# Help he wouldn't come back



## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

7 months is way too young to trust off leash. Plan to continue using that long lead line for many more months. And in the meantime, work on recall while on the long line and make it the best thing in the world when he comes to you, have a party, give treats, have a great toy he only gets to play with when he comes when you call. Then let him go explore some more, so that coming to you does not always mean play time is over.

Play chase games with him, you run from him and call him to follow you. Play hide and seek, you hide and call him to find you. When he is doing well and you think he getting reliable, start throwing in distractions. A friend walking by, practice until he comes even though there is another person he's interested in; a friend with another dog walking by, someone making noise in the brush but he can't see them. Things like that to proof the recall.

But do not let him off leash any more, not until you have practiced and gotten thousands of prompt, happy, returns to you.


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## Goldylover2 (May 1, 2014)

I agree with mylissyk. Seven months old is to young to let off leash on a walk outside of your yard. My pup is eleven months old and I wouldn't even try that where I take him. Now in our back yard he's off leash sometimes. I usually let him off leash right before his feeding. He knows it's time to eat and comes in the house on his own. I let my last golden Ginger off the leash at the park on our late night hikes. She would always stay close. That started at around one years old. Each dog is different. Some can never be off leash. A friend down the street would let his golden Ziggy off leash while he was walking on the road. I thought he was crazy for doing that but Ziggy seem to know to stay on the side of the road.


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

At 7 months I would never consider it. Long leash and perfect recalls for months then try it again. Frankly, I never have considered it with any of mine. I don't live in a rural enough place so mine are always on leash.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

I agree, 7 months is too young to expect perfect recall.


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## goldlover68 (Jun 17, 2013)

As above, to young to trust, but not to your to take to obedience class where a good trainer may help you with this training. Recall Is hard to get 100% but anything less will put the dog at risk for life.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

Just keep at it. You're doing great!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Let him earn the time off leash. Really don't rush this - it will come with time. The issue with him playing games with you off leash and blowing you off, is he's learning he doesn't have to listen. And this gets reinforced. You may also be seeing this more as he's now a teenager and really into the whole "I'm a DOG" thing and full of it. 

My Jacks is and always was a Velcro dog. But he did not earn his "off leash" privileges until he was 3. That was (at the time) the earliest any of my dogs have earned off leash privileges at home or away. The dogs before him were 5 and 7 years old before I trusted them to be off leash on our home property. 

Bertie was much easier - but only because he had both me and Jacks teaching him. If he was not with me, he was following along and doing what his big brother did. And Jacks always stayed close to me and/or frequently checked in on me when off leash. So Bertie essentially was off leash in part or mostly by the time he was 3-5 months old... <- a time period when most puppies start graduating to long lines because they become more adventurous. 

You do not have the benefit of an older dog guiding your pup (I assume anyway) so it will take a little more time. But it will happen.


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## jaina8851 (Apr 19, 2014)

If he is blowing you off, you may want to change his recall command. My trainer suggested that if he stops listening when you say "come", you could change to "here" or something. But if you change the word, you need to completely start over with it so that he doesn't learn that it's okay to blow you off again. Recall is a really hard thing to train, so try to set him up for success. Mylissyk listed some great ideas for recall training that we did with Toby. Hide and seek is one of his favorite games, we play it in our back yard when we need to do a recall refresh.


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## Chritty (Aug 17, 2014)

Revise your expectations for your dog.


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## goldenretrieverluver (Jan 13, 2015)

double posting


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## goldenretrieverluver (Jan 13, 2015)

I agree with most of the responses. He is too young. Please don't give up. I have 2 puppies, 18 months and 15 months, plus a 11 year old. When I take 3 of them off least at the park, the puppies always come back 100% of times but the girl sometimess requires multiple recalls or she sometimes ignores me totally. She wasn't trained since she was a puppy. She had a brother who were the same age but he passed away 2 years ago. These 2 dogs were not trained like I did on the puppies so they didn't come back. I spent tons of hours training the puppies at my own backyard to come back. Of course, they didn't even want to come close to me when they had something in their mouths prior to the trainings. Now, they do. Additionally, they also bring me whatever they steal in their mouth.
Please don't give up.


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