Does Your Dog Come When Called?

This is interesting! I'm not really sure if I would call Penny's recall solid. It's hard to say when she so rarely wanders out of sight in the first place. I guess I have no problems leaving her to sniff at something while I get far ahead because I know she'll come zooming after me when she's done. I just don't call her very often, so it really is hard to say. If she's been off for a long while and I'm not going anywhere, she sometimes decides to take herself off for an adventure. In those cases, it might take a couple of calls and putting on my no-nonsense tone before she'll come, but she does always come. I never have to go and get her.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately because my next dog will be an akita, which will be a lot harder. My mother's Swedish Vallhund has a strong independent streak and sometimes goes missing for 10 minutes or so when he's offlead. Mum says his problem is that he never gets lost and always knows where she is, even if she doesn't know where he is. He got lost a few times when he was young, and that just taught him to keep an ear trained on where everyone was. If he finds an animal, though, it's all over and you have to go get him. Because we live in Australia, it's always in the back of our minds that what he's bailed up and is barking at is a very poisonous snake, so we don't wait around to see if he'll turn up on his own.

I think I'm going to teach my akita a solid recall by tethering him to me with a long line and just slowly working at it with loads of fun and rewards when he comes on his own.

My dogs do have recalls (even the hound), but I never teach the recall when the dog is loose.  I start with a 6' leash on.  Then, I graduate the dog to a 30', 60', even 90' lead (tying 30's together).  Then, I graduate the dog to a sharkline (tracking line - you can get them at J&J Dog Supplies).  I do this for the first 18 months I have the dog, or until the recall is 100%.  If I want to let them run on the beach, they drag their leads. I put knots in them so I can step on the lead and reel the dog in if he doesn't come on the very first call - then, I show him the beef, tennis ball, frisbee, or other good thing he could have had if he had obeyed.  Oops, most of the time, I can't get rid of the dog for a few minutes.  But, as soon as the dog is distracted again, I call.  If he doesn't come, same result - too bad.  But, if he does, I give multiple rewards as a "jackpot" for making the right decision.

Another method to try is to buy a whistle (Acme Thunderer is a good quality one that is sold in most feed stores or hunting supply stores).
For a few weeks, all you do is blow the whistle and hand the dog a treat, blow the whistle and hand the dog a treat (make it something really good, likd turkey, or homemade salmon/liver treats, that he doesn't get any other time but when the whistle blows), etc. (the "treat" can be a tennis ball, or a tug toy, etc., if your dog isn't motivated by food).  After a few weeks of just whistle/treat, start blowing the whistle from another room - if he arrives, he gets the treat.  Then, start  doing it in more distracting areas.

Mine have solid recalls when we are OUTSIDE and in potentially highly distracting areas.  But, if someone goes downstairs to harrass a kitty just calling isn't as effective.  If I forget to say leave it, they don't.
 
I wonder if the off lead runs are just so high stake that they don't want to risk loosing that privledge by not recalling instantly regardless of whats going on?  And I trained with drag lines after starting inside the fence. 

This is a great thread! It's really insprired me to work with Lucy more.

I did forget to mention one other technique I use to get Lucy to come to me. I turn around and walk away from her. Then she will usually run toward me to see where we're going next. I thought is was kind of weird that it worked so well, but when I read "The Other End of the Leash," Patricia McConnell explained why that works.

My dog has a wonderful and reliable recall with “me” only.  Anyone else forget it he will ignore them if he is interested in anything other than coming.  They actually call me to all him, all I say is “River – come!” and he immediately swings his head and rears ups and happily tromps back to me.  In addition I have hand signals that he responds to as well so when he returns if I pat the side of my leg he heels and will stick to me like glue.   I practice this often just because its fun for me to have him be so compliant.  I don#%92t however have many opportunities to use these commands outside my property (3+acres) but when I have – during our walks in the wood they have remained reliable.  Our friends do say they believe I could walk my dog in the mall no lead he would follow, maybe some day I could test that theory.
 
