Emergency recall thread .... How do i teach my Shih tzu recall at all?

[Poodlepower]

Ok so I have a ten month old shih tzu. She will do sit, fetch and is generally very well behaved. Off lead she doesn't stray far from me. She will come ..... Once she has decided it is time!!! Now in training classes she does impeccable recall - out and about not so consistent.

I do treats, put her on lead intermittently so she doesn't see it as end of walk etc.

Please can any experts give me advice? I really would like to get this nailed as other than that she is perfect :)

Ours will only come back for treats so I will also keep an eye here. Your is a lot better than ours.

It's no bad thing if your dog will only come back for treats! Would you work for free?!

Right, recall. This is mainly a mix of what I've learnt at training class and from MN...

Find out what your dog LOVES. It might be chopped up sausage, a ball or a tuggy game with you. Whatever, really. Start small, call your dog "fido, come!" or "fido, here!" when it's just sat at home or mooching around. Be super extra happy when he does come, lots of "yes! Whatta good dog" and big hugs. Expand doing this to when you're dog is in the garden, when he's being petted by another family member or eating, and so on. Start small and work up to getting a reliable recall around the house. Let your dog have lots of 'success' in returning to you. If you call and he doesn't come, get closer, wave a foot long hotdog or ball near then run away. Make yourself mega mega fun and exciting.

Start outside with dog on a long line (bit of rope tied to collar or harness). Call dog when he's just walking along, then reward like mad when he does come.
Keep practicing! If he ignores call, reel him into you until he's close, repeat recall command.

I think it helps if you can get your dog playing with toy with you, letting him "win" the toy a lot. My boy loves his tuggy squirrel, I keep it in my pocket on walks, it only comes out for spectacular recalls! I also use the magic circle of throwing out treats/balls/words of praise just for him being within 5 ft of me. As a result he never wanders far. Much easier to call a dog back to you of its not done the legs over to the over side of a field! !

HTH

Thankyou for that Inthepotty. We do it a lot at the beach. In the last couple of days he has started to come from the garden when we shout sausage but the trouble seems to be when we are out. We are going away this weekend so he will have lots of time at the beach, will try out keeping him close.