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STEP 1. PUT SOME
TREATS IN YOUR POCKET
Arm yourself with something your dog likes to eat -
bits of cheese, bread or kibble are fine. The
tastier the better to begin with
STEP 2. STOP CALLING
Please stop calling your dog - he probably isn’t
going to come so all you are training him to do is
to ignore you.
STEP 3. RELEASE THE DOG
1. Take your dog into your usual dog walking area -
a wide-open space outdoors where he is safe.
2. Wait until there are no other dogs nearby, remove
his lead and take a couple of steps forward - watch
where the dog goes
3. Set off extremely quickly in the opposite
direction to that taken by your dog. Do not look
back. Trust that your dog will find you. He can
smell you up to a mile away. The first time you do
this he may be gone for some time. When he realises
you are not with him, he will come to find you.
4. You will eventually hear him dashing up behind
you.
STEP 4. ABOUT TURN
As your dog rushes past you make a complete ‘about
turn’ and set off extremely quickly in the opposite
direction (facing in the direction from which he
just came). Do not call him; do not try to attract
his attention. You are not training him to come to
you at this point; you are training him to believe
that you are unpredictable and that he needs to keep
an eye on you. Repeat several times until the dog is
starting to slow down a little.
STEP 5. RECALL CONDITIONING
Now as the dog approaches you from behind, turn to
face him and call him right into you as he
approaches. Praise him and give him a treat from
your pocket, before sending him on his way again.
Immediately he sets off, about turn again. Do not
follow your dog at any point. You are leading the
way, you chose the direction, and he is learning to
follow you.
Practice every day for a week. Turn to face the dog
and call him every time he approaches you. Make sure
he touches your hand each time. Give him a tiny
treat every time for the first two days then reduce
the treats over the next five days, until you are
treating about half of the time.
STEP 6. RE-INTRODUCING THE RECALL COMMAND
After a week or so you will find your dog beginning
to remain closer to you. He will be watching you
more carefully. Now you will begin to look for
opportunities to re-introduce the recall as a
command. Up until now you have only called him as he
comes running to you, now you will begin call him to
you at different times. Pick your times carefully to
begin with.
· Do not call him when he is following, or
interacting with, other dogs or people.
· Do not call him when he is deeply interested in
investigating a fascinating smell.
· Do not call him when he is travelling away from
you at speed
· Do not call him when he is a long way away
In situations like these you have no real power over
the dog. Better not to call him than to risk
reminding him that he used to be the kind of dog
that ignored you. Bide your time. Wait until the dog
is simply trotting about doing nothing in
particular, and very close by to re-introduce your
recall as a command. Use it sparingly and reward
every recall to begin with.
In the meantime you should be working on your dog’s
overall obedience by following a training programme
such as the one in part two of this guide. Keep up
your ‘about turn walks’ for at least a month or
until your dog remains near to you during your
walks, whichever takes longer. When you have
completed the recall training section in Part Two,
you can gradually begin to re-introduce the recall
during your walks, in slightly more distracting
situations and at greater distances. If you have a
headstrong young dog, are very serious about
advancing your dog’s training and continue to
experience recall problems you may like to consider
the ‘perils of free-running’ section at the end of
this chapter.
~
If you enjoyed this extract from Passing Grade One
you can purchase the book here
Remember - your dog will be very
'active' for years to come, make sure
the activity he is involved in is one of your
choice. |
