Recall - 6 month old lab

[frozenmad]

We have a gorgeous 6 month old lab puppy. She's well trained at home but her recall is dreadful when we are out walking. We practice her recall a lot with food treats and it's great until she spots someone or another dog . I have now reverted to an extendable lead as I can't trust her to come back to me & worry she'll bother another dog who is on the lead or knock someone over as she's so bouncy. We're thinking of going back to dog training but I wonder if gundog training would be better. Does anyone have any advice please?

Gundog training is pretty much outdoor obedience at your pups age, so it would make little difference which you choose unless you have plans to do gundog training or work in the longer term.

Are you asking her to come back more than once? Are you using her name and a command eg 'come' or are you just using her name? She has somehow learned that she is quite able to ignore you when you call her - can you pinpoint how she has worked that out?

Do you have a good intervention command? If my 6mo boy starts to do something he shouldn't a simple "ahhh, ahhh" generally suffices. Always really firm though.

Hi Daisy - we are calling her back by her name only throughout her walks & always reward with a food treat. She returns every time there is no distraction but as soon as she spots another dog across the field she just runs for them. I think we've got in an awful habit of calling her, she ignores us & then we have to try to run after her/grab her to get her back on the lead. She knows we're going to put her back on the lead to stop her following the other dog/person so will literally circle the "distraction" avoiding us. I can't recall a pinpoint moment but wonder if she's worse because she is more confident. We did some 1:1 puppy training off lead when she was little & the trainer told us to only use her name when we wanted her to come so that she didn't learn to ignore her name. At other times we should call her "pup pup". We did this to begin with but have probably been using her name quite freely recently.

LittleMilla - She really is beautifully behaved at home and if I say "no" or "ah ah" she will stop whatever she's doing but when outside & off lead this has zero impact!

OK - she's learning that she can ignore you in certain situations - that she doesn't have to come to you because she can ignore and then have a brilliant game of chase/catch too.

For what it's worth, I think they always need a command, not just their name. Names are used all the time, for a billion different things and a dog hasn't got a hope in hell of working out when their name is meant to mean come, or when it means sit or when you're just talking to her.

I would introduce a command word - so it would become 'fido come' and up my treat value quite significantly. Something like bits of hot newly roasted chicken, or similar - something which is mindblowingly fabulous for your puppy. Go for a walk and call her in at random, over and over again without putting her on a lead and treat with the mindblowingly thing every time. Make sure she knows you've got it and that it's for her when you set off. Don't set her up for a fall at this stage and only call her in when she has no distractions.

The introduction of a new word will give you the chance to teach the required behaviour all over again!

Can you walk with a gang of other dogs at the moment? That would really help her be a bit less out of control when she spots a chum. One of mine is 5 months at the moment, and usually walks in a group so is less interested in others we spot. I don't ever let her get away with ignoring me, she's at the stage now of not being treated unless her recall is lightning quick!

You have a brilliant opportunity to fix it while she's still wee - and once it's ingrained, you'll have a lovely reliable dog. No dog will ever be 100%, it's not possible but she'll be pretty good.

I like the Total Recall book as it has really good strategies for when things don't work perfectly.

Personally, whats worked for us is using gundog whistles (so you can have lots that sound exactly the same) and really high value treats. Before going off the lead I whistle and distribute treats so they know whats on offer. Chorizo (Lidl works out very cheap), PAH treat sausage (like hot dog, but individually wrapped so easy to carry), or sausage (stinky preferred to plain) are my usual. I will jackpot treat in some way for fab recalls

Thanks very much for the advice, it's most helpful. I have started using the "come" command & DPup had roast pork yesterday as a training treat which seemed to help a bit . I've also bought the Total Recall book so am hopeful we can re-train our lovely pup to come when we call her. Thanks again for the advice.

total recall recommended here too. and an acme 211.5 whistle.

after our 4 weeks of training ddog at 9 months was recalling from other dogs and even running sheep perfectly and with enthusiasm every time.

He's 18 months now and only about 80-90% reliable, but its our fault as we aren't maintaining it because he ate the book and we hadn't read that chapter yet! Haven't got round to buying another copy, keep hoping I see it cheap somewhere.