romeosangiovese
Forums Enthusiast
Having a reliable recall is something that I'm working on with Romeo too. When we're at a dog park, if he's busy playing, I don't exist! And if I take out his favourite liver treats, ALL the dogs in the park will be sitting at my feet (but mine, probably). I want his recall to be automatic if possible. I call, he comes, like an automatic response.
I've gotten our trainer to teach us how to strengthen his recall and have also watched this video called Really Reliable Recall (RRR) and picked up a few tips!
1. This is pretty basic - never call your dog to come for anything other than good stuff (treats/play). Don't call him to come to punish or do anything he hates like taking baths or nail cutting. Some dogs don't like being patted too so don't pat your dog when he comes if he doesn't like it.
2. In the RRR video, it was advised that you only call your dog to you when you are 100% sure your dog will come to you. Don't ever call when you're not sure if the dog will actually respond. You can call him to come when he's already running to you also. I think the idea is to drill it into him through repetition.
3. Whenever you call your dog to come, always have treats with you. And feed treats (broken up into small bits) for at least 30secs. This is called "fine dining" as opposed to "fast food" where you just give one piece and that's all. The dog will go "ooh! what did I do to deserve THIS!" when it gets food over and over for a longer period.
4. Say "Come" or whatever word you use only ONCE. Don't repeat it ("Romeo come! COME Romeo! Come! COME!" bad!!!) Say Come! Then use sounds like "pup-pup-pup-pup", lip smacking, slapping of thighs, tongue clicking, whistles, etc to encourage a quicker recall.
5. One of the ways to strengthen the recall, which our trainer suggested and which I think can complement the above tips, is to have 2 people train with the dog. One is the handler and the other, the helper. The helper will hold the treats (handler should remove treat pouch, etc from her body) and will keep the dog occupied by letting the dog sniff the treats he's holding. Then the handler will, standing apart from them, call the dog to Come. Call once, then use all the sounds you can conjure to entice the dog AWAY from the helper (whom it knows has treats)! When the dog leaves the helper and goes to the handler, the handler praises enthusiastically but the helper gives the treats. The dog learns that in order to get what he wants (the treats) he has to go away from it to you when you call, in order to get it.
6. This one follows from #5 above. Once the dog is leaving the helper easily and going to the handler when called, you can put the dog on a sit stay and both the helper and handler will walk away from the dog and stand apart from each other so it forms like a triangle with handler, helper and dog at each corner. The handler calls the dog to come, but because the dog knows the treats are with the helper, the dog will run to the helper first. The handler should make the same sounds to entice the dog over to her. When the dog finally makes it over to the handler, handler praises, helper treats. Eventually the dog will ignore the helper holding the treats and run for the handler even though he knows the handler isn't the one with the goodies, because he knows that when he goes to the handler, there is the PROMISE of goodies.
As with all training, start at short distances and low distractions first, then work up distance in the low distraction area before moving to a higher distraction area. Whenever you increase the distraction, go back to training with short distances.
Hope that helps! I wouldn't expect overnight miracles. I would think something like this will take some time to train into the dog.
I've gotten our trainer to teach us how to strengthen his recall and have also watched this video called Really Reliable Recall (RRR) and picked up a few tips!
1. This is pretty basic - never call your dog to come for anything other than good stuff (treats/play). Don't call him to come to punish or do anything he hates like taking baths or nail cutting. Some dogs don't like being patted too so don't pat your dog when he comes if he doesn't like it.
2. In the RRR video, it was advised that you only call your dog to you when you are 100% sure your dog will come to you. Don't ever call when you're not sure if the dog will actually respond. You can call him to come when he's already running to you also. I think the idea is to drill it into him through repetition.
3. Whenever you call your dog to come, always have treats with you. And feed treats (broken up into small bits) for at least 30secs. This is called "fine dining" as opposed to "fast food" where you just give one piece and that's all. The dog will go "ooh! what did I do to deserve THIS!" when it gets food over and over for a longer period.
4. Say "Come" or whatever word you use only ONCE. Don't repeat it ("Romeo come! COME Romeo! Come! COME!" bad!!!) Say Come! Then use sounds like "pup-pup-pup-pup", lip smacking, slapping of thighs, tongue clicking, whistles, etc to encourage a quicker recall.
5. One of the ways to strengthen the recall, which our trainer suggested and which I think can complement the above tips, is to have 2 people train with the dog. One is the handler and the other, the helper. The helper will hold the treats (handler should remove treat pouch, etc from her body) and will keep the dog occupied by letting the dog sniff the treats he's holding. Then the handler will, standing apart from them, call the dog to Come. Call once, then use all the sounds you can conjure to entice the dog AWAY from the helper (whom it knows has treats)! When the dog leaves the helper and goes to the handler, the handler praises enthusiastically but the helper gives the treats. The dog learns that in order to get what he wants (the treats) he has to go away from it to you when you call, in order to get it.
6. This one follows from #5 above. Once the dog is leaving the helper easily and going to the handler when called, you can put the dog on a sit stay and both the helper and handler will walk away from the dog and stand apart from each other so it forms like a triangle with handler, helper and dog at each corner. The handler calls the dog to come, but because the dog knows the treats are with the helper, the dog will run to the helper first. The handler should make the same sounds to entice the dog over to her. When the dog finally makes it over to the handler, handler praises, helper treats. Eventually the dog will ignore the helper holding the treats and run for the handler even though he knows the handler isn't the one with the goodies, because he knows that when he goes to the handler, there is the PROMISE of goodies.
As with all training, start at short distances and low distractions first, then work up distance in the low distraction area before moving to a higher distraction area. Whenever you increase the distraction, go back to training with short distances.
Hope that helps! I wouldn't expect overnight miracles. I would think something like this will take some time to train into the dog.
) 
and Maia will be the only one allowed to play freely. (which she will just hang around and jump all over him)
