# Am I wrong?



## Woo (Oct 5, 2011)

Hi, 

I would just like some opinions pls or to know what you do with your dogs.

Noodle's recall was very touch and go up till about 2 months ago when she just seemed to click one day and now her recall (I think) is really good. We go for off lead walks most days in the field across the road. It varies as to how many dogs are there. If there are no dogs at all I will throw Noodles ball around and she will follow me as I walk around and come 1st time on every call that I give her. If there are dogs for her to play with she will run over to where they are and play, in these instances I don't call her back, I let her play while I walk in the direction she has gone. When the owner of the other dogs looks to be going I call her and she comes back (not always 1st time in these instances) I don't see anything wrong with that, she needs to play so I don't want to call her away from other dogs. Am i wrong? should I expect her to come 1st time even when she is playing?
I only ask as a friend took her for her off lead walk for me a couple of days ago as I couldn't (it was the first time this friend had taken her) when she came back she said her recall wasn't very good and that she wouldn't come back when she was playing with a terrier but did eventually (when she had finished playing was my guess) 
Should I be working on getting her to come back to me mid-play session?


----------



## NikkiB (Jan 16, 2013)

I think it's ok if she's playing but you need to try to get her to come to you first time of calling as you never know in a dangerous situation when you need her to come straight away. To teach her to come first time even when she is playing would be really good as you know then that even if she's having fun she will come immediately back to you.
I have no joy with Samson and recall at the moment! He just looks at me from the corner of his eye and carries on! So he's staying on his lead for the foreseeable future until he gets out of this teenage disobedience thing!!!


----------



## Woo (Oct 5, 2011)

NikkiB said:


> I think it's ok if she's playing but you need to try to get her to come to you first time of calling as you never know in a dangerous situation when you need her to come straight away. To teach her to come first time even when she is playing would be really good as you know then that even if she's having fun she will come immediately back to you.
> I have no joy with Samson and recall at the moment! He just looks at me from the corner of his eye and carries on! So he's staying on his lead for the foreseeable future until he gets out of this teenage disobedience thing!!!


Yeah, I guess when you put it that way she should come back 1st time no matter what shes doing, wow, that's going to take some doing 
Any help from anyone on how to do this would be good pls.


----------



## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

This is just like Dudley, perfect recall when no distractions!! we are lucky in that our local park is a great place for doggy play, I will let Dudley off and say 'go play' its good to pretend I am controlling the situation!! there is no way I could stop him going to say hello once he is heading towards them, he will come back after a couple of minutes if I call him and walk away - I don't bother calling him before that as I know I am teaching him to ignore me if I do, I do call him to me often during the play to treat him as well. I have been thinking (for ages! - its just finances) of doing extra training as I would like to have more control, i think the majority of dogs I know are about the same, but there are one or two brilliant ones that would run to their owners no matter what - i do think this is the downside of treat/toy training - if what they want to do is more appealing than what you can offer why would they bother?! I must admit I think the really well behaved ones have probably got stricter owners that would give them more of a telling off than I do with Dudley! The guy I may call for training does gundog training using positive reinforcement. The other option is to not allow play with the other dogs every time, to keep them focused on you, train during the walk until they think the play is an occasional treat rather than an everyday occurrence - but I love watching them play and I enjoy a chat to the other owners so I doubt I would do that if I'm honest....sorry - long reply!!


----------



## calli.h (Aug 29, 2011)

I find it a continual cycle with Arthur, he went through the teenage rebellion thing which was hard work, we got the tastiest treats which we kept for recall, (they were dried venison strips - he loved them as did alot of other dogs who used to come and see what he was being given and then not go back to their owners  !!!!!) We used to insist he came back 1st time every time, whether he was mid run or just pottering or playing, he got put on his lead, no fuss no telling off, just straight on lead and walk on for a couple of minutes. He was then let back off again - same again, lots and lots of recalls, and a treat everytime he came back 1 st time. He got really good really quickly.  However if your like us you then get a little complacent and you find they slip to doing there own thing again and coming 2 nd maybe 3rd time. So then the training starts again. 

We are currently having to work with him, as we have just got Meg who wants to play with him and he just wants to show off and run away from her and do his own thing !!


----------



## Woo (Oct 5, 2011)

DB1 said:


> This is just like Dudley, perfect recall when no distractions!! we are lucky in that our local park is a great place for doggy play, I will let Dudley off and say 'go play' its good to pretend I am controlling the situation!! there is no way I could stop him going to say hello once he is heading towards them, he will come back after a couple of minutes if I call him and walk away - I don't bother calling him before that as I know I am teaching him to ignore me if I do, I do call him to me often during the play to treat him as well. I have been thinking (for ages! - its just finances) of doing extra training as I would like to have more control, i think the majority of dogs I know are about the same, but there are one or two brilliant ones that would run to their owners no matter what - i do think this is the downside of treat/toy training - if what they want to do is more appealing than what you can offer why would they bother?! I must admit I think the really well behaved ones have probably got stricter owners that would give them more of a telling off than I do with Dudley! The guy I may call for training does gundog training using positive reinforcement. The other option is to not allow play with the other dogs every time, to keep them focused on you, train during the walk until they think the play is an occasional treat rather than an everyday occurrence - but I love watching them play and I enjoy a chat to the other owners so I doubt I would do that if I'm honest....sorry - long reply!!


Oh I don't want to stop her playing and only allow it sometimes, like you I love to see her playing and love a chinwag with the owners.
I like your "go play" command. Like you say your giving him the ok to go, think I will start to use that.
I am not super harsh on Noodle, she is a good girl and does as she is told and I have no major complaints or problems with her but we are very layed back and I think it has rubbed off on her


----------



## Woo (Oct 5, 2011)

calli.h said:


> I find it a continual cycle with Arthur, he went through the teenage rebellion thing which was hard work, we got the tastiest treats which we kept for recall, (they were dried venison strips - he loved them as did alot of other dogs who used to come and see what he was being given and then not go back to their owners  !!!!!) We used to insist he came back 1st time every time, whether he was mid run or just pottering or playing, he got put on his lead, no fuss no telling off, just straight on lead and walk on for a couple of minutes. He was then let back off again - same again, lots and lots of recalls, and a treat everytime he came back 1 st time. He got really good really quickly.  However if your like us you then get a little complacent and you find they slip to doing there own thing again and coming 2 nd maybe 3rd time. So then the training starts again.
> 
> We are currently having to work with him, as we have just got Meg who wants to play with him and he just wants to show off and run away from her and do his own thing !!


I like the idea of only treating when she comes back on the 1st call, I will add this to her training, Thanks.


----------



## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

I guess the level of obedience each of us needs in our dogs depends on our situations. Rufus goes with us everywhere and we work with some kids with profound disabilities. We need a recall which is 100%. We are never ever harsh with him, but we often carry a slice of wrapped cheese in our pockets so he flies to us when we call knowing we just might have one. What we are working on now is a reliable drop and stay from a distance. This was brought on by a situation where he was across a road from me and I had no way to make him wait there. It's the same with a good "off" command. It's not until someone drops pills all over the floor that you realize why you trained for it!


----------

