# Will neutering help with recall?



## azzure (Dec 10, 2011)

So our rescue golden will be 2 next month; we have had him since April. He is very sweet and whip-smart; and learned sit, down, and stay in a few days. Recall is the problem...though he does great in the house and our yard, it's very risky to let him off leash on any of the lumber roads near our Pacific Northwest home...about once a week, he will decide to take off after a scent into the deep woods, where it's impossible for us to go get him. He does come eventually, taking his own sweet time and after we are hoarse from calling him. I'm just about at the point of never allowing him off leash again! 

I have a 25' retractable leash that gives him a lot of freedom on our rural walks. But I feel bad not allowing him more freedom. We will continue practicing the recall in our yard with treats, but are considering having him neutered after he is 2. Wondering if this might help cure the wanderlust. Any opinions?


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

nope, it won't

Don't let him off leash - the only thing that's going to work is to train a really rock solid recall.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

No, neutering will not do anything for his recall. I understand the desire to give him some freedom, but you would feel a whole lot worse if he took off and you never found him than you do about not letting him run free. It's not worth the risk. 

He knows he doesn't have to come when you call him, so it will take a lot of work to get him to return when called.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Obedience classes and lots of time on leash the next 1-2 years. 

Young dogs who learn they can run and do their own thing have a lot of fun - which reinforces the behavior. You need to keep your dog on leash until you've built a stronger bond with him, he's settled down, and you have also really dedicated hours-days-months-years into obedience training. 

There are no overnight results + understand again, a lot of the natural behaviors get reinforced if allowed.

*** Other people may have their dogs off leash earlier, but that is sometimes a combination of things including very early and consistent obedience training. Also the pups learn behavior patterns from older dogs who may be well trained.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

Short answer - no, not at all. The only thing that will help with recall is training and practice, practice, practice.

Set up practice sessions in your yard or in an enclosed space. Arm yourself with a ton of high-value treats. Every time he comes to you, he gets a treat. Don't call him to you unless you can make him comply. You can do this by attaching a long line (leash or cord) to his collar. Call him: if he comes, make a big fuss and give him a reward. If he doesn't, you can reel him in gently, using the line, and then reward. In the early days it's important never to call him if you can't make him come to you. Eventually he'll come automatically. Then you can try outside the fenced area, still with the long line. Eventually he'll earn his freedom.

Good luck! It can be done!


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## solinvictus (Oct 23, 2008)

Thank you for rescuing your pup. I agree with Megora's post if you look at the math your dog has had about 18 months to learn this habit and this freedom has been highly reinforcing. At this point you have only had your dog for 5 months. This hasn't been a lot of time to highly reinforce that recall and you 2 are still newly bonding. Every time the dog gets to run off sets back your training. Please keep your dog on a leash or long line when not contained with a fenced in area. If you have use of a field without many trees you can get a hundred foot rope so the dog can have much more freedom. If you use a rope use gloves so you don't injure your hands if you need to grab it.


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## azzure (Dec 10, 2011)

Thanks, everyone, for your posts. Duffy has lost his off-leash privileges for now. We are working by calling him back and forth at increasing distances in our yard, and rewarding with treats. Would like to try the 100' leash thing but will have to find an open field as we are surrounded by trees here...he could hide in our yard if he wanted to!!! 

I also have him in obedience class; he is so smart and athletic that I am hoping we could do agility some day.


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

azzure said:


> Thanks, everyone, for your posts. Duffy has lost his off-leash privileges for now. We are working by calling him back and forth at increasing distances in our yard, and rewarding with treats. Would like to try the 100' leash thing but will have to find an open field as we are surrounded by trees here...he could hide in our yard if he wanted to!!!
> 
> I also have him in obedience class; he is so smart and athletic that I am hoping we could do agility some day.


I have a 20 foot lead that I got at Agway - it's actually a lunge line for horses and I think they come in longer lengths. It's not 100 feet but it's a good length - and it was about $20, so worth investing in for training.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

One thing that I have found that works really well with helping to cement a solid, reliable recall is lots of encouragement/praise along the way, and a 'jackpot' once in a while, accompanied by a 'ton' of high meaningful praise,(pets, play, if that is what your dog likes) have a 'party' make it exciting, make it fun! (let them know what a wonderful thing they have done) when they do come, no matter how long it takes and how far they have come from. A 'jackpot' is a handful (don't be stingy) of high value treats, (or a mixture of high and lower value treats) fed one after another, or you can even toss them on the ground in front of your dog when he comes to you. 

