recall perfect except when there is a toddler around.

[ditavonteesed]

I have let puppy of the lead today for the first time in about 3 weeks as it is throwing it down and the park was pretty much deserted. everytime I saw someone in the distance I called puppy, she came to me and I put her on the lead until it was clear again, recalled from birds and a squirel that she wanted to chase perfectly.
Then she saw a toddler in the distance and I could do nothing to get her back. the man with the child was fine and the child had a fuss of her, so it's back on the lead at all times for puppy, how can I get her past her love of children? her recall really is perfect at every other time.
and I am ready for the flaming that comes with this.

No flaming from me dita. Recall is (imo) an ongoing thing. Just when you think you've got it sorted, bam they ignore you and you've got to start over again.

I find it easier when I think of recall as a sum. Whatever value of fun your dog is heading towards (other dog, toddler, squirrel, decomposing fox) then YOU have got to be that value plus one. You've always got to have with you the potential for MORE fun.

I thought I had it cracked with cheese but turns out the muddy river bank has a higher pleasure value than cheese. Yesterday I discovered a tennis ball plus little dance trumps the river bank.

The key is finding out what really gets your dog going and then using that for the recall.

Perfect advice above, one other thing to remember is to not keep calling if she won't come back, as she will just learn to ignore you.

Dogs have exceptional hearing, the first time you call (or whistle, which does by the way tend to get a better recall, as a whistle carries no emotion) she has heard you, so don't just keep calling, just get to her as quickly as possible and collect her.

The other thing is the more you keep her on the lead, the more mental she will go when let off it, I would just practice, practice, practice, at home and out and out and about. Also make sure your are doing it when there is nothing to recall her from too.

The other thing I have noticed, and I'm still very much in the early days of training too dita is that different things will have a different Dog Pleasure Value (considers trademark ) specific to your dog. You need to adapt your DPV+1 depending on the other 'thing' that they have spotted.

For instance my puppy is quite excited by joggers but (so far) training treat plus praise and ruffling up of ears trumps jogger.

For big pleasures (other dogs and muddy river banks) I thought cheese was my DPV+1 but turns out the tennis ball is (so far) the ultimate pleasure trump (UPT)

I understand about letting her off, which is why I chose to take her out while it was chucking it down, the problem is I can't let her off the lead because it is toddlers that I can't recall her from, the rest of the time she comes instantly from whatever distance away.
She does tend to jump up at anyone and everyone who comes round as well, I have been putting a house line on her and standing on it to prevent her jumping up as well as getting people to ignore her. Is it because she is small that she wants to be closer to epople or is it just bad behaviour.
She is such a lovely pup, I need to get this under control as the park is the main place that I can walk her. She doesn't seem particularly bothered about toys when we are out, I have tried a few of her favourites from home but no interest.

Have you trained 'watch me'? This is really useful if you spot the toddler before she does then you can either pop her on the lead or change direction and head away from the toddler.

I think you can encourage a dog to become obsessed with a particular toy. I've certainly seen a steady increase in tennis ball obsessiveness as my pup has got older and we have done more and more retrieving. What sort of breed is she dita? Can you tap into your dog's natural behaviour to find something she will really adore?

Watch me not much use though if she is a long way from you when you toddler spot .

tbh I never let my puppy wander off too far away from me even when she is off the lead. You never know when something MASSIVELY fun is going to appear and I'm a bit shit at running fast over a long distance.

he he, I am doing watch me, is working quite well, I also never let her go far, when she is on the lead it is a 5m extension, I think she probably only goes to twice that when off the lead but does a lot more running in circles iyswim. she is a border terrier (think there might be a pic on profile) at home likes squeky toys and rope pulling tug game type thing (which we call junjk yard dog game)

awwww she is gorgeous.

I've read in the books about taking toys away after you have played with them to make them more special iyswim. So find a squeaky toy or tug or whatever that really hits all her buttons, play with it like mad and then when you're done put it away. Really make one or two things super special and 'OMG OMG OMG I LOVE this squeaky hedgehog aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I'm going to EXPLODE with the ultimate joy of playing with this thing'.

And then use that as your recall toy when you are out and about.

Oh this has given me an idea to improve our non existant recall. He does have some but no one believes me, because it has got to be just, me him an empty alley and silence. Anything from someone's phone ringing to seeing laundry flap about has more DPV than me, my clicker and my hotdogs. A squeaky toy and things might just change.....

