# Tucker is loosing his brains



## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

I say this because he knows his commands. He knows come, heel, sit, down, stay, spot, out, drop it, bed/kennel and a few others. When he is on lead, he is an angel. It doesn't matter if it is a 4ft lead or a 100ft lunge line, if he is clipped to something I am holding, he behaves and fallows everything I say to a "T". 

When he is off lead how ever, he half way listens. If he sees something that intreagues him, he will go for it. When he is with other dogs, he compleatly blocks me out. When he goes out to potty in the yard (not fenced/no tieout) he decided he loves being outside and will just stand there and stare at me when I tell him to come inside. 

He is not compleatly terrible, he will come back eventually, and doesn't go out of my view. But he doesn't like haveing to come back in or leave what he was doing to come when I call him, and this is a problem. 

Any advice/suggestions?
My dogs run off lead alot at parks/resivores/ponds/fields/woods. This is how they get their high amount of energy burnt off and its kinda like free time. They go for walks, but on walks they have to mind and leave everything alone. I want them to be able to sniff and dig and do what every they like when they are at these places, but he HAS to listen to me when I tell him to come back. He doesn't charge people and will run to me when I call him when people are coming/passing. I guess he just needs fine tuneing....


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

He has, what you call, no recall


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

xellil said:


> He has, what you call, no recall


But he comes sometimes. How do you get him to come ALL the time?


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Makovach said:


> But he comes sometimes. How do you get him to come ALL the time?


For me, it was just a thousand repetitions. Start him close, on a leash. Eventually go to no leash, like in a living room and the yard when there are no distractions. We did it 10 minutes a day, three times a day (along with other things like sit). 

Come - over and over and over. Lots of praise. Then I walked him on a 15 foot leash, and then a 25 foot leash and would ask him to come and sit in front of me so many times I can't even guess. But it was alot.

I think the trainers here can give you more step by step. 

I had Rebel for 13 months before I felt comfortable with his recall. When we moved to Texas, he totally forgot it. So now we are working on it again. It's not taking nearly as long this time.


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

Oh, and I had a great trainer. There's no way I could have done that on my own. I am as far from a dog trainer as they come.


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## chewice (Jan 1, 2012)

Food motivated? I have to have a bag of something smelly in my pocket when I decide to go off leash - he never wanders more than 15 ft away when i have it... but neither do the other dogs :S


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

xellil said:


> Oh, and I had a great trainer. There's no way I could have done that on my own. I am as far from a dog trainer as they come.


People are telling me I'm the opposite. I get lots of praise about being an awesome trainer with a bright future. But, I keep looking for better ways to do things. I keep looking into other methods. I don't have the money to buy books right now. They all push their method as being the only real way and the only positive way. But whatever, it gives the non aggressive person a feeling that maybe they don't know what they are doing. Even though they actually do. I'm betting Xellil knows a lot more than she admits. Extreme modesty would be my guess. 

I believe it takes a great owner to train a dog. Not a great trainer.


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## BoxerParty (Nov 9, 2011)

Sounds like your problem is that you have an adolescent Boxer. :tongue: Having two such creatures myself, I can tell you that they almost ALWAYS go through a phase where they "forget" their recall.

Keep him on a long line, call him to you, and reinforce HEAVILY. Like 15 seconds of tiny bits of treats. Make a BIG FUSS, EVERY TIME. They get over it in a month or two, but only if you nip it in the bud 

Good luck!


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## xellil (Apr 4, 2011)

bridget246 said:


> People are telling me I'm the opposite. I get lots of praise about being an awesome trainer with a bright future. But, I keep looking for better ways to do things. I keep looking into other methods. I don't have the money to buy books right now. They all push their method as being the only real way and the only positive way. But whatever, it gives the non aggressive person a feeling that maybe they don't know what they are doing. Even though they actually do. I'm betting Xellil knows a lot more than she admits. Extreme modesty would be my guess.
> 
> I believe it takes a great owner to train a dog. Not a great trainer.


That's sweet of you to say, but oh my goodness you should have seen us for the six months before we found the trainer. I was just the muscle, not the brains. When I tried to be the brains we both ended up flopping around like fish in the middle of the road.

I have to admit, though, it's nice to have it done. I like having people be amazed at his training, like it's some kind of magic - when really there's no magic to it at all and half an hour a day isn't very much time.

