Retriever Rescue

Hi,I have a 2 yr old neutered male, who is lovely, great with children and other dogs, never jumps or barks, but suddenly his recall is non existant, I call him and he carries on sniffing a tree, and comes when he feels like it. Twice in the last week he has run off , run across a road and gone into peoples gardens, when I,ve finally caught up with him, he carries on sniffing, I,m standing there holding the dog biscuit, trying not to shout at him. Now for the first 15 mins off the walk, I keep him on the lead, and wait until the road is about 1/2 mile away.He doesn,t seem to worry if I,m out of sight. Any suggestions.

Hello Marianne.

Can I ask "How 'Suddenly' is suddenly?"

You see, dogs dont suddenly change without a reason. Things tend to gradually develop. A dog will gradually pull further and further ahead as their confidence grows until the owner "Suddenly" realises that the dog is out of sight over the hill!

The other possibility is that there is a reason for a sudden change. And the common reason for a male changing his ways is for the scent of an in season bitch.

Can you see what I'm driving at? I'm trying to get a handle on exactly what is going on. Because without knowing that there is no chance of coming up with an answer.

Regards, John

We were always taught to do what our training class calls a "puppy recall". This would apply to any aged dog that didn't have a recall not just puppies but is usually taught in the puppy class when you begin training. Keep your dog on a long line so he can have some freedom and when you want him to come to you call his name and reel him in on the line calling him to you as you do this. Always try to do the recall when the dog is looking around him and not when he has an excuse to ignore you. When he arrives give him the treat and make a big fuss of him then let him out on his line again. It takes time to get a good recall, but this could be a good starting point. Good luck.

I have no full and clever training solutions for you but I can tell you a couple of things that Molly has done.

Firstly, this past weekend we went to the beach for our "long walk" as usual. Most of our walks are of the 20 minutes to an hour variety but once of twice a week we arrange to be out for perhaps three to five hours. I take a flask and a picnic and I let her run as far and as fast as she wants to.

When she's up to about 30 yards away she is (99% of the time) on an invisible "recall lead". That is, I'm pretty sure she'll come back if I want her to. After 30 yards away, the lead seems to disintergrate and she feels as if she's her own dog with no need to listen to a word I say.

I can do that safely on the beach. Everyone knows us and there are very few places she can get off the beach at this end. Even if she does, she has to go up the beach lift or the path that goes past the beach lift. And her love of the guys running the lift (and their peculiar habit of having Molly's favourite dog biscuits planted in their cabs ever since she decided to ride the lift on her own) means she will always visit them before she goes up away from the beach. Unless you have somewhere that safe, you'd best be much more cautious - especially near a road.

Anyway, I figured out that when she goes away like that, the worst thing I can do is call her repeatedly. It's as if she uses the sound of my voice to reassure her that she could still find me if she wanted to ....but she doesn't!

Then last Saturday, she went too far and got "lost". The truth is that she was hidden in a stack of rock pools that obscured her view of me. I knew exactly where she was. Anyway, she EVENTUALLY realised she was on her own, I was nowhere to be found and nobody was calling her. She panicked. She barked and ran towards home and kept looking around for me. I could see her from my spot at the top of the beach with my coffee - she couldn't see me. When I finally realised she didn't know where I was, I called her and she flew to the sound of my voice like a rat up a drainpipe.

Ever since then she has taken to walking 10 feet ahead then turning back to make sure I'm still following her. Then if that works a few times, she'll stretch the distance - then check - then go - then check etc.

I think we sometimes give them too many clues about where we are when they're running free. Molly taught herself recall at a distance last weekend while I was having a brew!

On the other hand, we're both in the terrible twos and life is a bowl of cherries - full of stalks and stones! Caution is probably the best policy until your boy settles down a bit. Keep him on the lead for a while and start the recall training again in a secure area. He'll get the idea of it again. Maybe train him to a clicker or a whistle - something other than his name. Molly does really well with hand signals.

Good luck.

Hi again, his recall got bad when the snow started just before xmas, we put it down to the snow and he had to venture out farther to find smells, but now the snow has gone he has gone deaf, I don,t think he is chasing " Bitches " as he was done over a year ago.

As i,m calling him, with the treats in my hand, everybody elses dogs run to me, so I am attracting attention just not my own.

otherwise he is a perfect dog, well behaved at home, doesn,t chew, loves the children and the cats, and when we call him in the garden he comes running every time., and likes nothing more than jumping on the sofa in the evening to snuggle up.

Hello again Marianne.

Neutered males can still find in season bitches “Interesting” but not usually to the extent of unneutered. But again, it’s almost 4 weeks since Christmas, so unless there is more than one in season bitch wandering around the neighbourhood, I think we can forget that one.

