Another recall one!

[Aria20]

14 month old spaniel walks nicely and recall is good, not perfect, but good. I tend to let her off in places we know well and when there is no one else around - she recalls straight back happily. She will recall from chasing birds (not tested on squirrels though!). She often runs into under growth but not too far ahead and she checks in as I sometimes hide or change direction etc so she does come back to find me.

The issue for me is other dogs. If we go somewhere there's lots of dogs I don't know I don't let her off as she would likely want to run over and play and obviously not all dogs want to play. If I know the other dogs and they are offlead then great they have a good run and she will come back fine. But sometimes offlead dogs run over when she is onlead and I feel bad for her not be able to run off and play. Or sometimes on our walks she'll spot another dog playing ball in the distance and she will run for them - sometimes I can get her back immediately and distract her with her own ball, other times it's like she's possessed and she'll go deaf and ignore me and race off towards them - it's usually the ball she's after rather than the dog as she has on a couple of occasions managed to catch another dog's ball and then proceed to flaunt it and encourage them to chase her for it back much to my embarrassment.

I understand she's in the dreaded teen phase but is this something she will grow out of as she matures or is it something I need to get a trainer involved with? I have a long line I occasionally use but I hate it and I can't use it walking with just me and my dd(4) as it's taken her out too many times and it's a danger to us all! Any tips for perfect recall?! (Or as near perfect as poss so I can relax a bit knowing she won't try and mug other dogs for their balls!)

There are things you can try without a trainer. Get her to sit when you see distant dogs and reward with whatever works (food, play, praise). Have her on a long line sometimes and reward her massively if she comes back when called but without any pressure on the line. If it does take line pressure, still reward her, just not as much.

I went through similar with my young gundog and she is loads better than she was. I try and do a lot of training around distractions (including other dogs) and that helps too.

Building self-control is really important, because ultimately it gives the dog more freedom: you can trust it off-lead, so it has more off-lead time.

@EdithStourton haha if she's on lead and spots a dog she either sits or lays down but she fixates on them rather than me. She knows "watch me" which she can do fine if no other dog but if she spots a dog she'll glance at me briefly to acknowledge the cue but then go back to staring at the dog. During this fixation she has no interest in treat or toy until either the dog has passed by (greeted or not) or I have dragged her away in a different direction!

I guess this gives me a starting point to work on though thank you perhaps we can go "dog spotting" and try to regain her focus on me on lead first before attempting off lead!

I wouldn’t let her off at all at the moment without a longline if you can’t get her back. It is known as self rewarding. Play with another dog or their ball is a better reward than you can offer, so when you call her back she is weighing up which is the better option -coming to you or ignoring.
the recall needs to be non-negotiable, so if I know I can’t get one of mine back in training I won’t call them at all, but just go and retrieve them myself (that way they don’t learn they can ignore).
she won’t grow out of it if you don’t work with her, so it does need attention.
when you see an off-lead dog you are happy for her to play with- always give her a release cue to play so the command comes from you.
the book total recall is good.
as frustrating as you find it when other dogs run over to yours, you are regularly doing this to other owners-it’s really not fair when they maybe training their dog too or they may have a nervous or reactive dog or one recovering from injury.

Just persevere.

My first spaniel had fabulous recall. He got to the point where if he saw another person he would turn and look at me to see if he should come back.

My current rescue Spaniel is another matter altogether and is rarely off lead.

@SarahSissions so you wouldn't even let her off in empty places where her recall is good and no problem? She def needs the offlead time...

I fully appreciate what you are saying and it's not at all something that happens regularly as I say I normally only let her off when I know there is no one else around and if I spot someone in the distance and I suspect there is another dog I will recall her and put her lead on before she spots them but it's just been the odd couple of times she's run after a dog playing ball in the distance where either she's spotted them before me or I've misjudged the distance and thought I could distract her away - so of course totally my fault and very self rewarding for her!

I would let off in a private field or where I knew I wouldn’t get caught out. The fact there have been a couple of instances where you have been caught out means you aren’t picking the right spots and is setting back your training and is making the problem worse.
get a longline-you don’t need to hold it, just allow it to trail on the ground behind her, but it gives you the safety net.

total recall by pippa mattison is fab!!
You have to more exciting than anything else and you will need the longline to help test her in more exciting areas but plan these when you don’t have your dc with you
Always set up her to succeed and build up to more exciting environments

Unfortunately, the more she manages to get away with ignoring you, the harder it's going to get.

Have you tried her on a long-line? Attach it to her harness (not a collar) and let her run. Then practise recall. If she ignores you, stamp on the long-line so she can't run away and wait until she comes back to you. LOTS of praise and a high-value reward, and repeat, repeat, repeat.

Best of luck!

@fairylightsandwaxmelts yes have a long line but I hate it as it's tripped us all up at some point and my 4yo several times!