Breeds with good recall?

[Sharpcattlegridheavyhat]

We live in an area with a lot of open fields with rabbits popping up a lot and the odd cyclist and dog walker (though mostly these fields are empty.)

Just wondering if you could help me with breeds of dogs known for their good recall- I’d hate to have a dog with such a high prey drive I could never let it off leash, and a lot of breeds I have read say you must do exactly that.

What dogs have you got that have got good recall? (Obviously with training!)

Thanks!! (Very long drawn out research process as kids too young to get another dog as yet...sob)

GSD recall depends on the dog, we had two, one was very confident and generally quite obedient, but recall was dodgy he knew the principle and would do it in class, but out he preferred to mind his own business and wait for us to catch up. He wouldn't interfere with others though, he would wait to be told it was okay to go frolic so his reluctance to recall never caused any issues. He would NEVER leave the children though, so if we were all out together we would call them, and he would come back with them. :o

the other one was rarely more than a step away from me, but was also a bit Tim-Nice-But-Dim and would (on occasion) just run off to introduce himself to someone, which could be disconcerting as 50kg of giant floofy wolf-a-like races towards you. So that's why he generally got snicked on the lead if we spotted strangers. Just in case. He was a gorgeous handsome boy though with lovely manners so he never got in trouble. Also once he had met someone on lead it was as if he knew them and they were not nearly so exciting if spotted again on another walk.

Having said that he was totally ball obsessed so once we discovered that he never took his eyes off me so that worked really well.

My top tips for recall

... get them off the lead ASAP and hide from them when you are out (or in the house,) they need to learn to watch you

...another one is timing...when you begin to teach recall try not to call them if they are going to ignore you, you need to attract their attention, get them moving toward you and THEN call them to you.

AND don't repeat call if they are not moving, you are just teaching them to ignore you.

What a beautiful dog noitsnot! Interesting, the pictures online seem to show more pink noses and around the eyes- you can really see the golden retriever likeness with yours! They sound amazing. Sigh, miss having a dog!! For one thing I’m putting on weight without the dog walks.

That’s good to know, missy - must admit I do love schnauzers but have heard stories of training struggles!

It’s training.

I have a JRT and I can call him away from anything. I can drop him into a down in the middle of a chase.

There are breeds harder to train/higher prey drive/more independent but no breeds are “good at Recall”.

Ha MsHome whoops, I definitely did that last one! He’d just look at me as I repeated myself - I would try to look as tempting a prospect as possible but he’d only be interested once I worked out cheese was his weakness

Ok rose - I think what had thrown me were the websites that would say ‘this breed needs to be kept on lead’ and I hadn’t realised that was a thing. I had assumed all dogs could be trained to recall.

Another mini poodle owner here. We had our boy off lead in safe settings as soon as he could go down on the ground and as other posters have said, when they're young puppies, they tend to stick close to you and not wander off. Poodles like to stick close to their people, so he tends not to go so far away that he can't see where we are. They were traditionally used as hunting dogs (mostly ducks, hence the origin of the daft haircuts, as the fluffy bits kept their joints warmer in water) and truffle sniffer-outers, so again were bred to work alongside their owners. Like a lot of others on here have recounted, our boy's recall went seriously AWOL as an adolescent but is very good now (we still haven't cracked cats or foxes). He is tennis ball-obsessed so whoever is walking him always carries at least one ball and he will come away from pretty much anything with one shout of 'ball'!! (won't do it for food of any kind, so you need to find what motivates your dog most). Poodles are also highly intelligent, like to please and the red ones are absolutely bonkers

See that’s what terrifies me...if another cat sits mockingly on the other side of a quiet lane and suddenly there goes the one delivery van coming that day....it could happen again.
That’s fascinating about the haircut origin foxes!

I think it's much more down to consistent and regular training rather than the breed of dog. I have a greyhound and was told I'd always have to keep him on the lead however we did some training with a long line using treats as he is very food orientated and now I let him off the lead all the time. He occasionally has moments where he ignores me (when he recognises one of his doggy friends) but he takes no notice of birds, rabbits etc any more.

@Sharpcattlegridheavyhat around half of Tollers have pink noses, the rest have dark noses and dark eyeliner. The pink-nosed ones seem to be getting the nod at shows at the moment but both are part of the breed standard (we don’t show and I personally prefer my boy’s look but then I’m biased!). They’re not directly related to golden retrievers as they’re actually an older breed - they’re supposed to be a mix of Brittany, Chesapeake Bay retriever, flat coat retriever, spaniel, red setter and farm collie but it’s all a bit unclear!! Duck hunters on Canada’s east coast have been using little red dogs to lure and retrieve ducks for more than 200 years

I have (touch wood!) never failed to recall my GSD successfully. He sticks by me like glue, and if he does move away, as soon as he hears ‘here’, he is back like a shot, no matter what has distracted him.
My Golden on the other hand will come back, but in her own time, and when she’s finished whatever is more important first.

I think I prefer your dogs looks to the pinky ones too noitsnot - so interesting that they’ve been around longer than Golden retrievers! Been googling Tollers a lot since this thread...