Recall/Front Question

 He's coming to you, which is a great start - now it's time to up the ante.  If you're treating him for sitting where he does now, he has no incentive to come closer to you.  Try crouching down a little, showing him the treat and holding it at his eye level but very close to your body.  Then, just wait.  If the treat is valuable enough to him, he will come forward to get it - if he scoots forward still sitting, great, treat him when he's where you want him to be.  If he stands, make him sit again when he's close enough.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  If he does NOT move forward for the treat then it's not high-value enough and you need to use something else.  Once he's gotten the idea of where to sit, every time, fade the treat so that he's only getting one every other time, then every 5 times, every 10 times etc.

As for the moving backwards when you go to grab his collar, he's either looking for a treat or he knows that taking his collar means the end of playtime.  Try going under his chin (rather than past his face), take a hold of his collar and then release him to play again.  You can do this while you're training the first part (where to sit) so that you get several training sessions mixed with one play session.  This will teach him that returning to you doesn't necessarily mean the fun is over.

Hope that helps!

One option, drop the front from the recall practice.  Do the exercises seperately.  To really straighten the front and get it into the dog's head exactly what the position is I do backward fronts.  I stand with my back to the dog.  I get a really good treat (make sure you work this from both sides without a pattern) and use it as a lure to get them moving from behind me, to in front.  Then I take only as many small steps as actually needed to straighten the dog's spine before telling them to SIT-front.(Sit in a louder volume, front in softer).  As the dog starts learning the behavior, change the emphasis of the volume from sit-FRONT.

 Second exercise, totally seperate from the front.  WIth the dog just a short distance in front, take a favorite toy,  stand with your legs apart.  Call your dog (not with the command used for formal recall) to you.  Have the toy in front, ready to throw between your legs in BACK of you.  Once this is understood, slowly increase the distance AND the speed at which you throw the treat/toy.  You MUST make sure the dog understands he/she must go through your legs.  So it may be helpful to use a word that means come-on-over-here  and a "THRU" command just as you throw the toy.

Only once or twice during practice do a formal recall.  Change your body position so you are ever so slightly leaning back (no rounded shoulders).  Direct your eye gaze to the spot in front of your toes that you want the dog.  Now the hardest thing in dog training, WAIT for the dog to figure it out.  Make it worth his while with an edible to die for.  If necessary, almost lure him in by placing the treat at nose level and hold it there.  If your dog is small, get on your knees.  Video tape once a week to monitor progress if possible.

 Another TV strategy.  Count out some treats.  Every so often while you are just chilling, call the dog over to you while you are in a chair.  Again good cookie,  call the dog to front. You can use your legs almost as a chute to get them straight.  Lean back in the chair.  Hold the treat on your body at a height the dog must LEAN into you, establish body contact with you and stretch their neck out.  When the pose has been held for a second or two release the treat.  Slowly increase the time the dog must wait.  When is waiting up to 10 seconds reliably, slowly change your body position OVER multiple sessions so that you are seated upright.

CaliGrrrl

I reach toward him to praise him or take his collar, he hops backwards quickly.

Do you bend/lean over him? Cardinal rule, NEVER bend/lean over your puppy/dog, kneel down instead.

I can always tell when owners bend over their dogs because the dog will "scoot" their bum back or "hop" back.

Call, hold treat in fist, (DO NOT BEND OVER HIM) make sure he comes all the way up to you, lure into a sit, then praise and treat. You don't even need to ask for a sit, just lure him into it. Sometimes dogs just put their owners on mute when they've heard something a million times (since I can't see what you do/how you train him) but just to make sure you "never never say it say it twice twice" just simply have it be "Rey, Come!" lots of excitement, get on your knees if you have to, lure him all the way in, then lure into a sit, praise/treat.

If he's NOT coming to you, you need to make it "worth it". Cook some bacon, cook something yummy!! =) And use that special treat for proper recall right now. BEST OF LUCK!

 I would...

• start training the correct front position separately, drop it from the recall for now
  
• when you do need to recall him, try skipping backwards yourself when he gets close to you, to reel him in closer, then stick your treat in your crotch or between your knees so he HAS to come in to get it (don't worry about having him sit, this is just to get him used to coming in)
  
• maybe teach him to get his front paws on your feet, this is how I trained Kenya
• make sure not to lean over him 
• reward for sits where he is tucking his butt under and not leaning back into the sit

I can always tell when owners bend over their dogs because the dog will "scoot" their bum back or "hop" back.

Not necessarily true.  GSDs will often sit by leaning back into a sit.  My puppy started doing this so we are working on training a different type of sit.  The dog just needs to figure out the right position and the owner not reward the ones that are off.

 You've gotten great replies, so I won't add much except to consider giving the collar grab a cue word.   I use "Gotcha" for Honor and Nike when I go to take their collar, so it lets them know what I'm going to do so they don't get confused (ie. wondering if there's a treat going past their head, etc).  But definitely take Kate's suggestion of making a collar grab fun, so that he doesn't hear "Gotcha" (or whatever word) and thinks the fun is going to stop.

