# Recall (yes again)



## adas (Nov 22, 2008)

Aloha, all. After reading the other posts and getting a long line to teach recall, it just does not work out for Rasa and me. If I say leash, Rasa will come and sit for the lease, but will not move from the "heel" position when on a lease when we move around, so the long retractable line is useless. Even though there are almost no cars on the roads where we live, i worry about that one car and Rasa is an idiot around cars! Off lease and walking around, Rasa will sniff out EVERYTHING and will even lag behind about up to 1/4 mile until she gets good and ready to come. Rasa does not care about treats and her only focus is on tennis balls when on walks. So what is the best way to get the Recall under control?
Frank


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## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

Try using a regular piece of rope about 1/4inch thick and about 30 feet long, even in house, the yard, a baseball field where she feels secure. It may take a few times to get her use to dragging it behind her. When she does start to get comfortable and walk around with the lead dragging recall her. If she doesn't respond immediately, step on the line and walk down the line towards her, tap her to get her attention. Back up a few feet and recall her from a short distance, maybe five feet. Praise her immediately when she comes. If she still doesn't come then shorten the length she is permitted to wander from you for a couple of tries. When she is responding well to a shorter distance, give her another 5 feet. It does take a while but it will result in a COMPLETELY reliable recall in the end.


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## nysirk (Apr 15, 2008)

This is a post of mine from another board explain all the things i do to teach a reliable re-call (sorry if some of it repetitive, just don't feel like typing it all over again hehe) 

If your dog is super tennis ball motivated I would keep a tennis ball me at all times and use that as the reward 

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE, This is a BIGGY this is one of those save your dog's life kinda things, Well first off Dont use the word Come more then once by repeating the command we teach the dog that comming is optional or that they can ignore the word. 
Also many dogs learn that when we call them the fun is Over (human error) to fix that if you have your dog in a play session or something really great to them like a good smell, call them ONCE if they come praise the heck outta them, then let them go back to their fun and repeat repeat repeat, that way the dog never knows when the fun is going to be over. 
I really pay attention to how my dogs respond to the word "come" do they respond 80% of the time? 50%? IF the dog dose not respond to the word "come" 50% of the time or Less Time to start re-training with a fresh new word "Hier and Front" work great it could be a whistle whatever you can re-teach your dog and stay consistent with.

Once you have a new word or "come" whatever word your going to use for re-call, time to build an amazing association with this word, I like to think of it as recall word = dog lottery!!!
First I like to build the new association up with a fun game of HIde and Seek (and wow can this game can really teach your dog) Pretty much start inside with two people one person hidden (best you can) call the dogs name then the recall word, once the dog gets to you BIG reward!! Then the other person hiding somewhere different calls the dogs name then Huge jackpot reward, repeat repeat.
Puppy ping- pong can also build up a great association. With that two people stand maybe 20 feet apart and keep calling the dogs name, recall word, Mark, Praise/reward, release repeat, repeat, repeat. Dogs LOVE these games. Once the association with the re-call word has been met time to set your dog up for some success,and progress into real life situations.

First off I never use my re-call word, unless im 99% sure that my dog will come to me, so I test it first, i do this by calling the dogs name "Rover" If Rover looks at me or gives me any sign of attention and i am 99% SURE that he will come to me ONLY then will I use the re-call word, praise as "Rover" comes to me. 
If I were to call Rovers name and I got no response, I wouldn't even bother with my recall word, instead I would try a Bribe word such as "treat, cookie, car ride" in hopes to get my dogs attention back on me, if so repeat above. 
If that also fails then I have to enforce it. I believe you shouldn't repeat any commands you can not enforce because,again the dog learns to ignore the word and/or it becomes optional. Therefore during the training process your dog should NEVER be off leash. I like to use a long 20-30 ft line for this Ive also found a Use for those "retractable leash's" I use them for recalls. 
If my re-call word hasn't worked, then my bribe word has failed i can easily enforce it with a little tug on the leash or if my dog is in danger i can just reel them back to me. 

