# What's a Recall?



## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Can you reinforce his "watch me"?

Bear and I are working on that right now. The punk! 

Good luck!!!


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Brave said:


> Can you reinforce his "watch me"?
> 
> Bear and I are working on that right now. The punk!
> 
> ...


That is definitely a great idea and I will start doing a few minutes of that before and after meals. I'm also going to try and work on building value for me. My trainer in class asked me what Oliver likes doing for fun since he wouldn't take treats, like play tug. He doesn't really know how to play tug, but I told her he really likes to wrestle with his brother Bernie. So she told me, well then get rough with him and wrestle. I had MUCH more attention after that. So looks like I'm adding wrestling to my fitness regime and Oliver and I are going to have some WWE smackdowns every day. Hopefully this will make me more exciting in his eyes. 

I hope you and Bear are doing well and he is recovering nicely!


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

We have the opposite. Bear is interested in EVERYTHING, including me!! DH told me when he tried to walk Bear the other day, Bear refused b/c "mom wasn't walking him".

Baloney! But Bear gets super excited when I get the leash, when I get the keys, when I'm near a door, when I'm dancing/singing/eating... oh dear.  But we do need to work on the watch me. Because he just bounces around. 

He is recovering nicely. Tomorrow marks 6 weeks done, 6 weeks to go!


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

I can only imagine the bond you two must have after all you've been through . I can't believe it's already been 6 weeks! I've been pretty absent from the forum since my semester of school started. I'm going to have to head over to your thread and catch up on all that I've missed! A side not about attention. Something I've notice with Oliver is he'll give me the perfect watch me when heeling backwards but the minute we're going forward I lose all attention. Looks like we'll be walking backwards everywhere!


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## Bentleysmom (Aug 11, 2012)

Oliver & Bentley are close in age. BB is going through these things too. I believe he's still in a fear period which complicates things but he loses his memory on a daily basis. Right now he forgot <come>. :doh:


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Keep him on leash until he comes when called and learns to check in on you. Don't stress out if it doesn't happen right away. Jacks didn't get his offleash privileges until he was almost 3 years old. The more independent and confident the dog is - the more time they need on leash until they calm down and learn to listen. 

And the thing I know about boy goldens is that - the joy of running beats the joy of food. No amount of treats in your pocket is going to be lure enough to keep them from having their fun first - whether they are taking off after a rabbit or just running for fun. 

That's where the repetitive training and work counts.


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## coaraujo (Nov 2, 2012)

Megora said:


> Keep him on leash until he comes when called and learns to check in on you. Don't stress out if it doesn't happen right away. Jacks didn't get his offleash privileges until he was almost 3 years old. The more independent and confident the dog is - the more time they need on leash until they calm down and learn to listen.
> 
> And the thing I know about boy goldens is that - the joy of running beats the joy of food. No amount of treats in your pocket is going to be lure enough to keep them from having their fun first - whether they are taking off after a rabbit or just running for fun.
> 
> That's where the repetitive training and work counts.


So for recall practice should I sometimes reward him with running? Like call him to me as he's coming toward me take off with him and do a few laps around my apartment? Or should I still just use treats? I wish I could just give him a squirrel everytime he came to me. Then he'd always come back.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

1. Never call him - if you are in some doubt of him returning to you. 
2. Always reward him when he comes to you - whether you called him or not.
3. Never set him up for failure - meaning don't let your dogs loose somewhere if there is a chance that it will get scary for you or the dog. 
4. Give your dog time to grow up. It will happen.
5. Dog classes (group ones) are huge. Because that is the safest environment where you can practice recalls with your dog in an environment where he will be distracted or interested in other things around you.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Long lines are a wonderful thing. Never leave him off one until you are sure everything is good. He's one now, so he's forgotten everything. That's pretty standard to have happen.


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## Lucylulu (Aug 4, 2013)

Wow! Reading this makes teaching recall sound really hard right now. My dog is just a puppy right now 19 weeks – I can only imagine what she’ll like when independence and confidence and the terrible teens strikes us! We’re making really good progress on this – but I can only imagine the difficulties ahead. Good luck – hang in there!


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## xoerika620xo (May 25, 2012)

i can totally relate to this, chester pretty much had his recall down packed, and just yesterday we were in the park and they added more dirt to one spot and he went insane and would not come when i called him, it freaked me out more than id like to i just decided were going to have to backtrack a bit and start recalling all over again.


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## Jaykay (Jul 20, 2013)

I'm reading this with interest, Daisy has never had a recall (I rescued her at 9 months) and now, at a year, she just looks at me and runs off. And runs and runs - this is in my field, so it's safe. 

But I would like to her to come back when I want her to, not when she pleases. Nothing is as good as running and sniffing. And since she can't be trusted around the ducks yet, I can't let the poor things out until Her Ladyship comes back in from her morning run around. 
Which means that on work mornings she only gets a lead walk whereas if she came when called, she could have off lead running.


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## MrsKuhn (Aug 22, 2013)

Tanner needs to work on his recall. And tips from the veterans? 


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

FWIW - dogs will go through phases where they 'forget' their cues.

Recalls are critical. So I heavily reward them and practice them often. AND if a dog of mine refuses a recall I might do one of several things

1) Walk him down. They only get one cue to come and a second or two to repsond. If they do not respond I walk them down and there is no escape. When I get to them my hand/finger goes into their collar and they are walked back to where they should have returned to. I will occassionally use a leash but I think the slow, silent walk back to where they belong is more effective with my hand holding them.

2) If it is a safe environment, I leave. Seriously - this has usually solved a truancy problem especially if I and the other dogs continue on our walk without the errant one. They then feel the need to almost ask permission to rejoin out pack. I did this out of anger once with my Rowdy and was seriously shocked at how he reacted - he never refused a recall after that.

3) If they are in the yard and I call them in they have just a short window of time to get their butts into the door and are rewarded with cheese balls  If the door closes before they are inside it will reopen to let them inside but no cheese balls for the errant one while the ones who did respond get their treats (cheese balls are on top of the dryer and used for coming in that door). If the door actually closes and the good dogs are treated and the errant dog still hasn't appeared, the errant one is walked down and 'enjoys' his walk of shame.

The basic idea is good things always come to dogs who respond and there are consequences for not coming.

BTW: In the rare case where I have a dog not respond and I consider it to be less than safe, I have no qualms about running the dog down and picking him/her up and carrying them to where I called, Yes even the 70 pounders! Even if I have to carry them 1/2 mile. They need to know I will get them and it is easier if they just respond. In general, dogs do not like being carried 

If they take off twice in the same general area, its leash time.


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