How do you make them come back..?

[Hullygully]

My dog is a very lovely 3 yr old Goldendoodle who understands all commands etc but only obeys them if she chooses. I spent two hours in the freezing hail the other day while she ate dead fish on the beach and simply refused to come back. Please help before I kill her!

Minimu's the woman for this

Just checking - do you always praise her, no matter how long she takes to come back?

Do you only recall her when it's time to go home/go on the lead?

Yes, always praise her, and gave her treats for two years...And do lots of other recall during the walk so she doesn't associate it just with home time.

Okay - what about my tried and tested (albeit entirely unscientific) method.

Run past dog calling their name in a wildly excited tone and keep running. A few skips and jumps thrown in for good measure.

You may laugh but it does work - at least from the point of view of making you seem so much more exciting than the dead thing.

That's assuming you don't have a good 'leave it' command in place?

My dog is a bit naughty about coming back too sometimes, and although i tried to follow the rule of sounding very enthusiastic, calling him nicely and always praising when he returned, I have recently found that shouting 'no' or saying his name crossly as he is about to run away (even a sharp 'come back, this way' if he's already taken off), seems to work better.
It's as if he really doesn't want to be told off! I then praise him when he gets to my side (treats too). I use it fairly sparingly i.e. not if he's just dawdling or sniffing around a new tuft of grass he hasn't seen before (more if he's headed off down the wrong route or into the woods sort of thing.)
It's not foolproof, but is better than standing there like an idiot, sounding all nicey nicey, while your dog takes you for a complete fool!
I have been known just to walk off too - he usually decides to follow eventually...

I can caper with the best of them, I have danced and sung and run off past her, expressed wild mad excitement, anything to be able to go home. She just looks at me, laughs, and walks off.

She is very good with 'drop it' at home, but when we're out, again she just looks at me with a not on your nelly face.

She really does know and clearly weighs up the choices. I think she thinks well, what the hell, nothing bad will happen, I'll just do as I please.

Help help help, or the dog gets it..

Has the dog got it yet or am I in time!

Go back to basics. Ok the she knows what to do when there are no distractions around but if your OH is calling you over for a coffee and you have just seen the must have must die for handbag ever, which direction are you going to go in? In Goldie land a dead fish is up there with that designer handbag!

If you want you could change your recall method. Maybe introduce a whistle. Three blows on the whistle and she gets some yummy sausage, not every day kibble or biscuit. Sometimes she could get dried liver or chicken or cheese. Do vary it but make it really really worth coming for. Do this at home first. Call her to you when she can smell the sausage, then put her in another room when she knows you have the sausage blow the whistle and she will come charging!
I would do this for several days.

Next you need to build up to having distracions can the kids be playing her favourite game and then you whilste to call her away from them again she should get the best treat ever. By gradully introducing distractions that mean more to her you should be able to condition her to return what ever is going on. You should be able to call her away from eating a sausage on the floor to come to you eventually.

The reason I say change the recall method is that she has got used to ignoring the orignal command and whilst you are training her up you can still use the original command when out.

You do not want her to ever not respond to the new command so if you know she really will not come back do not call her but go up to her eg eating the dead fish then she will not get used to ignoring you. If she is playing with another dog and will not return do not call her go to her and collect her.

We are all very good at training the recall and then not continuing to train it with distractions.

Is she a toy player again if you have a fantastic toy she only gets to play when she has returned to you that may also help.

You have done well in not calling her and putting her back on the lead each time and as Bella says even if it takes ages to come back you must be pleased to see her. So she associates being close to you as a great place to be not where she gets put on the lead and told off. (hard I know)

You do not have to use a whistle you could use another word to what you have used previously maybe a squeaky toy but do not just use her name.

Good luck this will not change overnight but will get better but again when she has got it sometimes go back to the basics and retrain again. Mealtimes are a great time to practise recall. Put her in another room from where you are making her food give the recall common or whistle twice a day when she is feed and you are half way there.

I love my dog whistle.

When my dog is happily playing in the garden and I am indoors I just blow it at random moments and she belts in for a bit of sausage/liver or cheese.

As yet though, even with sausage on offer, I have not been brave enough to try it with serious distractions as most of my local ones are live! (sheep, chooks, ponies etc oh to have a dead fish to practise on)

Another vote for whistles. They carry so much better than your voice. I, too, call mine in from the garden with the whistle and give them a tasty treat.

Was walking on a very windswept beach with another MNer yesterday and our dogs definitely heard the whistle better than anything else. A whistle and a wildly waving piece of seaweed were enough to tempt them back from other distractions, of which there were many

I do think Minimu deserves a blinking award for all the advice she gives so freely and so cheerfully, btw

Thanks, Minimu (and Bella).

Okay, I will try the whistle and liver stuff (used to do lovely tasty bits but not whistle). I do whistle for her (my own whistle IYSWIM) and she is as likely/or not to respond to that.

She'll leave other dogs etc, it's just food and particluar places that she knows mean home time. Then she runs away. I can't go and collect her because she runs off.

But I'll try going back to basics. (Grim resigned face).

lol - I wasn't fishing for gratitude. Although it is nice! I was serious - Miminu writes paragraphs and paragraphs of really detailed training advice, and offers alternatives if that doesn't work. It's really very generous of her: the advice would cost a fair bit of money in RL.

Mine now ignore my whistle and respond much better to my Acme 212 - cost £2.45 iirc! Whistles are quite fascinating - you get different types for different breeds (depending on their ear anatomy) but the Acme 212 doesn't change frequency no matter how hard or soft you blow.

Tis a thing of beauty (although this site is overpriced!)

Bella's Whistle

I have three dogs whistled trained and they all come to a different pitch whistle. Acme 210, Acme 211.5 and Acme 212. I do look like a sad doglady while out walking though, the whistles are all on a different colour lanyard so I don't get confused.

Hullygully if she knows it is home time call her bluff either go home earlier or walk the walk again. When out walking turn around and walk in the other direction keep her thinking.

Don't chase her, sometimes run away, sometimes sit on the floor and show her your lovely sausage! (take that as you will!!!)

I do treat my dogs constantly for things they have done even the oldies I feel that I work better if I am paid do do they! So sometimes treat even when you think they know things well they will try harder to please you.