However there are other behaviors I haven#%92t been able to Master like running to my garbage the minute he comes in house and leave it or drop it is a task.  I need to work on them.
 
The reason I have mastered the recall is that we had many issues with this Swissy starting around 7 months old with resource guarding.  Both behaviorists insisted that if I mastered this skill that it would go along way to having my dog respect me as leader.  It took around 15 months to until I felt as though I had a reliable recall.
 
I started this in the house teaching him sit/stay (which also is reliable) and them calling him to me and giving him a reward, from treats to praise to play.  I changed it up often to not have him think he can only comply when I had food.  I was always afraid of that.  In house I would do different things like have his stay and go into the kitchen, do some dishes and out of blue call him “River – come” and he would come.  I would do this type of thing over and over again the trick was getting him to stay at first and then having him come.  Then I would call him to me while he was playing or eating or drinking or just laying nicely on his own.  If he didn#%92t respond I would go to him and bring him to where I was and praise.  Repetition is key, over and over and over again.
 
It was early August when I started training in-house and moving to the outdoors didn#%92t come until around March.  After 7 months in-house training we began outside training using a 12 foot lead.  .  I would allow him to go 5 feet away and call him back, then a little further and call him back, etc.  If he didn#%92t respond he would get a gentle leash pop to remind him of my wishes.  Swissy get bored very quickly so these repetitions went on for short periods of time, then breaks from the training.  I trained in some matter (in house or outside) every day possible with few exceptions.  I was determined!  I gradually moved to a longer and longer lead until we had these exercise down pat.  I also used the “chase me” technique were when I called I would run the other way, like I said I mixed things up to make it interesting to my dog who has a very short attention span.
 
I also should add that my breed is very family oriented so being with his humans is really his wish in life.  He has a so, so prey drive but he much more “Pack” driven so these breed traits I believe helped to develop his overall compliance with recall. 
 
My husband has no control what so ever and it frustrates me.  My husband will call River over and over and over again and if he doesn#%92t come he will bribe and yell “want a cookie” and then if he doesn#%92t come he calls me to call him.  In the summer and the windows are open I don#%92t even have to step outside, just say “River come!” while I am at the Kitchen sink and he comes running.  It really annoys DH but, hey –he loves and respects me more!!

You can always train a second, really reliable, recall word, in case others in your family over-use the word "come" and don't make sure it isn't optional for the dog to obey.  I do that - even BF doesn't know the "special" word between me and my dogs.  So, he could use cookies all he wanted, but it won't ruin my dogs' recalls.

Good idea Spiritdogs.  It didn't even cross my mind that DH could ruin his recall with me.  I will give that a try now let me think of a good word.

Also watching this thread.
 
I'd say that Marlowe's recall is pretty good for a hound.  I completely screwed up Conrad's recall by using the New Skete haul him around on a long line and choke chain method, but now that he's a distinguished 5 years old, his recall has improved just through him being lazy.
 
I still wouldn't trust either of them any further than I could throw them in an area that was near a road or had no fencing whatsoever. Our dog park is only partially fenced though and I've got Marlowe cued to "Come on back, buddy!" He knows that just means move away from the woods.
 
How'd I do it? Treats. Lots and lots of treats.

My friend, who is also a trainer, had a bunch of her students on the beach this morning practicing off leash recalls.  I go because we trainers like to "torture" our dogs LOL - I called Sequoyah away from chasing one of the other dogs -  from 100 feet away.  She's 13 months old.  The system works!!!  And, it's why I recommend Leslie Nelson's method all the time here.  I hope this thread will make more people realize how unsafe their dogs are if they don't come instantly when called, and make a real attempt to train this important lesson)

Lately I've been giving the hand signal to Murphy and I stand there, nervous (hoping it doesn't show but I know it does) because he stops dead in his tracks and stares at me, unmoving.
 
Then I think, Ah well, I better go get him, but before that thought is out, here he comes, full speed ahead, all the way to my feet.
 