Everyone has given great suggestions so far, but I've got something different that you may want to try.  I work my dog a lot with a tug instead of treats, and he responds differently in training.  The the treats he generally concentrates more, but with the tug he has a lot more drive and is just happy.  You may want to try using a tug instead of treats and see how that goes.  I usually train the front a little seperately from the recall, too.  I have the dog heeling, and then run backwards while I call the dog.  He's always like, woah, cool, fun time!  Then stop, have the tug in both hands a little bit above his nose (just so its inticing, but he won't grab it yet).  If he doesn't sit closer already, run back a step or two while calling again.  Usually that will get them sitting pretty close just because they're more excited.  After he sits close and strait, give him a good play with the tug.  I wouldn't repeat this a whole lot at one time simply because he'll get bored and sloppy.  Repetition is good, but too much makes a bored, unattentive, sloppy dog. 

I'm confused as to why you would "reach towards" a dog to praise a dog, or why you'd want to grab a dog's collar after the dog comes into a formal front position. Just don't do it. If you're just recalling your dog to attach a leash so you can leave the park or whatever I would a) not use the formal front recall; and would b) reward the dog quite vigorously and try to put several minutes of fun for coming before attaching the leash so the dog doesn't learn to associate "coming when called" with "end of fun".

If you're working on a formal come front one way to get the dog straight and charging in close is to get the dog to come then run between your legs to chase a thrown toy. Do not try this with large dogs however.

Thank you for all the great replies. You are all much more experienced than I am. We'll keep working on it. I try to make everything fun for him and we play lots of games. I don't end our play sessions after a formal recall, I just throw 1 or 2 of them in when he gets far enough away to make it legit. I have a 30 foot long lead that he wears for playing and practicing. He has never tried to run away, I just like to have it as insurance. He's done great with everything and maybe I'm making subtle mistakes that I don't realize.

mudpuppy

I'm confused as to why you would "reach towards" a dog to praise a dog, or why you'd want to grab a dog's collar after the dog comes into a formal front position.

I reach towards him to pet his neck and head and I want to be able to grab/touch his collar, not to make him do anything or for any other reason than I just want him to be used to it and let me do it no matter what. I can eliminate those things, but I thought petting him was part of praising him. I might be mistaken there. I DO lean over or toward him though and I just didn't think about it. That's easy to correct.

To me, the "here" command ultimately means run to me all the way from wherever you are, sit in front of me, and stay right there, but we started with him just running toward me, then added the sit (he does it automatically now), and now we're adding the stay, but he's sitting too far away. I like the ideas of tossing a toy back thru my legs to get him used to running thru me, and also holding treats close to my body and waiting until he's close to my body too before giving them to him. I think we'll rewind to the sit part and I'll focus on those things as well as not leaning over him.

I'm a little confused about the difference between leaning back into a sit and tucking his butt into a sit. He basically goes from standing to sitting by dropping his butt back and not really changing the position of his feet, but I don't know what that means.  

Thanks again for all the thoughtful answers (and thanks in advance for all my future questions because there will probably be many!) 

CaliGrrrl

I'm a little confused about the difference between leaning back into a sit and tucking his butt into a sit. He basically goes from standing to sitting by dropping his butt back and not really changing the position of his feet, but I don't know what that means.  

 What they are referring to is a dog that rocks back into the sit instead of actually folding his legs under him.  When they rock back into the sit (which seems to be common for larger breeds), their front feet will move back a little (which then would put them too far away from you in a front, even if they were close before they sat).

The difference is usually a 1/2 off your score for each rock back sit.

but I thought petting him was part of praising him. I might be mistaken there.

A lot of dogs really dislike being physically petted as a "reward" while working, particularly about the head. Make sure your dog actually likes the things you offer as a "reward"; you'd be surprised how many people fail to notice their dog doesn't like their "rewards"- the fact that your dog jumps back suggests he doesn't like it.

To me, the "here" command ultimately means run to me all the way from wherever you are, sit in front of me, and stay right there,

most people have greater success if they have multiple recall commands- a very formal "come front" command for competition (which of course must be practiced), and at least one casual "come here" command for daily life (which of course also needs to be practiced)..

Being able to grab a dog's collar is important. I would work on that separately away from the recall and come front commands until he's blase about it. In competition though you're never going to be grabbing his collar so I'm not sure of the utility of practicing a "grab" while he is in a formal front position.

Workingdoglover

 What they are referring to is a dog that rocks back into the sit instead of actually folding his legs under him.  When they rock back into the sit (which seems to be common for larger breeds), their front feet will move back a little (which then would put them too far away from you in a front, even if they were close before they sat).

Thank you, I understand what you mean. He rocks back when he sits. We won't be competing, but that's part of why he ends up far away from me. I'm not sure how to correct it. I taught him to sit by holding a treat in front of him and then moving it back over his head. I'm going to see if the library will order some of the books I've heard recommended here. I don't remember the names off hand, but I bookmarked the posts.

Mudpuppy, I see what you're saying and I appreciate those good suggestions.