# Nightmare puppy, she is terrible at recall!



## Disneyboo2 (Feb 18, 2016)

Whisky is now 8 months old and is generally very good. We are finding it very difficult to catch her after her walk has finished. I've tried tempting her with treats but she has worked that out and won't except any treats during walk time. We have tried to change the route of the walk and exit the park at different locations, there are about 5 different options, no good! We have tried to hide and although she comes back she will stay at arms length to avoid capture! It took my husband 20 minutes today, he isn't very happy! 

Any advice would be great!


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Teenage terror puppy 
Many people use a long line, so their puppy is more easy to control...
I have to say that if your pup has got used to evading capture you will have to work very hard with her to rebuild trust. Never grab her, or flying rugby tackle her. If you run away rather than at her, she will follow. If you lie on the floor squeaking she will probably come to see what you are doing. If you throw some treats on the floor and let her eat them without grabbing her she will learn it is ok to be close to you and you are not going to end her fun. Treat her, pat her and send her off to play several times on every walk before it is lead on time.
Step up all training. Make sure it is always reward based and positive. If you feel your frustration levels rising stop and walk away from training for 5 minutes. Get super high value treats - liver cake, dried fish - something stinky, special and delicious.
Try teaching her to sit and stay in lots of different places. Before treating hold her collar for a moment then reward and release. Dance with her stand still and ask for a sit. Work hards at home until she will sit on command when she is at a distance from you and stay there until you walk in, hold her collar and reward her before releasing. Once she can do this brilliantly at home, take it outside.
The more work you put in now the quicker she will learn. If your dog will sit and stay on command anywhere you can regain control easily.


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## bearthecockapoo (Mar 17, 2015)

Sounds like she thinks you are playing games. I would maximize the reward - upgrade to high value treats like bits of cheese or sausage, and only use these treats for recall. I found that helped a lot with Bear. As well, we constantly gave him treats just for walking on the lead near us, even before we would let him off leash. A big tip I was given from this forum was to make sure when you are training recall to give the treat, praise, and then let them go back to play - that way they associate recall with good things and not with play ending. OH has taught "sit" very strongly, so even if Bear won't "come", he will now always sit and you can go collect him if you need to.


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