# Reliable recall and Stay



## frillint1 (Sep 2, 2010)

I need to work with Chief on his Recall. I want him to be solid at it especially around distractions or anything he's focused on. Just being outside is huge to him. I mostly want to work on his stay though it is very lacking. I was wanting some tips and videos maybe on how you trained you recall and stay. He knows sit,down,speak,roll over and bow, but needs alot of work on his stay while sitting and stay while down. I just bought a 20 ft lead. Thanks for your help!


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Repetition, repetition, repetition 

Practice inside and outside over and over, it'll become second nature


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## Gilly1331 (Apr 16, 2011)

Yep practice and repitition. Find what motivates your dog food, ball, toy etc and use that as a reward. Start out with short distances of stay and recall then gradually increase time and space. Work inside, outside, familiar and unfamiliar places. We work on this all the time with our 3. They are great when they have their "training collars" on but usually at home we have been lax with some things. We are currently working on blieb/stay when someone in the family gets up and goes into another room for something...all 3 of my guys get up and would follow you every time you went to bathroom, or kitchen etc. Now we get up give the stay command and then praise them when we get back with a ball or treat. 

You can use the 20ft lead outside, on trails etc send them out and then recall or stay. Our guys got great at off leash hikes bc I was hiking 5+ miles a day last year. This year Im taking it easy bc Im preggo and only do short local walks.

Always praise when you pup does what you ask and try to ignore and move on when it doesnt. Most of all make it fun for both of you and have fun!


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## billsharp (May 3, 2011)

Just a quick note--I noticed I was in a habit of putting Liesl in a stay, then walking away, then a recall. She got to where she anticipated the recall (and reward for it) and would break the stay prematurely. I started putting her in a stay, walking away, roaming around, etc., and then calmly returning to where she was and rewarding her just for the stay. This has helped a lot with making her "stay" solid. 

I also found that when I was doing recall and was about to issue the "come" command she would anticipate that, and if I said anything else, she would come even tho it was not a command. To stop this I started putting her in a stay, walking away, then facing her just like I was about to say "come", but instead would say other random words. She would start, hesitantly like she was unsure, and I would tell her "stay!" to make her stay. She caught on quickly, and now waits for the actual "come" command. Of course, I feel silly standing on the sidewalk, 30 feet from my dog, saying "mommy...typewriter....treat....santa claus....come!"


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

I like this post...I'd like to ask something though. How do you know your dog's recall is reliable 'enough' to let them off leash? My two were great UNTILL we moved. Now they turn a deaf ear. I always though recall translated over regardless of place but it didn't happen with us :'c Even in the backyard, when I call them inside, sometimes I especially have to go and get my husky. Should I scold for this? Should I keep treats? and THEN my GSD will watch him and not listen as well. So frustrating. I find recall one of THE most important obedience training and yet I can't even master it in our backyard :'c


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

frillint1 said:


> I just bought a 20 ft lead.


Do you use a 20 ft lead to real him in if he doesn't listen or to prevent him from running away??? I have one but I always wonder about this. I use my flex lead for recall. But it isn't a good distance and most of the time I have to pull him in. Is this a bad way to train?


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## Gilly1331 (Apr 16, 2011)

I know it won't help you see a but our recall was perfected bc we have 2 acres of invisible fence and the back of our property can't be seen from the front and vice versa (we have 3 total elevation changes). Our recall was constantly used several times a day just letting the dogs out now. I only have to call once and no matter where on the 2 acres they all come flying full speed back to the door. 

I guess when you have done months of practice in different places on leash without fail no matter the distraction and have 0 error you can start doing small off leash stuff. We feed raw and train with raw so when on hikes off leash I would recall every 20-30ft or so and the treat every time, then every other then every few until they never knew when the treat was coming. They always had to sit at the recall on the trail and wait for a release. I knew ours was great when all 3 were off leash on a very wooded trail and started off after a group of deer. I let them run a few seconds then mimed gave the fooey-come command and all 3 happily came and sat I front of me.


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## billsharp (May 3, 2011)

Zeeva, we started with small distances under control with a leash and worked up the distance. We started with our 6 foot leash to teach the command. Once she was solid with the 6 foot leash I moved to the 20 foot cotton lead, just to be sure I had ultimate control in case she tried to bolt off after a squirrel. The lead was simply for control; we simulated stay and recall as if there was no leash involved.

Off leash, we started over in our closed garage, using only 6 feet or so of distance. Once that felt solid we moved outside into the yard with no distractions, and gradually increased the distance.

The secret, imho, is to move in baby steps. Many, many reps are needed to clearly teach the dog what you expect, and every new change you introduce (distance, new lead, new location) means that the dog is likely to "forget", so you have to be patient.

The final step was on the 20 foot lead with distractions, ie, other people walking their dogs on the side of the street just a few feet away. Liesl broke her stay many times during this phase, and when she did I just shorted the distance between me and her and lengthened the distance between her and the distraction to find that equilibrium that allowed me to keep her attention. Once it was solid, we reversed course and I got farther away while letting the distractions get closer.

We now walk off leash, 10 feet from other dogs, and she obeys my "leave it" without fail (unless the dog is a friend of hers, in which case it turns into a tail-wagging and face-licking party. We're working on that.)


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

This is how I teach stay: http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/training-our-puppy-basic/153300-training-stay.html#post2057182

And recall: http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/training-our-puppy-basic/142062-no-recall.html#post1900208


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## Ucdcrush (Mar 22, 2004)

IMO the most important part of obedience, regardless of what the command is, is socialization. Exposing the dog to the point that it doesn't get over-excited by people, dogs, cats, cars etc.

But it's still a matter of practice of course, just don't forget the socialization part. Many dogs would have a "perfect" stay if there were just people walking past. But if there was a dog walking past, and the dog is overly-excited by dogs, there goes the stay. Expose the dog to more dogs, suddenly the stay would be improved.

The dogs that could be used for a demonstration, staying around all kind of distractions, is largely because the dog is not tempted by the distraction (it is well socialized, so it's not inclined to get up from a stay). Yes it's possible to train a dog to stay, when it's fighting every ingrained urge to chase a cat, but it would be MUCH harder than exposing him to cats and lowering his arousal with them. When the socialization part is missing and the dog is made to practice (and fails) obedience around very high distractions, that is probably a large contributor to reactivity. Since the dog is already undersocialized/reactive, and now he is experiencing stress and failing to properly obey commands, which increases reactivity around whatever the distraction is.

Obedience has to be (at least) a 2 pronged approach with socialization and practicing the commands.


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