After everything I have been dealing with, I need to brag about something good, lol.
There is a park near me that is completely fenced in, with gates at either end and a few trees scattered about. It's pretty out of the way, so we don't often see other people in there, or other dogs, but for our current purposes it is absolutely perfect. SO and I have been taking Ben there every night since Wednesday. We go as soon as I sense that Ben's "zoomie" hour is about to start, so we use the energy in a constructive way. It takes us about 5 minutes to drive there, so we can usually time it just right.
When we get there, I put Ben on a 50 foot drag line and SO and I stand between 50 and 100 feet apart, depending on Ben's energy level and exactly what we're doing. When we start, one of us will have the clicker and treats, but Ben doesn't know who at first. We call him back and forth between us, and half the time he gets rewarded, the other half he doesn't, but he comes to us both.
My 11 1/2 week old puppy, has, thus far, a 100% reliable recall. I know it will get tougher as we add more distractions, but I can call him off a bird, a person or a scent from 100 feet away, and he comes first call, every time. We have done this between 40 and 50 times so far, and he ALWAYS comes. He will even find me if I call while I am hiding behind a tree.
I do know this will get much tougher, and adding other dogs into the mix will be a challenge, but we are starting to add more distractions, like SO playing with a ball when I call Ben. He is fantastic at it so far, even though I started out not expecting much at all. Ben will sit when he is waiting for another command, but lying down means "no, I'm tired". When that happens, we stop and go home, since I believe he knows best about his own stamina levels.
I am so proud!
Kate