# Teaching Recall at Home



## clearcreekranch (Mar 18, 2010)

Hey, guys. Wolf does his recall just fine on the training field at about 30-40 paces and he is 8 1/2 mos old. But the problem is at home, when we are not training and he sees a person/dog on the street or our neighbors in the yard with their dog, he runs the fence line and I can't get him to come. He acts like it's a big game. I have corrected him with his fur saver(when I catch him, of course) and have also tried putting the e-collar on him(he acts like he can't feel it). What suggestions to you have for me? He is a high-drive working male. Thanks in advance.:help:


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Wish I knew- I have the fence running problem with Stosh. I have been about 80% successful by using the prong collar and a long lead, when a motorcycle went by and he wanted to chase it I gave him a correction. We're still working on it but I'm seeing progress.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Since this is posted in the Schutzhund forum, I would say the FIRST thing is to separate your formal Schutzhund recall from what you are training and using at home. I would use a totally different word/command.

For working on this at home, I would have the dog on a long line and have some sort of awesome reward in your hands. Give your command and check the dog hard enough to get his attention and focus him on you. I just use a flat collar or the dead ring on a fursaver, because this is not really a correction but a physical "HEY you, focus here!" give with the command so the dog has no choice but to break his fixation on something else and notice you. If he comes willingly, throw him a party involving whatever reward you're using. Otherwise, reel him in and mark and reward as soon as he willingly continues to come and focus on you. Then, give him a clear release word and let him go. Make sure to not be doing the recall and then putting the dog away, or the dog thinks recall = fun is over, why would he want to ever come?

The fence fighting is another issue altogether, not one that is easy to deal with because you can't be there every second and you can't control who goes by the fence. Honestly I just let my dogs be within reason. I don't care if they run the fence with a toy in their mouth maybe giving an initial bark and then shaking the toy. Excessive barking is not allowed. Trying to get out or tear through the fence is not allowed. Displays of unprovoked aggression are not allowed. If that happens they get one "Hey, no!" and if it continues, then they come inside. Game over.


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## Jason L (Mar 20, 2009)

If you are using an ecollar, be sure to pair it with a line. Stim by itself has no meaning to the dog other than "ouch". Use the line to help him come back to you. Also, don't stim him all the way back to you. As soon as you see him commits to you, stop the stim and use your voice to guide him back (use the line to help if you need it).

As for Wolf acting like he can't feel it - you have to play around with the stim level. Watch the smallest sign (twitching ear, for example). For recall, I would try to use the ecollar at a pretty low level. Also, keep in mind dogs react to electricity differently. Some dogs are real drama queens and just scream and yelp even at near zero level. Others will do the opposite. When they feel the shock, they will bear down and not move. Sometimes people see that and think "Oh, my dog doesn't feel it" and then they will turn it up because they think unless the dog is jumping and making some noise, the collar is not working on the dog ... which is, of course, not true.


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## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

Why would you use a different word than you use for the formal re-call. A dog should be able to differ a walk from formal training. I've never seen anyone using a different word. Hier means Hier, if you are on a walk or on the field doing obedience. The whole point of training a dog is that they listen and you shouldn't have to re-train him for your every day situations...in my opinion that completely defeats the purpose...


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

I would use a different word because now the OP has been using a word that the dog has been ignoring. Not cool. I would not give a command (in any context) that you can't enforce either with reward or physical help. The command should not be optional.


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## Ruthie (Aug 25, 2009)

Bison is a fence runner too. It is only with one dog. She stands at her fence and woofs and kicks her feet at him. If he sees her in her yard, he barks and runs the fence like a mad man. He completely ignores all the other dogs in the neighborhood.

I haven't been able to solve the problem completely, but I can at least get him to come when called now.

What made the biggest improvement was to stop trying to call him and go get him. I found that after repeatedly interrupting the intense focus that he gets on her and at the same time working on the recall in normal situations, he is finally able to break focus from her and come when called. The other thing that has helped is to play fetch with him BEFORE she comes out into her yard. Then he is very intent on playing and notices her but doesn't bark and run. It is just more conditioning to ignore the devil dog.


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## alaman (May 3, 2006)

Mrs.K said:


> Why would you use a different word than you use for the formal re-call. A dog should be able to differ a walk from formal training. I've never seen anyone using a different word. Hier means Hier, if you are on a walk or on the field doing obedience. The whole point of training a dog is that they listen and you shouldn't have to re-train him for your every day situations...in my opinion that completely defeats the purpose...


I use different words. Hier means to come fast and sit in front of me and wait for next command. Schutzund.

Come means to come here fast but could be for treat, ball or simple come here because I want you here and not where you are going. Also means come walk with me or follow me but not in a formal foose if I'm walking along with one or more of my dogs


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## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

Liesje said:


> I would use a different word because now the OP has been using a word that the dog has been ignoring. Not cool. I would not give a command (in any context) that you can't enforce either with reward or physical help. The command should not be optional.


That I can see, I must have missed the ignoring part. Yes, I agree with you.


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## clearcreekranch (Mar 18, 2010)

Thanks. I have tried a few of these things and we do seem to be making progress. My biggest fear is that he will either jump the fence or somehow get away from me and not respond. I just want to make sure that I train him so well that this will not happen. I posted this here since Wolf is in formal Schutzhund training. I did change his command to "bring" yesterday when we were playing fetch with his toys....it seems to work better than "come" and he was more focused on me. We have been told to use his name instead of "come" on the formal recall and I think that he was just hearing that too much at home.


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## GregK (Sep 4, 2006)

clearcreekranch said:


> We have been told to use his name instead of "come" on the formal recall and I think that he was just hearing that too much at home.


Yeah, that was bad advice. The name is good for getting eye contact.

There's 3 cues that I use to get the dog by me:

'Here' - means get over by me. Doesn't have to be a perfect front or anything.

'Front' - come to me, sit right in front of me with eye contact.

'Heel' - come to me and get into heel position.


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## clearcreekranch (Mar 18, 2010)

Thanks


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