I learned a weird way with him last winter and that did nothing, and then I learned the verbal cue from Patricia McConnell (the clap your hands, change your body posture one), and 9 weeks ago (actually, less than that--about 7 weeks ago), I learned the way Spiritdogs told us here.
 
Works like a charm. I can use the verbal cue or the hand signal (which for me is swinging my arm straight up and down again) and BOOM BOOM BOOM, Murphy comes pounding toward me. He has some trouble when there are squirrels really close by, but I try to spot them first and set him up to succeed--I generally move closer to him and that works. But, gradually, I've been watching his recall come through regardless of distractions. Amazing. I mean it. Who would have thought?
 
It's the best. My sister lost her dog (hit by a car) because he had no idea what a recall was. Her other two chows never come back and have come close several times to being hit.
 
I don't want that to me. I want a strong recall and I'm getting there.

I also lost a dog because of poor recall. Ananda was a gorgeous akita x gsd (oh you have no idea what a beautiful combination that is!) and he was a very very good dog, in the house. Sits, downs, stays, "go to beds", he really had those down. But he never got good recall. A friend advised us to try the New Skete method of training recall with a choke-chain and that never worked either. He slipped away from me while I was transfering him from his tie-out to his leash at my parents' house in the city (we lived way out in the country at the time, so perfect recall was rarely necessary and not having good recall was extremely fun for Ananda). He ran straight into a busy street and was hit and killed almost instantly, before my eyes.
 
Improving recall and "leave it" are my two training goals for the rest of the year. I really need to get my husband on board with it though because one person trying to teach two very difficult skills to two dogs I just do not see happening.

Teach the dogs the whistle method yourself, get them really confirmed in it, then just put a whistle on DH's keyring! 

Louise's recall is really good and I attribute this to setting her up for success.   We started indoors at short distances and worked up from there.    I used really great treats and continue giving her treats about half the time now (she's 9.5 months).    I also made sure to call her during fun activities and then send her back to doing whatever she was doing so she wouldn't associate "come" with the end of something awesome.   Training recall in the woods especially helped because it was another reason to run like crazy, drop, and then get to take off again feeling like she did something great.   She was a cautious puppy, though, the kind that wouldn't stray more than 30 feet away, so I felt very confident that she wouldn't just take off.   Now that she's way more independent, I'm so glad we perfected the recall while she was still a little scaredy cat.

There are a few situations where I'm pretty sure she won't come when called, so I don't tell her to come then because it will just set her up for failure.   She recently found a hamburger in the woods (lucky dog!), for example.   In a situation like that, I have to work on a stronger "leave it" rather than using the recall.   But I can call her away from other dogs and, with some delay some of the time, squirrels, so I'm very happy with that.   (In the first few months of stressful puppyhood, my husband and I had SO many arguments about how to set her up for success and I think I cried at the dog beach at least twice over it.   God, puppies can be hard)

I also have a variety of commands.   "Come" (SUPER important) means "come to me and drop at my feet".   "Let's go" and "this way" (less important that it happens instantly) mean "come over in this direction, but you can run ahead of me if you want."   Whistling is the same as "come".  

Body language really helps with "let's go" and "this way".   I'm usually walking away from  her when I say this and it helped her want to follow the command and let her know that we were going to keep travelling, not come to a complete stop.

I was also really lucky, though, because it was the easiest thing to teach her out of all her commands so far.   She's very enthusiastic about it.

I have already been working daily with Tinker on her recall by trying to use her "gotta follow mom" puppy attitude to my advantage.  I will sit in the floor with her and wait until she's distracted, then say, "Tinker, Come" and give her a treat when she comes to me.  I will also do this when I see her starting to leave the room I'm in...it's working well so far.  I am determined to fight the bully stigma by having a wonderfully behaved pit []

Under most circumstances, Zoe comes RUNNING to me when she is called. Unless she is hot on the trail of something or has something in her mouth that she wants me to chase her for, then it's a different story [8|]