Do you have 100% reliable recall?

I *think* that all 6 have a 100% recall.  I have called both Thor and Sheba off rabbits and deer but haven't had the opportunity to try that with the younger dogs.  However, even with thinking it's 100%, I remember that they ARE dogs and therefore not always totally reliable and I really watch things around us and try to minimize the distractions.

My Entle has about 98% recall...but hten she will never go more han 15 feet away from me without checking to be sure that I am still there.
 
My beagle on the other hand....maybe has 10% recall. She will only come when she thinks there is no rabbit in the surrounding 5 miles that needs to be sniffed. I have tried long line, treats etc. About the only thing left is to accept that she isn't coming to me if she gets away unless I am holding a rabbit!

Wesley is actually MUCH better outside the house (off leash in a park or on a hiking trail) than he is inside - inside he is awful, he comes if he feels like it and when he feels like it.  I am pretty sure that the problem is us, we use "come" when we can't enforce it, with a pushy dog, and now he thinks that coming back to us is optional...  So, I am thinking we are going to change the command for when I need him to come to my side imediately, and I am thinking "by me," since it doesn't sound like his other commands...  We will probably screw that one up too and use it too much...  hmmm...  sounds like the problem is us, not Wes []...

If you do want to use a collar, you can also try the Spray Commander by Premier.  It emits a squirt of citronella instead of a shock.
People use vibrating collars with great success on deaf dogs, and I like that idea, since it is  just a signal, not a punisher.

LOL, not my pomies... no. Maybe it's the husky in them, but my female esp. if she knows she's loose and something scares her (a can fell off the picnic table the one time onto cement) she'll dash off, and ignore any baby talk (any command she just runs faster). Probably because they're tiny, and get scared easily because of that fact they don't take well to commands if they know they're loose. My male.. when he's scared he'll zip to get away from what spooked him, but he'll run back to me and wimper lol. But I could see him taking off too if something scared him bad enough. My new female... nothing seems to freak her out enough to make her dash off... although I wouldn't put it past her since my other two could lol. My doggies are tied out, enclosed on the porch, or are in the fenced in area when they are outside... for their own protection.
 
I am teaching recall to my female that runs... it's working great. Even when she's on the tie out, she is dorky and thinks she can get loose (which could happen eventually this is why i've been working on her with this) I pat my hand on my thigh and say "foxie come here" and she'll slowly make her way to me... when she comes to me, i make her put her two front paws up on my leg... which means "you can pick me up now". Our whole yard is fenced in (on the mowed side.. the wooded side isn't but they'd have to run over a creek to get to it) but in the front yard, the fence is meant to keep bigger dogs out.. not smaller dogs in... so it's scary. I will be getting them a kennel run this summer soon... that way they won't need to be on the tieouts anymore to enjoy the weather, and to potty. My pomies are ofcourse inside dogs, but in weather like this, they love being outside laying in the grass.
 
 
So, no, i can deffinatly say my dogs do not have 100% recall, no where close to it, but im working on it with my female "runner" incase she ever gets loose and spooked again. I would lose it if I lost her. Recall is DEFFINATLY an important thing to train any dog you own.. if you can that is.
 
About the heeler thing.. it's deffinatly true, heelers want to be where their owners are... they'll wander away some, but not enough so that they're out of eye sight. My moms 2 heelers show this very well. My moms siberian husky female on the other hand, needs supervised 100% of the time when she's loose... if she sees another dog, a rabbit or a deer she tries to take off.

Anne, that vibrating collar is a REALLY good idea! I may go get one, just to get attention, sometime.

Lana used to be 100% but we've slacked a bit so now she's about 95%.  When things settle down a bit with our schedules, back to practicing her recall. 

I wish I could say Boss has it, but it's a work in progress and getting better all the time. I don't get much of a chance to test it out since I can't take him out and about very much due to his aggression issues and try it but had the occassion when the back fence blew down this past winter. I have chicken wire across the back part right now that he figured out if he ran as fast as he could, leaped into it he could do a tuck and roll and land on the other side. He hasn't done it in over a month now though, he has learned that is his boundary and he will not go past it.
 
One occassion before he learned there was nothing stopping him once he discovered there was a whole new place to run outside the fence.. the next time he tested me but came back after the first call.. the next time he made it just outside the boundary and turned back.
 
Gracie.. well we're working on that stubborn husky puppy thing.. if she doesn't feel like it, she will just lie down and start nibbling on grass and look the other way when I call her.