However, you have to keep doing it and that's why he's regressed - the events of the last few months have left me not spending time enough with him, and having a well trained dog is like washing dishes - you have to keep doing it all the time.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

Cesar had a HORRABLE recall when i got him i mean BAD if i called him to come he would litterly take off in teh other direction

what i did was invest in a vibration collar BEST tool EVER!
so first off waht i did was put him on a long line with tons of treats in my pocket take him out BEFORE hes eaten for the day
first i started out everytime he would come near me or look at me i would reward him wtih treats and praise EVERY time even if he walks over to you to sniff teh ground reach down give him a pat then reward him even if im rewarding every two seconds

it didnt take him long to figure out he could control the treats/reward so to speak by giving ME attention and stay close to me
then i get him used to the wearing the collar keeping the vibration level low first time i vibrate with him near me the second he becomes alert i reward much like a clicker.

i kept giving treats WITH praise and vibration for a good while like 3 weeks to a month
i also practiced in the house
thenwhile keeping him on the long line but letting go of the end for him to run around if he got too far out i would vibrate he would turn to look at me i would call to come then reward

the vibration is good for many things i use it to get his attention no matter how far away he is weather hes in another room and cant see me he knows vibration means to find me.

and if you worry about vibration collars hurting a dog they dont ive been tempted to wear cesars around my neck when ive had a stiff neck and turn the level all the way up and hold the button down! they vibrate just like cell phones.
youll know when its a good level becuase htey will cock there ears and turn there heads and look at the ground like "what was that!?"


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

my only problem with starting over on lead, is he does it on lead. Every time. Its when he is off lead that his brain starts to wonder. Or he simply doesn't want to come in. I'm going to try and work with him with a new toy that makes loud noise to get his attention.

I've thought about a vibration collar for him. I think it would help snap him back to reality. My cousin has one that the first time you push the button it goes "ding ding ding ding ding" then the second time you push the button it dings five times, then it viberates. The third time it dings, viberates, then shocks. I'll have to talk to her and see if you can turn the shock setting off. Other wise I like the thought of the bell and the vibration.

He comes when I blow the whistle. maybe I could work the whistle for less and less and get him to come to voice not the wistle?

I know what you guys mean about people thinking your dogs are traind amazingly and so well behaved. Annie and Tucker go everywhere with me. Last week we went to TSC to get bedding for the raw and they went with us. Heeled right by our sides. Sat when we stopped. and they were laying in the floor right next to us when we were in the long check out line. A guy told me he has never seen a better trained dog. I told him there are many dogs better trained than mine. Tucker actually needs some more work. Annie is just getting lazy with her commands and sometimes I think its because her artheritus in her hips hurts so I don't make her always sit/down.


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## IslandPaws4Raw (Sep 7, 2011)

Ahhhh gotta love PUPPY BRAIN. Having a dog that has a solid recall, and is trustworthy off leash is something that just takes lots and lots of time and reinforcement. And lets face it, we are not always the most interesting, fun tings to our dogs at all times as much as we would like to be.....

I have used slightly different methods with each of my dogs, and none of them have been 100% traditional training methods. I'm lucky enough that safety is not a huge concern for me where I am when they are off leash. So they start their off leash training from the very beginning.

With Ari, since he was from a neglect situation, I used abandonment as my tool. ( Probably slightly mean, but I got the result I wanted) He would take off down the beach after birds or whatever, and no amount of calling worked. So on one particular day I was so frustrated, instead of following him down the beach, I just hid behind some trees. When he was done having fun chasing, he turned to look for me.....and I was not there. He came searching frantically, and got lots of praise when he did find me. Ever since then he checks in frequently, and even if he is a long way down the beach all I have to do is put my hand up in the air and he races back. 

When we walk on the road off leash they don't have to be very close, but they are not allowed to go out of sight. They know not to go on someone's property, to come and sit or stand by my side if a car appears. They must wait at corners and intersections for me to release them forward.

With the girls, I used the idea that if they did not listen, or follow commands, they just lost the privilege of being loose. I would go to them at first, close enough to distract them from whatever they got sidetracked by, call then in with a treat and put them on leash. It doesn't take them long to figure out that they would rather be loose by paying attention, then having to walk on leash while the others are free to play and have fun. I didn't do it in such a way that leash time became all negative. They were released after a fair amount of time to try again. I'm at the point now where we might go two whole walks without having to leash Layla at all in the "free zone" She is still young, so she falls prey to PUPPY BRAIN and some days she is mostly on leash :nod: Then Kai loves to tease her-----GIRLS----

The trick is making coming back to you super rewarding, and then immediately release him back to play. That way you become just as interesting as whatever he is doing at the time


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

I'm taking Tucker out for a recall off lead work session. We shall see how it goes!


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

Another thing for Cesar was he would flat out ignore me while i was talkign sweetly to him like "oh come here cesar come on!" he would ignore me untill i would get a deep commanding voice saying "CESAR COME HERE NOW" then praising when he got to me or started coming towards me


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

Work work and more work! 

Good luck!


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

He did pretty good, until my dad pulled in and he went running to see if he brought him any presents. Spoiled dog.

It lasted good for about 10 mintues, dad got there and I had to refocus him so we could end on a good note. Plan to do this a few times a day until he has it down pat!


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