Once your dog understands what you are asking of him, you can mix up the rewards. Never stop rewarding for 'recall' - coming to you should always have good consequences for them. It doesn't always have to be food, (though in the early stages of learning the behavior food is a high value motivator for most dogs) you can substitute, pets, praise, playing with him and/or a 'life rewards' - something he instinctively likes or 'needs' by nature, to do, such release to go play with another dog, or just the opportunity to 'go sniff' follow his nose- 'be a dog', satisfy his natural curiosity.


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## TANJA (Jun 20, 2016)

A very interesting post! 
It actually has helped me figure out what i may need to do with my EVIE. She is good with her recall only at puppy class and in the house, but the minute we go outside or to the park, its like she has no idea what im asking of her!! or she does and just chooses to completely ignore it, either way, she runs in the opposite direction and has a ball. Needless to say, i get frustrated and puppy has a good old time until i manage to catch her. So, Leash it is until we have this recall business waxed!!!!!


Thanks again everyone who posed and thanks for the original post. very helpful tips!!!


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## TexasTom (Aug 6, 2016)

Remember once you call your dog, tell them what to do.

Bob! Come.

I only call their name once, and when he comes oh boy he is the best dog in the world! High value treats (only used for recall, something that he loves!)

With a 25 ft retractable lead.... start short distance, but give it a "Bob! Come." Lots of praise. Increase distance, and step back (encourage his chase instinct). Lots of praise, but Bob is a smart dog and will grab the treat and run. Uh oh. So lots of praise, and make him sit to get the treat. 

He has to wait until you release with an "OK". Don't pull the dog, let him come to you.

Bob loves "monkey in the middle". I'll be behind an out building and call him. Lots of praise, treat, and the sit and OK. My wife waits one minute, then calls him.... off he goes to her. Never let the kids call at the same time (i.e. he loves me more than you). Bob loves everyone, and just loves a good treat (everyone uses the same treat).

Inside the house, time for "hide and seek". Call his name. Call occasionally so he doesn't give up on the hunt. Once they find you jump out with a ton of enthusiasm for the worlds smartest dog then several treats in a row as they are so brilliant.

Friend was having a hard time with recall, uh oh... every time they called him in it was to be put into the crate and they left. Darn smart dog realized the more he ignored them, the longer he got to stay outside. So once in give the dog five minutes to settle into the "in the house" before crate. Oh, crates are magical places. Dinner bowl appears inside it as do treats. It's their den, so good place to eat (door is left open during the day when we are home, often they are sleeping in there)

Practice Recall before any activity they love (going outside, meal-times, playing with a special toy). 

Photo is recall work. Deer poop, bunny poop, squirrels, oh my. She does fine.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

The worst thing that you can do is call your dog when you know he won't come to you. This is what I call learned disobedience. And a bit of advice. Treat training may not be effective when your dog is chasing/trailing game. Your treat reward may not be able to compete with the reward he gets from the chase. I train my dogs for field work. If I try to give them treats while in the field, they spit them out. This is the reality of owning a hunting dog IMO.


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## Lambeau0609 (Aug 3, 2015)

How do you handle recall if he is just being stubborn and doesn't come. I have a large fenced yard and usually his recall is good but he has his stubborn moments when he just looks at me and doesn't come.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Make coming to you fun. If you only call him to you in order to end his play time, start calling him to you and then keep playing for a little while longer. Call him to you and then let him go back to sniffing or whatever he wanted to do instead of coming to you.

Practice this with a long lead line though, until he starts coming every time you call so he can't "practice" not coming when called. 

You can also try running away from him, or laying down on the ground. Then it's all happy, happy when he comes to you.


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## Lambeau0609 (Aug 3, 2015)

Thank you. Lambeau is 15 months and I trained him on recall with the long line and his recall was always perfect. But when he has run of the yard and is getting into trouble in the yard he will just look at me and refuse to come if he knows he was doing something wrong. Example eating my mulch or tree bark. Lambeau will usually do anything for a reward but if he knows he was doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing he is very stubborn.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Such a teenager! Keep working with him, it will get better.


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