Actually, snow can raise the excitement levels. Principally I think, because it’s different. Then again, because it’s different we often treat it differently because we love to see their antics! So inadvertently we are at least in a small way, contributing to the excitement.

Read what Molly’s Maid has written, there’s a whole lot of good advice there!

Let me take you through my training. Firstly, When I call my pups I never want them to realise they have a choice. For that reason I never ever call them unless I am pretty confident that I’m going to succeed. (Obviously safety overrules this, but then has to come the question of whether the dog should have been off the lead in an unsafe place.) Often ignoring commands starts in your own home. Because our dog is safely confined in the garden, we are not quite so worried if it does not come when called. But this is the slippery slope towards teaching our dog that it can please it’s self. Being consistent is so important, otherwise the commands we give become just sounds without meaning.

Just as I said, “I never ever call them unless I am pretty confident that I’m going to succeed.” So I attempt to load the dice in my favour, by putting myself in a position that if needed I can enforce the command. For example, if my dog has run over to see another dog, then I would follow, slip the lead over its neck, then back off calling him too me.

Distance is important. A recall which might be perfectly ok at a short distance gets more and more unreliable as the distance increases. For that reason, if you can make the area around you the most fun place to be then at a stroke you have reduced your problems. Take a toy he loves with you to play with, maybe a ball to retrieve. When we are training gundog work we always train at short distance then gradually increase until we have complete control at possibly 200 meters of more.

Be very careful about the use of titbits. These should only ever be used for reward, never bribery. Bribery will only ever work if the perceived value of the bribery is greater than the reward of ignoring it!!

We are always being told that we should always call our dog using a happy voice, and this is true. BUT, it does no harm to let him know we are not happy if he decides to give us the runaround! Your aim is to snap him out of his reverie with the sudden thought, “Wow! Mum’s not happy! I’m in deeeep mire!” And as he stops and turns to see where the fire is, lighten up and change to a happy voice. It’s all about exaggerating the tone in a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde way, getting a clear difference between doing the right thing and the wrong thing.

Regards, John

thanks, for your advice, I do tend to call Jasper back a lot, maybe i do it so often, now he switchs off to my voice, I,m going to try and not call him so much, I have just bought a big bell for him, so If he is down rabbit holes then at least I can hear him.
Also i do call him cheerfully, I will try and sound cross if he does,t listen, hopefully that will work.

Also we have noticed that his black nose is slowly turning brown, does anyone know why that is ? he is still really handsome,

marianne

Also we have noticed that his black nose is slowly turning brown, does anyone know why that is ? he is still really handsome,

Called "Winter Nose" or "Snow Nose", it is something which tends to happen. Often, but not always, the pigmentation improves again in the summer. Also the pigment tends to fade in the noese of older dogs. Seaweed Powder sprinkled on their food gan help, but personally I never bother, prefering nature to take it's course.

Regards, John

My Lucy is good off lead she can be 100yds in front and I can call her and she will come running, no problem, but Paddy well there is a different story, puppyhood started off with recall and fine, then puberty hit and nightmare began,so I started taking the chicken, or liver for treats with me and this did help I would call him and make him sit then treat him, I think the liver, chicken, smell did help, then in time only treated him 1/2 times I called but of course he didnt know if I was going to treat him so he came.
Then we got Lucy and he suddenly became very protective he kept close and kept his eye on her,but as she has got older he has tried to slip into his old ways again, he loves to dig and explore so I just usually keep him within easy reach,but always find that if I take a ball when let off they will happily play and run off the excess energy then he is easier to recall back.
Boys will be boys I guess and the lure of a smell somewhere takes over, maybe if you try an extenbale lead recall him then let him off in an safe area and go from there,?

Good luck...

HI, TOOK HIM OUT THIS MORNING WITH MY NEIGHBOURS DOG, AND HE WAS PERFECT, CAME WHEN I CALLED.MINE YOU TAKE MIGHT BE BECAUSE I WAS RUSTING THE BISCUIT PACKET. LETS HOPE THE LAST MONTH HE WAS GOING THROUGH A STAGE.
THANKS FR ALL YOUR ANSWERS I REALY APPREICATE IT, ITS QUITE STRESSFULL WHEN YOUR DOG RUNS OFF , AND YOU CALL HIM AND HE KEEPS GOING, AS FOR HIS NOSE TURNING COLOUR I WLL LET NATURE TAKE ITS COURSE.

MARIANNE

Hi Marianne,

Honey's nose is paler over the winter months - it does go a little darker again in summer. It's not as dark as when she first came home (she's now about 13, been home for 4years). She's happy so I have left it alone.

Good look with the recall,

Julie