# age to expect certain recall



## pmcelveen (Dec 28, 2015)

At what stage/age do you think a gsd is expected to always come when called? We have been working diligently on this and she is doing well but I was curious at what point can I be sure she won't bolt and run or just ignore me? When do you feel confident with this command?


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

age doesn't matter. depends on the individual dog (distraction level, prey drive, etc), the environment, training method and your confidence in your training.

confidence comes the more and more you proof.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

Age does not have a thing to do with it. 
Sabi never took her eyes off me from 7 weeks old, and was always reliable. Bud didn't grab a brain until he was almost 5. It wasn't deliberate he just lacked any focus at all. 
Shadow will never have a reliable recall because she is 100% ruled by her nose. 
My Lex girl was an obedience rockstar, titled at 10mnths and never would have not obeyed a command.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Yep, depends on the dog, the training method, and the bond/confidence in the training. 

I don't proof the recall, save in classes, when I have one there. I just never, ever give the command unless I can enforce it immediately so the dog never gets the impression that it is optional. Mine aren't independent and they aren't prey driven, so recall is almost perfect from Go. 

Recall is also something that is always rewarded (praise mostly, treats when training). Coming to me is better than hot dogs and beef liver. 

I think that you start inside away from distractions, and then with distractions, and then outside, then outside with distractions, and at some point, you will realize that the dog is ready. And, then, if you are somewhere not within a fenced area, we hope we did not misjudge this. 

For me, I drop leashes due to a problem with my hands. My dogs always come to me and wait for me to pick the thing up again. Once a bitch slipped her collar, she was a pup, I used the COME command, because we were in a busy parking lot, and she would have been dead. She came. I was very lucky. I went to martingales after that. But by not proofing, by not performing the command when the dog could consider it optional, never punishing this one, but always following through and getting the dog to where I need him to be, they get it that it is not optional, and when it has counted, so far, they have come, every time.


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## pmcelveen (Dec 28, 2015)

thank guys Bailey is only 4 months so we have a ways to go. I see improvement every time we practice. I really can't wait until I am confident she will come every time.She is getting better but sometimes the ADD kicks in. She is distracted by other dogs mostly. Btw she now weighs 41 lbs so she's going to prob be a big one.


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## 9mmmac (Dec 28, 2015)

Sit/stay/come is ALWAYS the thing we train every day. Even if it's just from one side of the house to the other. 

I think Grendel likes it because he can runrunrunrunrunrunrunrun back to me as fast as he can. It's incredible to see him stretch out and go full bore- he's WAY faster than me BTW... 

IMO, it needs to be taught from day 1. At 4 months my dog's comfort zone was probably 25 feet and 15 seconds before he would just come right back to me. Not run off, run back to me. And I think that's the difference- he came back to me. I pushed my pup's comfort zone so coming back to me- even if was just to touch noses for a second- coming back to me for reassurance helped cement the good bond. Getting a treat made coming back even better. But I also insist that treat be earned with a good sit/stay (uncommanded) before that treat gets offered up. 

We're working on "beat it" as the release command; means "go do dog stuff now". 

I also noticed that night training cuts the comfort time/distance in about half, but that's getting better and better as he gets older (better eyes and ears?)


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