Also as mentioned above never use your recall word for punishment/ things the dog dosent like nail trims ect.... (human error again)
I mean NEVER Even if you chased your dog through the woods for hours (Which hepponed to me with a foster once Ughh) At some point if you can get your dogs attention even tho your FURIOUS you need to be upbeat and happy, and reward like crazy when they FINALLY come back to you, (this again is very hard for us humans) dogs live in the present, so all they remember is that moment they finally got back to you and it MUST be pleasant, or else there gos your association with your great re-call word you worked so hard for. 
DO call your dog when its time for a walk, call them when its time to go to training class, call them when its time to socialize and have some playtime with new dogs. 

Another wonderful tip is ALWAYS ALWAYS Reward your dog when you use your re-call word (you can fade out rewards later but for come its too important to not reward)
I Highly recommend Not using the same boring reward over and over and over dogs catch on to this and get bored with that same boring beef treat time after time, SO DOG LOTTO TREAT boy do i mean jackpot use super treats (tiny bits hot dogs, chicken, liver) and most important, SWITCH REWARDS Tug games, fetch game, tons of praise vary this often to keep things fresh. 
The reward for respond to a re-call word should be at LEAST ten seconds of either tons of tiny tid bits, a 10-20 sec tug game, fun fetch game, Praise, going for a walk, play time with another dog whatever works best for YOUR dog. The idea behind this is every time the dog hears its recall word they don't know what is going to heppon but.... They better get there butts over to there owner REALLY fast because something really wonderful is about to heppon, because every time they hear that word and they get to their owner the best stuff in the world heppons. 

Theese tips can def build up a VERY reliable recall. Another tip when you dog is getting really good at hide and seek take it outside, I did this with my pup Dexter and WOW did it work!!
We would go take a walk down a path (off leash, i was being risky and kinda being a bad dog mom) when my pup got a few too many steps ahead of me I would run and tuck behind a tree really quick i would peek out and the look on my pups face, What an expression!! "oh S*** where did my mama go?) Then I would blast out with my dogs name and his recall word and he would rush over soo exicted,to have found me!!! 
By doing this My dog learned very quickly that Humans get lost really easy so they better stick really really close to them. As long as you are doing regular training along with NILIF training this will work Us humans are in charge of EVERYTHING the dog likes food games exercise petting ect... So to Loose that kind of resource really makes them stick close (I would suggest doing this in a fenced backyard or on a long line) I think I hit on everything I may have missed something But Hopefully that will help, the truth is it takes Time practice and consistency. They really should always be on a leash until this gets reliable. In the case of your dog chasing a bunny don't expect a bribe word to work dogs need to be trained with the distraction of prey, in order to be able to sucessed . If all else fails there is always teaching your dog to DROP into a Down position on command anywhere! Also another one that takes tone of time and work but the results are so worth it!! Hope that helps


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## lcht2 (Jan 8, 2008)

see i am haveing the same problem with tyson except for he will come 75% of the time the other 25% of the time he either wants to play the chase game or has found something way more interesting that me...so..E-collar should be here today to clean things up.


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## adas (Nov 22, 2008)

Aloha, I guess I got a bit lucky. A customer brought in a squeeky toy for Rasa and she squeeked the heck out of it until it got ripped apart. I salvaged the squeeker and every time I squeek it Rasa comes running and sits down. So now I reward with a treat and she comes with enthusiasm. Now I guess I have to name the behavior and phase out the squeek and the treat and keep repeating?

thanks for your detailed post above.
Frank


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## nysirk (Apr 15, 2008)

Your welcome!!
Def keep up working on it, Don't worry about fading out the reward for a while! Maybe fade out the squeak to a verbal command/clap/whistle. If you do start to fade on the rewards and your dog stops re-calling, just bring back all the awesome rewards, and start over. Best of luck


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## Parsifal (Feb 1, 2006)

There's a DVD called "Really Reliable Recall" in which the narrator explains and shows how she taught her "unrecallable" Salukis to recall. I used it to retrain Annie to a 100% recall (so far). It's very affordable -- I paid $12.00.

My only deviation from it was that I taught a very destinctive hand signal as well as voice command (my fist extended above my head at arm's length) so that she could see me at a distance. Of course, I have to get her attention first, but it's worked (ahe came back instantly when she was beginning a cat chase and was about 40 feet away from me, and that's a complete first). 

You do have to keep reinforcing it, though. I do it with her at least 2ce a day. 

Good luck.


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## Parsifal (Feb 1, 2006)

PS -- sorry if my post is a repeat! I've recommended this DVD before but I can't remember to whom.


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