Hi,
I'm only here briefly whilst dealing with a required response regarding my business in another thread but thought I may as well take a look at what else is going on in the dog house....at which point I couldn't help but offer a little advice.
Ive spent the last three years studying the commonalities between non dog trainers which lead them to get completely different results to myself. I am busily trying to collate my findings and make them available but whilst I figure out the best way I can offer the following.
There are three main causes for recall issues in a dog, three common handling errors and three character traits that can make it more difficult for the typical owner to get control. In addition, a 100% recall is a fallacy, dogs are dogs, even I get caught out by this from time to time as I found out with one of my seven year old Shepherds a week or two back. The dog is exceptionally well trained, amazing around all animals and has no hunt drive whatsoever....imagine my disbelief when said dog, who hasn't missed a recall command in five years despite huge distractions spooked a Hare in a local field and proceeded to chase it over hundreds of yards, all but ignoring my two recalls other than a quick lift of the ears before deciding to carry on. Dogs are not robots and sometimes management is a better approach than relying on an animal to perform with perfection (meaning, when distractions are high, don't chance it, just put your dog back on the lead so it can't practice not coming back)
Back to the topic in hand;
The 3 causes of recall issues in order of importance -
1 - Lack of engagement with the owner over a short distance - If you cannot gain your dogs attention when it is 2 feet from you in the real world than you have no chance of gaining its attention when it is 5m away let alone 50
2 - Over socialisation - generally most people have recall issues around common distractions such as other dogs (wanting to play) and other people (wanting to meet strangers) this is caused by excessive socialisation. Essentially, if your dog finds other dogs or people more rewarding than you or your rewards you won't get a recall
3 - Lack of foundational training - again, if your dog cannot recall at 50m in an empty field free from all distractions then don't expect it to recall in a busy park at 5m.
The three common handling errors, again in order
1 - not shouting loud enough - I have found that most members of the public naturally have a much lower volume of shout than the average good dog trainer who has spent many years developing voice control. When recalling your dog, you do not only have to overcome distance but also wind direction, surrounding noises (such as a busy road) and 'tunnel vision' of distractions. I have found the best way to overcome this is to accept that most people can't shout and incorporate a whistle into training through pavlovian conditioning first in the home, then out and about.
3 - calling in a relaxed manner - when the chips are down and a potential accident is looming you want your dog to recall in a split second, try to never call your dog in a relaxed manner. Your dog should always respond immediately and without question. Its very common for people to reward lazy and slow recalls when in a relaxed setting which confuses the dog. The dog cannot differentiate between an emergency and you just wanting it over for a cuddle in the living room. If you call your dog, always make it an urgent call.
The three 3 character traits - in order
1 - lack of audible sensitivity - in order to cut through distractions, surrounding noise and the fact that most owners will not shout loud enough a dog which is audibly insensitive is much harder to train in all areas but especially recall. If the dog can't hear you it can't respond. The ideal dog is audibly sensitive enough to hear a loud clap at distance but not so sensitive that it is scared of fireworks or skip lorries - unfortunately most dogs lack audible sensitivity - especially gun dog types because one that can't cope with bangs overhead won't be bred from. This can be developed but as far as I know, not many people are aware of how.
2 - Lack of physical sensitivity - in the same way that we want a dog which will hear a load clap, we also want a dog that is physically sensitive so that it takes very little to create a 'consequence' whenever your rewards offer less motivation than the distraction. Another contradiction - the ideal dog is one that is physically sensitive enough that nearly no physical corrections are needed whilst being resilient enough that a child falling on the dog won't get bitten. Unfortunately, again because of their working roles Labs (and most dogs) have a lack of physical sensitivity.
3 - Prey drive - the dogs desire to hunt, chase and catch either on sight or through sent. The ideal family dog will have very low desire in this area. Unfortunately, people are drawn to impressive pedigrees full of field trial champions (dogs bred from parents who work 10 hour days hunting game) and then we wonder why the dog is always full of energy and chasing animals - whats good for the field is not good for the fire I'm afraid. Again, this trait can be brought under control but will need expert guidance.
I realise I haven't given any training tips here, its hard to do so without meeting the dogs but my parting words of wisdom are;
get a long line, increase motivation, decrease failure (using the line), when you think its trained the dog is only just grasping the concept (carry on for two more months) don't be afraid to add small negative consequences as training progresses (get help if you are unsure) and finally, don't ever expect a recall away form another dog if your dog pulls to see them when on lead. A pull towards a dog on lead is a run over to a dog when off lead. You need excellent lead work to have a good recall and impeccable lead work to achieve an excellent recall.
Hope this helps.
Matt