reinforce slow responses for the dog coming eventually after it has cocked its leg, sniffed the tree etc (you get what you train!)
• If you know that the dog will not come back to you in a certain situation, go and get him rather than risk teaching him that he can ignore you. (If you have followed the programme correctly you will never put your dog in a position to fail).
• Practise recalling the dog, putting him on the lead for a few seconds, reinforce with food/toy etc and immediately release the dog. Do this several times during a walk etc so that the dog does not associate a recall with going on the lead and ending the walk or being put on the lead with the cessation of fun.
• Eventually, when the behaviour is very strong, alternate rewards ie verbal praise, physical praise, food, toy and also vary the “value” of the rewards, sometimes a plain piece of biscuit, sometimes a piece of cooked liver etc so that you become a walking slot machine (and we all know how addictive gambling can be)!

In my experience recall training should be consistent and relentless for the first two years of a dog’s life before it can be considered truly dependable. You should look on it as a series of incremental steps, rather than a single simple behaviour, and something that will require lifelong maintenance.

What about an older or rescue dog?

Follow the same programme as outlined above however for recalcitrant dogs that have received little or no training, I would recommend dispensing with the food bowl and feeding a dog only during recalls to establish a strong behaviour quickly.

Your training should be over several sessions a day, which means you can avoid the risk of bloat. It is essential that the dog learns that there will be consequences for failure as well as success.

Divide the day’s food ration up into small bags (between10 – 30), if the dog recalls first time, it gets food, if it does not, you can make a big show of saying “too bad” and disposing of that portion of food (either throw it away or put aside for the next day).

Again, raise the criteria slowly as outlined in puppy training.

Hunger is very motivating!

For those of you who believe it unfair/unhealthy to deprive a dog of its full daily ration, not having a reliable recall is potentially life threatening for the dog ……………

How do I stop my dog chasing joggers/cyclists/skateboarders/rabbits/deer?

Chasing something that is moving is a management issue. Do not put your dog in a position where it can make a mistake. Again you need to start training from a pup but if you have already allowed your dog to learn and practise this behaviour you may need to rely on a trailing line until your dog is desensitised to these distractions and knows that listening to you results in a great reinforcement. Chasing is a behaviour much better never learned as it is naturally reinforcing to the dog, which makes it hard for you to offer a better reinforcement. If you want to have a bombproof recall while your dog is running away from you then use the following approach:

Your goal is to train so that your dog is totally used to running away from you at top speed, and then turning on a sixpence to run toward you when you give the recall cue.

You need to set up the training situation so that you have total control over the triggers. For this you will need to gain the co-operation of a helper. If you have a toy crazy dog you can practice this exercise by throwing a toy away from the dog towards someone standing 30 or 40 feet away. At the instant the toy is thrown, recall your dog! If the dog turns toward you, back up several steps quickly, creating even more distance between the you and the toy and then throw another toy in the opposite direction (same value as one thrown)..

If the dog ignores you and continues toward the thrown object, your “helper” simply picks the ball up and ignores dog. When dog eventually returns (which it will because it’s getting no reinforcement from anyone or anything), praise only. Pretty soon the dog will start to respond to a recall off a thrown toy. You will need to mix in occasions the toy is thrown and the dog is allowed to get it ie you do NOT recall if you want to make sure it does not lose enthusiasm for retrieving.

For the food obsessed dog, you can get your helper to wave a food bowl with something the dog loves in it and then recall the dog as soon as you let it go to run towards the food; again if the dog ignores you and continues to the food, your helper simply ensures the dog cannot access the food and start again. (It is extremely important that the helper does not use your dog’s name to call it for obvious reasons).

Gradually increase the difficulty of the recall by letting the dog get closer and closer to the toy/food. Praise the moment the dog turns away from the toy/food in the
early stages of training. Don't wait until the dog returns to you; the dog must have instant feedback.

Once the dog is fluent at switching directions in the middle of a chase, try setting up the situation so that it is more like real life. Have someone ride a bike/run/skate past. (It is unrealistic to factor in deer/rabbits however if your training is thorough the dog will eventually be conditioned to return to you whatever the temptation in most contexts).

Until your training gets to this level, don't let the dog off-lead in a situation in which you don't have control over the chase triggers. Don't set the dog up to fail, and don't allow it to rehearse the problem behaviour. Remember, every time a dog is able to practise an undesirable behaviour it will get better at it!

Most people do not play with toys correctly and therefore the dog is not interested in them or, if it gets them, fails to bring it back to the owner.

Play the two ball game, once you have a dog ball crazy. Have two balls the same, throw one to the left, when the dog gets it, call him like crazy waving the next ball; as he comes back throw the other ball to the right and keep going left right so that YOU are the centre of the game and the dog gets conditioned to return to you for the toy. Once this behaviour is established you can then introduce the cues for out and then make control part of the game ie the game is contingent on the dog sitting and then progress to a sequence of behaviours.

HTH

thank you for all of the replies, i will try these techniques on our next walk and while in the garden/house.

with the come no matter who calls i wouldn't do if someone finds out you dogs name or the way you call them your dog would run straight to them you could lose you dog i've got the people who might have to call to to do it and people at dog training test her by calling her but showed her she shouldn't go to them

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a dog can be your best friend....just give them the chance.....mine changed my life

In reality that does not happen.

And of course I am referring to household members.............

I have never found it necessary to proof any of my dogs against anyone else calling them, but if you have dogs which are more interested in other people than than their owner, I agree it could be a problem. That is why recall training is so important, they learn that YOU are more interesting than anything else.


HTH

We found a great alternative for a squeaky toy. A squeaky toy app for your phone! (Don't hold me responsible if the dog chews your phone....)