Ok going to take dc to find a new squeaky toy after school, that will only be played with and then put away, all her other toys are just dotted around the place. (not that I love going to the pet shop or anything) I would worry about trying a whistle as so many other dogs around.

I love my whistle. The noise carries much, much further than my shrill voice and as Wildy said carries no emotion. My whistle is never shrill .

My trainer gave me some excellent advice for starting whistle training. Start indoors just before a meal time. Have puppy with you, blow the whistle (i now use three peeps after a whistle confusion incident) and then put a small handful of the dog's food on the ground. Wait til it is all eaten up then whistle and drop the food. Repeat until food all gone. Do this for a couple of days. Then try whistling when the dog is away from you.

If you have a puppy who likes their food you should see a lovely pavlov's dog reaction and a pretty speedy recall.

Now when I whistle I treat with praise and ear ruffling/tummy tickling, or cheese/liver cake/kibble, or now the (current) ultimate: The Tennis Ball of Delights.

Adding a gamble in (I wonder what I'll get if I go back?) strengthens the recall (so they say in the books )

god I remember your whistle confusion, scary stuff. she does love her food.

oh and Shiny I'll be wanting 20p for usage of the trademarked DPV

yes whistle confusion was awful.

I'm a two short and a medium three peeps recall whistler now.

Ideally (and I know this is hard) all her toys should live in a box somewhere out of her reach and only in your control. Though she should always have access to Nylabones/rawhides/whatever it is you use, for chewing to relieve frustration/teething.

When you want to play with her, get a toy out, play and then put it away afterwards.

She is very very gorgeous by the way

she is a fair bit bigger than that now, am i8n the process of charging up a couple of squeaky balls, by being completly ott with them. got a silent dog whistle, although not convinced she can actually hear it, no reaction at all.

She won't react to the whistle initially as it has no meaning, you need to use the method described by Slubber above, so that she learns that whistle=food, you need to do this for a good few days at home before you try it outside.

I have always stuck to a normal whistle as I would always be worried that a silent one was broken How would you know?

I think dp would rather I had a silent one as he doesn't like the attention a whistle causes

Excellent advice on here. I haven't had toddler chasing issues but Plog is very prone to bolting if she sees another dog. What we were doing, on an extending lead at first, is calling back when we see another dog and treating, then she is allowed to go over and okay if appropriate or not as the case may be If the other dog is onlead. The idea being that she looks for permission from us when she sees a dog, it is working, slowly.

I love Slubber's DPV. I have failed miserably with a ball and have felt like a right idiot playing on my own with a pink squeaky ball whilst Plog is busy charging around the undergrowth. I blame my friend's springer, he is a bad influence, she never used to go off the main path before. Very funny seeing her follow him trying to do springer like jumps in the middle of the bushes though. Food is the only thing that works here. If I jump up and down excitedly I get a puzzled look as if she thinks I'm mad.

cor, the looking for permission to advance sounds v advanced and most impressive Wynken

I remembered last night another top tip from my trainer about recall. I have renamed it: The Rain of Cheese.

Cheese strings are most excellent for this.

Call or whistle and when dog returns reward not just with a single bit of cheese - Oh no! Rain cheese string down upon the dog (little bits mind or you'll be down to the bottom of your cheese string and have a cheese filled dog in no time) all the time doing the full on verbal praise. If you really want to max out to give the dog a jackpot reward you can do tummy rubs, squeaky toys and throw a tennis ball too.

When I first gave Elsie the Rain of Cheese (RoC) a little bit of wee came out such was the hugeness of the DPV.

slubber you are making me laugh, you should write a book made up entirley of acronyms.

Building on slubberdegullion DPV this site is great.

combination of tug toys that you can put food into (so the food orientated dog can learn to love toys as much) Toy obsessed dogs get a greater reward as a game obviously lasts longer than a treat.

Also any terrier/gun dog owners with recall problems I recommend the rabbit and fur toys most terriers will leap over backwards and do a forward roll to get their teeth into one of these!

Very important that you do not give them the toy just you have one end and they have the other so the combination of you and toy is the reward.

Not cheap but has worked wonders for some difficult client recall issues I have dealt with.
link

fur

food tugs