The feeling of releasing a dog you can't QUITE rely on to come back when asked is tense making for good reason. If you're reliability score for your dog's recall is 40%, you're pretty much at the mercy of the environment to look after your dog and whoever or whatever he chooses to interact with. This is why a poor recall is so exhausting!
Naturally, dogs don't choose to approach anything head on that has two eyes focussed on them, which is why we have to teach them we need them to do this with us. Naturally, confident domestic dogs run on a little way ahead of whoever they're with, or a long way ahead if whoever they're with is slow. This way they are always ahead of the family, but keeping an eye on the slow members for any change of line of travel. It's part of hunting structure - slower dogs stay on the main line of travel whilst the faster, younger dogs jog ahead to meet, greet and eat anything that they happen upon.
If the slower family members change the line of direction, it ought to be the faster dog's responsibility to notice and alter course accordingly, but if the fast dog has a person back there who calls them constantly, they will always know where that person is due to all the noise. The recall will never work because the dog doesn't know it should mean anything and uses the noise to keep in touch.
It's easy to test what your dog knows by staying silent, turning around, or turning off the main path and seeing how long it takes for him to find you.
This is how I teach all my dogs to stick pretty close to me on walks - for their teenage months, we mainly walk in woodland criss crossed with little footpaths. I walk pretty fast and never tell any of the dogs anything about direction. I ensure I always select the fork the specific dog I'm working with didn't choose, so he has to run back and catch the rest of the gang. It doesn't take many weeks for the dogs to all stop at a fork and wait to see which way we're going. Some even stay behind so they can keep an eye on things from back there.
If I need to formally teach recall, I always use this tool as part of my training.
The beginning though, will always be in the contained, predictable environment of the home. If I can't ask a dog to bring him or herself over to see me in the house or garden, I will have not a hope in hell of having a useful recall out in the fascinating world!
The absolute easiest way with a pup is to use treats, or dinner. If we can teach our pup 'When I make this noise, food is here.' he will associate the noise with food forever and the coming to get it will become a habit he keeps for the rest of his life. It doesn't matter if he's already sat, looking at you - if you chain the noise to the food for him, he'll reliably come and get it.
Fairly quickly though, we need to make the arrival of food after the noise secondary to a different reward, like happiness! Tame domestic dogs absolutely LIVE for their person to be pleased with them. They will ultimately much prefer to bolt back to an enthusiastic, friendly, floppy, goofy, funny person with no treat, than a serious one with a treat.
For me, a 99% recall in a dog should be absolutely immediate spin and gallop back.
Once you have one dog that has that skill, any dogs you add to your family should be as competitive as their conformation allows to get to you first.
Formal, strict teaching of recall has a pretty flimsy, robotic feel to it, that I don't want in my dogs. I often see couples set up a distance apart on the beach, 'Formally Teaching Fido Recall. A little bit of this, whilst moving is ok, but drilling for ages is just SO BORING!! You might end up with a dog that comes back, but given the choice and the freedom to do anything else, he probably wouldn't bother.
I like an exuberant, goofy 'nothing is better than this, right here right now' feel in my dogs as they pelt back to me at a whistle. This goofiness comes from absolute confidence that they are absolutely doing the absolute right thing and they are going to be RIGHT when they get to me and I will be PLEASED! Dogs are hilarious and should are treated as such in my world.
I often see dogs who are asked to perform 'Another Behaviour' when they get back to their person who therefore 'can't be pleased' at the recall because they are 'waiting for something else'. For example, if you have the rule in your head of 'When I call my dog he comes back and then sits and gives me a paw' that's three things he's being asked to perform. If he misses the paw bit a few times and isn't rewarded with Pleased Human, he'll quickly start not bothering to come back because he's confused by the lack of Pleased. This is often the source of some reticence in a recall that previously worked.
If you want to chain three behaviours together like that, absolutely do, but you have to start at the end, teach the three behaviours independently, highly reward the most important behaviour - the 'get your butt here immediately please' bit, and work on the other two things separately before combining them.
If you want to teach a horse to run away from you, around a barrel, then race back and put her nose on a target, you start with the nose on the target and increase distance slowly waaaay before you get to sending them away from you. Dog recall works the same way. They first need to know and love you as the source of all things goooood. They need to not fear you - if they do, they won't be massively interested in coming anywhere near you out and about. Fear can come from confusion as well as frustration and anger.
So a decent recall is built in the house, the garden, then out and about.
You can destroy it with the following:
- Keeping a dog on a lead for longer than he can cope with.
- Always putting a dog on the lead when you call him back. The most powerful reward you have on you at all times is 'go play' - dogs will come back specifically to receive 'go play'.
- Constantly calling your dog.
- Calling your dog at times he absolutely cannot come back to you. It is the height of rudeness in canine society, to leave a more senior dog if he is inspecting you. Dogs that try to leave such interactions risk a beating, which is why they are reticent to leave despite your calling. Dog - dog interactions are best uninterrupted except in extreme circumstances.
- Never letting the dog off the lead. He'll never come back once he's found his freeeedom! Dog's that are unsafe to unleash, should never be unleashed.
- Always going the same way on the same walk. Dogs will learn this route quickly and won't need your guidance.
- Under exercise and under stimulation. A frustrated dog full of energy, will need to run and run and run. He will have no choice whatsoever, but to run and run and run. You can shout and scream, he won't hear you!
- Always letting the dog off the hook when he gets closeISH, but not close - he will never get closer and never quiiiiite come all the way back. This is not his fault - he is being rewarded enough for being nearby....
Generally speaking, the faster you go, in a new environment, with plenty of changes of direction, the closer your dog is likely to stick :)
He'll still need to be taught to come very close and give you his full attention when you stop though.....
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