Recall .. 98% perfect, 2% argh!! Help …

[Pleasedontdothat]

Most of the time my 3 year old Toller has brilliant recall - he’ll be at the other end of the field and when I call him he turns on a sixpence and comes hurtling back to me. However, sometimes when we see strange dogs out on walks he will not recall away from them. Most of the time it’s fine, he and the other dog/s will have a little play and then he’ll come back. But sometimes the other owner gets very shirty when I can’t call him away. This is only with off lead dogs - if I see another dog that’s on lead he goes on lead too. When we got him, we had two older dogs but sadly one died after being hit on the road (Rocky was a puppy at the time) and then we lost our older Toller to cancer last summer so he’s now an only dog. He missed out on a lot of adolescent socialisation as he was extremely ill when he was 5 months old and wasn’t able to mix with dogs outside the house for a long time, he’s also not been neutered on the vet’s advice. We live very rurally so we often don’t see anyone out on walks. If we go on a walk with another dog he’s fine and he’s fine going on group walks when he goes to stay with our dog boarder. I don’t know how to train for the situation when his recall breaks down - I could be waving a whole roast chicken at him and he wouldn’t care …

I was chatting to a police dog handler once. His GSD was trained to perfection ... unless a bunny shot past. There wasn't a chance in Hell he'd recall.

Is it possible for you to regularly take your dog to places where other dogs are off-lead to work on his recall there?

We don't see many dogs out and about unless I go to the local playing fields, so I take my two there sometimes just to keep them chill around other dogs.

I remember when mine was a pup over winter. When i did the step on the longline thing, it would often fail ; the mud and wet just meant that it just slid under my welly boot 😂😂 I also might have switched to a flexi around that time 🙈

I was so happy to see the return of Spring that year 😬

I don't think many dogs actually have 100% recall. There will always be times when their instincts take over.
The issue isn't recall imo, the issue is when it doesn't work you should be going over straight away to get your dog.
The amount of people who let their dogs bother others then think that shouting its name over and over will work when it clearly didn't work the first time is infuriating. Just use your legs and come and get it!

Yep, been there 🤣 I learnt to tie knots in the line so that the whole thing couldn’t slide away in the mud!

Here's a controversial opinion that I have resisted posting so far, as I know it will get slated.

I had a dog that had 99% recall. He would usually turn on a sixpence at the sound of the whistle. I could even recall him off chasing hares and rabbits.

If we saw an on lead dog, I would recall him and put him on the lead. If it was an off lead dog, he was allowed to meet and greet. Usually they would have a bit of a run around and play and then we'd all go on our way. Occasionally (1% of the time) he would not come away from playing with the other dog. And he'd keep jumping around just out of reach so I couldn't grab hold of him.

I bought a long line for the beach. In the woods, I started recalling him every time we saw a dog and putting him on the lead.

I saw a trainer for help. I explained the situation. He asked how often it happened and I said once in a blue moon. And he said, "Fuck it then. He's a dog, not a robot. Apologise, move on and forget about it."

So that's what we did. Walks became more relaxing as I wasn't constantly on edge, looking out for other dogs. And we soon learnt which dogs were the ones he wouldn't recall from (only 2 as it turned out) and put him on the lead on the rare occasions we saw them or changed direction to avoid them.

As an aside, I love Tollers and have been tempted to get one for years. I live in an ideal location for one. But I worry they won't be like spaniels and I'll regret it. What are they like to live with?

@SpanielsGalore Thank you for the reminder that he isn’t a robot! I’d been feeling like a completely rubbish owner after our walk the other day - the other dogs’ owner was so unpleasant and was shouting at me which made my dog dance around even more so I looked utterly incompetent (although I do question the wisdom of taking an in-season bitch on an off-lead walk on a Sunday morning…). I can recall him away from a rabbit and the vast majority of dogs so by most standards his recall is pretty good, but we will keep working on it.

I’m not a massive fan of longlines as I’ve had a few bad experiences with them - my older Toller got tangled up in one when he was being chased by the massive Chow the line was attached to - he was lucky to come away uninjured and he hated any Chow he saw after that (thankfully very few!). And with my current Toller I ended up with nasty rope burn when his longline got wrapped round my ankle. I have literally never seen anyone else round here use one (to be honest if other dogs have got a collar on it’s a bit of a miracle..)

oh and @SpanielsGalore Tollers are absolutely fantastic dogs but they’re not spaniels! The two I’ve had are very energetic out and about but pretty chilled at home. Very happy and enthusiastic about life, they love learning new stuff, going to new places, making new friends. They adore swimming and playing fetch, my older one was very intelligent but a bit more anxious about life (he was clever enough to let imaginary ‘what if’ scenarios get to him. My current one is not as bright but doesn’t have a worry in the world.

I wouldn't say my one has 100% recall or is anyway perfect but the one thing I did work hard on was him not running up to other dogs as that was his favourite thing to do. Just don't let him run up to other off-lead dogs. Stop him beforehand and then if you do meet someone with an off-lead dog then perhaps let him play if both want to but it's the stopping him running up to dogs not recalling him once he's done it