Rescue dog....zero recall help!!

[Twinkletowedelephant]

We've had our beautiful girl for a month she is around 3.
She is a fantastic little dog and has slotted into our family brilliant everyone loves her.

I have been working on her recall and in an enclosed empty park it's 50/50 she will come back.
She LOVES to run (terrier type) and I would love to let her off lead in the woods knowing she would come back...
We did let her off lead t the weekend with mil dogs who's she walked with before and she had great fun chasing other dogs and squirrels but it took ages to convince her to get close enough to put her lead back on.

We go to doggy classes but if anyone has any tips it would be appreciated.

[WatchingFromTheWings]

We had the same issue with our rescue. We found her better at coming back when we took our dogs out in a bigger group. We had a dog already and would sometimes also take FIL dog too. She behaved better when there were the 3....pack mentality perhaps.

We persevered with it and after 3 months her recall was better than our other dog (whom we'd paid for training classes for!). Stick with it, plenty of treats and take the other dogs with you as often as you can.

We have FIL dog permanently now and they all learn off each other pretty quickly.

[Scrappysmammy]

You have to make the recall interesting enough for her to want to come back. Try walking her on the lead and say her name and tell her to stop and come back to you, when she stops and comes back give her a little treat, praise her and give her a little stroke, do this lots increasing the distance between you both, eventually she'll understand what is expected of her.
You'll already know that there should only be one voice at a time telling her to stop and come back.
We have a rescue too and this is what we done, along with lots of treats, love and perseverance it eventually worked.

Hope this helps! And we'll done for rescuing and not buying!

[Wonderflonium]

Practice with amazing treats (hotdog sausages and dried fish in this house) in less exciting places than the woods (your house is a good start, for example)

At first, only use the recall word when she's already coming towards you for whatever reason. If she likes following you around, that part is easy. You might find that her name and "come" have been ruined by previous owners so you might need to think of a word she hasn't heard before or get a whistle that is only used for this purpose.

Only ever use your recall word when you want her to come back (as in, if the recall word is her name, don't use her name to get her attention/tell her off/talk about her!).

When trying to recall her when she's not following you, once you have her attention RUN AWAY from her. Dogs can't usually resist a good chase.

If she doesn't recall immediately, then make a "oh no, no treat for YOU" noise instead of repeating the command. You don't want her associating the recall word with looking at you quizzically or buggering off in the other direction.
Similarly, you don't want her to think that the recall word is "come! COME! COOOOOOOME!"

And go BANANAS with praise when she does recall. Like over the top, ridiculous shit. "OMG WHAT A GOOD GIRL YOU ARE THIS IS THE GREATEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED HAVE A BIT OF SAUSAGE" you can ease off as she gets better at it.

[Soubriquet]

Don't chase her. It makes it a game.

High pitched voices and run the other way. Looks daft but they can't resist

Really high value treats. Garlic liver is one I've found all dogs go nuts for

Find somewhere where there aren't any cars so if she does run, you don't need to panic too much.

Try a long line too. One that you can drop on the floor and let her run but you've got a way of catching

[Soubriquet]

Also do call her back for a treat and let her run again.

So she doesn't associate coming back means fun times over

[TripTrappedNow]

Practice with her meals? All treats. If food motivated, might help.

Also I found with mine I had to have a specific recall whistle (to be noticed as she can get some distance away and can't always hear me shout on a windy field) which always results in a food treat (food motivated labrador).

[BagelGoesWalking]

Look here There's probably loads of info in their Files section.

[TrionicLettuce]

Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson is brilliant for recall issues.

[BestIsWest]

I was just coming on to recommend Total Recall Tri.

Someone recommended it to me on here. It takes time but it does work, ours is still not perfect but miles better than he was.

[Sugarpiehoneyeye]

Try a long line OP, as suggested above.
Every so often, call her name, reel her in, praise (over the top, high pitched voice etc), release.
Only use special (small), smelly quality treats, for this purpose only, eg, sausage, cheese, liver.
Don't go over the top, reeling her in, don't bore her.
Occasionally, do it in the house or, call her if she in the garden.

[Faez]

I had this problem with my rescue, she was in her own world and there was no acknowledgment of us calling. In the end my trainer recommended the petsafe spray collar. It has 3 settings, beep, small spray, large spray. We never have to use the spray, just the beep as a warning to get her attention. Some people might not like the idea but it's given her freedom and safety.

[weaselwords]

It has to be worth her coming back if it's that much fun off the lead! Is she motivated by treats or games? One of mine will do anything for a tennis ball and ignore treats, when he's normally a really greedy dog. He won't leave my side if he knows there is a chance of me chucking a ball for him.

[Sugarpiehoneyeye]

Please don't use a spray collar.
This could instill fear in your otherwise, lovely little dog.
One of my dogs much prefers her ball to treats, hence excellent recall.

[BestIsWest]

The theme of Total Rec all is that you get the dog used to coming back in lots of different situations. First in the house, in the same room, in different rooms, from eating, from being played with, from the garden, from sleeping, etc only moving on when you are certain they have learned each stage. Use a whistle and treats. Ours loves small cubes of cheese.

[BabyGanoush]

I think a month is a bit early to be let off the lead?

She will need longer to properly "bond" with you

I'd start really small and let her off the lead for very short periods of time only, and straight back on if she doesn't come back.

And obviously bring treats/squeaky ball etc.

[Twinkletowedelephant]

We bought a long lead and she's had great fun charging about chasing balls. We bought a special squeaky that if she comes back when we squeak it she gets a treat.... It works great unless she sees another dog, or a squirrel, or a bird, or an aeroplane. seriously what dog chases an aeroplane

She also managed to jump over a small hedge on her long lead to meet another dog.... Thankfully it was a friendly one and owner picked up my dog and handed it back amazed at how high she could jump.

We will keep at it but she is learning and it's only been a month, hopefully by next summer we can happily stroll through the woods with dog bouncing laps around us.

Thanks for all the advice.

[AshOutside]

We had the same with our rescue dog a few years back.
We started in the garden, one person at each end and shouted her back and forth. She got a treat each time and thought it was a great game.
We then went out on walks and if there was a children's play area (empty of course) we would go in and do the same.
She eventually got it after a few weeks but even now if she spots something she might try to go running off so we shout her and run in the opposite direction and she comes bounding after us instead!

[Faez]

Maybe I should add that my trainer had worked with my dog for a while and come to know her temperament before recommending the spray collar. we tried the trainer's collar first in a session to ensure it was suitable as she did point out it would be the wrong choice for some dogs. As I said I never have to use the spray and only give a warning beep if she ignores my first two calls. So not saying it's a miracle cure but works for some dogs.