# Rukie lost his recall



## TheLittleDuke (Nov 11, 2018)

Look at the bright side - Rukie lost his recall, at least. Meanwhile Duke never "found" his. :gotme:

Consistence is key. Sometimes dogs forget their training, but it can be very easy to make them remember. I found a great article about it. Patricia McConnell also has a really interesting article. I love her books.
That is a great article, thanks so much.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Something to consider is whether you have stopped rewarding him when he comes. A lot of people do it, when they figure their dog has got a reliable response to a cue, they forget to maintain that response by highly rewarding it when it happens. Something to think about is when was the last time you surprised him with a 'jack pot' a handful of his favorite treats fed to him one at time accompanied by a 'you are the best dog ever! kind of praise? a game of tug, perhaps a game of chase? a release to go play again.
You want to prevent him from 'self rewarding' - running off, but you also want to ensure that the rewards he is receiving when he does come are very 'rewarding' to him. 
Tough as it is to keep the emotions in check, if/when he runs off, letting him know you are not pleased that he took off (when he does come back), (punishing him (in his eyes)) is not going to improve the chances of him coming back the next time he has to choose you or something else he wants to do. 

Consider also teaching a distance 'sit' or 'down' - https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/distance-position-changes


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

Charliethree said:


> Something to consider is whether you have stopped rewarding him when he comes. A lot of people do it, when they figure their dog has got a reliable response to a cue, they forget to maintain that response by highly rewarding it when it happens. Something to think about is when was the last time you surprised him with a 'jack pot' a handful of his favorite treats fed to him one at time accompanied by a 'you are the best dog ever! kind of praise? a game of tug, perhaps a game of chase? a release to go play again.
> You want to prevent him from 'self rewarding' - running off, but you also want to ensure that the rewards he is receiving when he does come are very 'rewarding' to him.
> Tough as it is to keep the emotions in check, if/when he runs off, letting him know you are not pleased that he took off (when he does come back), (punishing him (in his eyes)) is not going to improve the chances of him coming back the next time he has to choose you or something else he wants to do.
> 
> Consider also teaching a distance 'sit' or 'down' - https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/distance-position-changes


That is also a good article. I tried telling him to sit but we had never trained it at a distant. He still gets treated for pretty much everything but maybe I got a little too intermittent. Thank you, we'll be going back to work on some things.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

cwag said:


> We have a small fenced area and around 1.5 acres of open field to play in. Until two weeks ago Rukie had about 95% instant recall and the other 5% he would always come just not instantly. Chasing frisbee and running free on the hill is his main source of exercise. Two weeks ago he got the scent of something and left our yard and over to the neighbor's. Nothing would get him to come. I tried the usual, running the other direction or yelling find it, which usually brings him right back to look for treats in the grass. Finally my neighbor came out and caught him when he ran over to greet. Now he's run off two more times and my husband or I have had to go way outside our yard to get him. He comes eventually. So now we can't play frisbee and let him run around off leash. I know you are not supposed to punish when they come back but I'd like to let him know I'm not happy about this. I guess it's back to the 30 foot leash and working on recall. Any other suggestions?



Unfortunately Rukie now has "learned disobedience" which is not uncommon. My guess is that you yelled "come" or "here" several times. Next time it might be better to say "here" once then walk over calmly to physically get him. Also, Rukie realized if he did come it would end his fun. What were you offering him that was better than what he was doing? 

I would start from square one in training and keep in mind that you would do best to not repeat the command, just go get him.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Also take an honest look at his entire relationship with you lately. Does he ignore or delay responding to other commands, too?


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## LynnC (Nov 14, 2015)

Oh I feel your pain! Luna did the same thing at about 1 1/2 . In fact the game became catch me if you can. She would get just close enough to run away when we reached down to try and grab her collar. I had to start at the very beginning with her recall. Even now we still practice almost everyday in the house. If I think she’s in another room or upstairs I’ll call her and she now comes running  . You’ll get back there with Rukie again with a little work! Hang in there


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

gdgli said:


> Unfortunately Rukie now has "learned disobedience" which is not uncommon. My guess is that you yelled "come" or "here" several times. Next time it might be better to say "here" once then walk over calmly to physically get him. Also, Rukie realized if he did come it would end his fun. What were you offering him that was better than what he was doing?
> 
> I would start from square one in training and keep in mind that you would do best to not repeat the command, just go get him.


You are right, he has learned disobedience. I can't calmly walk over and get him though because he's usually 20 yards or more away when he takes off and running full tilt away from me. There's no way to catch him until he's ready to be caught. My friends who live across the street have a huge backyard that is fenced and they offered to let me use it so we can safely start retraining there. I will need to quit calling him more than once and get something better than kibble for rewards.
Thanks for the help.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

LynnC said:


> Oh I feel your pain! Luna did the same thing at about 1 1/2 . In fact the game became catch me if you can. She would get just close enough to run away when we reached down to try and grab her collar. I had to start at the very beginning with her recall. Even now we still practice almost everyday in the house. If I think she’s in another room or upstairs I’ll call her and she now comes running  . You’ll get back there with Rukie again with a little work! Hang in there


Thanks for the encouragement. I tend to get discouraged by his setbacks.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

hotel4dogs said:


> Also take an honest look at his entire relationship with you lately. Does he ignore or delay responding to other commands, too?


He's been a really good boy in the house but I will pay closer attention to whether he's responding quickly and consistently. Now that I think about it, I may have failed to notice if he's not coming in from the fenced area on first call which could be the root of his learning disobedience.
Thanks.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

cwag said:


> You are right, he has learned disobedience. I can't calmly walk over and get him though because he's usually 20 yards or more away when he takes off and running full tilt away from me. There's no way to catch him until he's ready to be caught. My friends who live across the street have a huge backyard that is fenced and they offered to let me use it so we can safely start retraining there. I will need to quit calling him more than once and get something better than kibble for rewards.
> Thanks for the help.



Don't take the long line off him, keep it on, it will help you get him. Also, set him up for proofing your recall. AND---it takes a village---have your neighbors in on the training---if you can't get to the long line they can. I believe that he must think that wherever he is he must feel that he must obey. If you read HEY PUP FETCH IT UP you will see how Bill Tarrant teaches that the people the dog runs to are also part of his conditioning. Very clever if you ask me.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

Sometimes teaching a different word helps with learned disobedience. For example, "here" instead of "come" or something like that.
Retrain with a brand new word, and pull out all the stops for rewards. 
Also, when you call him (during training) be sure to immediately let him go back to what he was doing before being called if he chooses to. That way he associates the new word with, "geez, Mom decided to give me an AMAZING treat for no apparent reason!!" rather than with anything negative like fun is over.


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## three retirees (Aug 31, 2018)

What we all forget is it is ALWAYS the human/pack leaders fault. We have done something differently. We are not consistent in our actions to the dog. We have to act the same way ALL of the time. Even when we don't want to. You will have to start at the beginning to start his training again. You will have to be consistent.


Good luck in your training program.


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