Recall Games

brittk

I am hoping someone might have some insight for us. Kaiya is completely disinterested in coming when called. I think we might be a little challenged since she was 18 weeks when we brought her home and her recall probably wasnt worked on prior to now. Do you all have any fun recall games that you play with your pups? Or any other advice for working on her recall? Thanks!

dlroberts

Don't think too hard about poor recall being a function of her age. I didn't get Tyson until he was almost 5 months old and he has near perfect recall after a bunch of training.

My suggestion is to begin with a pocket full of treats. Take her out in a safe area and reward her for "checking in" with you. Let her go run and play and give her a treat every time she comes up to you. DON'T CALL HER. Wait for her to approach, even if it takes a long time. You'll soon notice that she's paying a lot more attention to you and will check in with you much more willingly. The next step is to begin calling her when she is already on her way to check in with you. Wait until she is a few feet away (like 10 or so), call her name in a high pitched excited voice, and give the recall command. I use "here" for recall. When she arrives, give her a treat and lots of praise. Over time, slowly extend the distance you recall her from. Once she is proficient at relatively long distance recalls when she's already moving in your direction, you can begin to recall her when she's not already paying attention to you. Watch her from a distance and wait until she look in your direction. Then recall her. Keep practicing that until she's proficient at it, then recall her when she's not looking at you, but not actively engaged in another behavior like scenting or playing. Finally, once she's proficient at that, you can begin training recall while she's distracted.

I hope that helps!

Brego_mellon_nin

@dlroberts
Dave, what would you do in this situation, if the pup is neither food nor toy motivated? Eo shows very little interest in food and completely ignores toys, so recall training is hard... I use the method you have described, but she will not really "perform" in exchange for food or toys. I don't have any ideas for alternatives...

tjbart17

Make sure that you are training when she is hungry. If you are feeding her breakfast, then taking her out, she will be less interested in treats. I used to take Koda out before breakfast, and feed him an early dinner the night before. You might also want to make sure you are not overfeeding her at meals. She should really stay on the thin side given the issues of larger breeds.

This may not be the issue at all, but I thought I'd give it a try just in case.

MirkaM

Ife isn't so keen on toys but there is one "toy" which seems to get every dogs attention. We took part to obedience course last Autumn and any toys seemed to get Ife to play with me. Then our trainer gave us two pine marten fur and that was it. Those are still the toys that gets Ife's attention but I'm only using them when we are playing.

sunyata

Hide and seek is a great game to work on both 'stay' and 'come'. I have used that with my girls, which is why they both have great recall in the house. (Outside is completely different and now that I think about it, I may have to try 'hide' and seek outside!)

I use a spoonful of peanut butter as the reward, as they can have a couple of licks before I run go 'hide' again. I will put them in a sit/stay and go 'hide', then tell them to 'come' and as soon as they get to me, they get some yummy peanut butter! Repeat repeat repeat!


Tanja, have you tried lots of different kinds of treats? Peanut butter, cheese, sardines? My pups are not all that interested in training for regular treats, but they do have a couple of special treats that they will do ANYTHING for.

Brego_mellon_nin

@tjbart17
She's never full when I try training with her, that would be like trying to tempt someone who's just eaten with an extra meal

She is actually on the thin side, she just has a LOT of fur!!

@MirkaM
Yeah maybe I just haven't found the correct toy yet. But she ignores squeaky toys, which has NEVER happened to me before with any dogs :P

@sunyata
I have tried cheese, chicken, hotdog, ham, treats/dogbisquits bought at petstores (different flavours), but it is likely that there might be something she likes and I just haven't tried it yet. Liver and tripe are on my list for tryouts... Peanutbutter is not so common in Denmark, I don't know where I'd get it... I hope I find something, but she has not shown much interest in food in general, besides what she can steal (that is FUN!)

dlroberts

@Brego_mellon_nin - The advice you've gotten so far is really good. I would highly recommend trying @sunyata's suggestion. If I recall correctly, you said she is a bit "sticky". She really like your attention right? We use your attention as her reward. Make sure to reinforce her checkin in with you with lots of lavish praise and a high pitched voice. Tell her how proud you are of her. And go in baby steps. When she's close to you, tell her to stay and then back up two or three steps. Call and praise her. Etc. I think most people struggle with recall because they expect too much too soon. It takes months of training to get a dog to solidly recall from across the yard. You'll get there, just keep chipping away at it.

Brego_mellon_nin

@dlroberts
Yes she is kinda sticky. Though when I am in her sight, she couldn't care less (or she acts like it) until I leave and then she goes whiney-screamy. That will likely be useful in the hide and seak game... She has no problems if SHE leaves me, but the other way around she is kinda fuzzy about. I will try to use that to my advantadge. Don't know why I never thought of that before... *smacks self on the head*

shibamistress

You know, my male Shiba was like that (but not sticky at all). He didn't care about food (though now he is food crazed) or toys.....and, well, he has a lousy recall too, except that he will pretty much come for food now in the yard. I don't know what to suggest, because with dogs that are food or toy motivated, it's kind of hard to figure things out.

The latest things my dogs go crazy for foodwise, though might be possible for you: liver sausage (liverwurst? It has a creamy texture) and also little tiny dried fish that I got from an Asian grocery store.

Brego_mellon_nin

@shibamistress
Thanks Lisa, more suggestions for food tryouts Hope I find something she likes eventually...