Stubborn dog recall

[lmgakg]

Great question. So few people do this correctly. Yes, treats are a great training tool. They make training faster and easier. Here is what you do. As you are teaching a new behavior, treat every single time the dog does it correctly. After he has learned the behavior and is pretty proficient with it, start weaning him off the treats FOR THAT PARTICULAR BEHAVIOR.

For example ... you are teaching "sit". Treat every time for about a week. After a week the dog should be pretty good at it. If he is, start treating 3/4 of the time and not on a schedule like three treats then no treat. Keep it random but only treat about 3/4 of the time. Do that for a week. Then treat 1/2 the time FOR SITTING. By this time treat only the fastest sits but still half the time. The next week treat only 1/4 the time. Now you treat only for the fastest sharpest sits but 1/4 the time.

After a week of that you wean him off the treats "completely". I put that in quotes because you must remember one very important psychological truism. "Behaviors that are rewarded are repeated." This is true with all animals in all phases of life. So, remembering that, you should always treat sometimes for sit just to reinforce it but it shouldn't be required by the dog to get a treat before he sits.

I hope I explained this well enough to be understood. Sometimes things that are real easy to explain in person are not as easy with the written word.

That sounds exactly like what you should do, let me know if you will be in the detroit area....I'll give you my address and my dogs!!!! :)

[monkeys23]

A lunge line from any horse supply place: Super cheap and very sturdy. Mine was free actually.

A lot of dog supply sites have both tubular nylon and biothane tracking/training lines, tough and fairly easy on the hands. I have a 10ft biothane leash and I love it. I don't use it for recall, but you get the picture. I think dogsportgear.com was where I got that one.

Ella's Lead - Home has some really nice ropes that you can get long lines made from. Sure you might get hand burn from a puller, but its never going to fail and result in an escaped dog. I heart them for leads and collars!

Or you can go to REI or something and get tubular nylon or mountain rope cheap to put on a snap.

I know some people with lines from petsmart or whatever... ouchy hand burn! But maybe that is just me.

I imagine clothesline from the evil empire would be pretty sucktastic on the hands too. But hey if it works for ya.

[lmgakg]

And as a reminder, NEVER call your dog to you if you plan on doing anything the dog doesn't like in the beginning. This will establish a questioning attitude from the dog because sometimes when you call its fantastic but sometimes when you call its less than ideal (like a bath or nail trim, etc).

Good luck and I hope this helps!

Okay, this is the part that confuses me...Raja went to kindergarten and passed with flying colors...now he is really pretty good, but not totally good. I really have to be on top of him and reminding and reminding and reminding that he can't go say hi to everyone he sees and he can't chase the butterfly over there because I'm calling him over here. But there are times that are not ideal, such as when it's time to go in the house when we are out playing....but I need to call him to come. Or when we have to go somewhere, he hates the car, I have to call him to get him to get in the car - he won't eat in the car, so treats means nothing, I could have 10 steaks laying in the car and he still won't eat them or like the idea of getting in the car. Soooooo how do I call him when it is bath time (another activity he HATES)?????????

[DaneMama]

So just don't call him or say his name at all when you need him to come in from playing or to get into the car. Just go get him and lead him to wherever he needs to be.

Calling your dog in from playing in the yard isn't necessarily a terrible thing, just make sure your reinforcement is 10 times better than the game of being outside.

[Celt]

For fun stopping recalls, when I'm training, I use a "special" treat that they only get for "giving up" the fun times. Right now the "drop everything" treat is Beggin' Strips. I know they're horrible but I don't give them out often. At the beginning, I would give a small "chunk" for every recall, then it became pieces. Now I only give them on "special" ocassion.