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If you feel like you don’t exist as far
as your dog is concerned, and that everything and everyone else is much more
interesting than you are, then this article is for you! :-) If you’ve asked yourself so many
times, why does this always happen, then you may find some answers here!
QUESTION: Why does my dog keep running off and never comes back when I call him?
ANSWER: Because you are of the least value/interest to him at that moment in
time.
Now before you go getting upset, it’s
not personal, it is simply that your dog will always choose to do the
most rewarding behaviour for him, he can’t help it, it’s
the way his brain is wired.
DOGS DO WHAT WORKS,
WHAT IS THE MOST FUN,
WHAT GETS THEM
SOMETHING THEY WANT OR LIKE - SIMPLE!
You can of course train your dog by teaching him to AVOID bad things like being yanked on the lead, smacked, shouted at etc. however, this will ultimately damage your relationship and when you aren't close enough to 'enforce' behaviour, your dog will revert to doing as he pleases?
Below are some simple strategies you can
start to apply that will definitely improve the reliability of your dog’s
recall behaviour (as long as you do actually apply them!)
HOWEVER
To Solve all your RECALL PROBLEMS
you will need the RECALL WORKBOOK
choc full of detailed information and training techniques that will SHOW YOU how to teach your dog to come back, these are all tried and tested techniques and methods for training and strengthening your dogs recall
behaviour.
This is the same information I teach my clients at my RECALL TRAINING WORKSHOPS
To ATTEND THIS WORKSHOP would cost you £75.00
BUT you can purchase the same information for just £34.50
(+ 1 months FREE email support!)
THE RECALL TRAINING WORKBOOK
TEACH YOUR DOG TO COME BACK TO YOU
EVEN WHEN THERE ARE DISTRACTIONS AROUND!!
Available here to download soon - £34.50
BE PROACTIVE! TRAIN YOUR RECALL
Many people wonder why, when they NEED
to recall their dog, it doesn't work!
Usually this is because most dog owners don't ever train a recall behaviour??? You would think this is madness?
But it's true, GENERALLY speaking, when you are out walking your dog, he will come back to you, most of the time, therefore you believe him to be trained to recall, this is not the case!! What every dog owner needs to understand is that Recall needs to be trained before you actually need it, just the same as you would train a sit, or down or any other behaviour.
In the presence of
competing rewards, (ie. other people, small furry animals, other dogs) recall
doesn’t just happen. Here are some Training Tips:-
- Know
your dogs’ Motivators; know what things your dog will value.
- Call
his name, then give him his instructions, if you just call his
name, he won’t necessarily know you want him to come to you
- Give
him encouragement along the way; praise him as he comes toward you so he
knows he’s making the right choice.
- Make
yourself interesting & exciting. The more fun you make
coming back to you, the more likely your dog will do it again, and again.
- Reward
him when he arrives - treats / big praise / a game.
- Train
his recall progressively - If you can’t get your dog to come when you call
him at home, he is never going to do it when you are out in the big
wide world on walkies with tons of distracting smells, sights and sounds!
IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF
SUCCEEDING
- Always
call your dog in a happy voice, even if you are angry (I wouldn’t come to
you if you called me in an angry voice so why would you think your dog
will!)
- Spend
more time playing with your dog when you are out walking. If he is busy having great fun
interacting with you, he is much less likely to even notice anything
else, let alone run off in search of more exciting stuff to do.
- All
members of the family must recall the dog in the same way using the same word;
otherwise the dog will become confused meaning the recall will be
unreliable.
- Always
walk your dog when he is hungry, your treats will have more value then.
- Train
for distance before you train with distractions. The distractions are the last thing you
add, to proof the behaviour and make it reliable anytime, anyplace
no matter what is going on. (Well 95% of the time anyway – sorry there is
no such thing as 100% reliability where animals are concerned, it’s what
makes them so interesting!)
THE BASIC RECALL PROCESS
- Start
at home, in the most familiar, least distracting environment.
- When
he is 95% reliable at home and in the garden, take him to some
outside places that don’t have lots of distractions and train him again
in these places.
- When he is 95% reliable in
places with low level distractions, then and only then can you start to
train him in highly distracting places.
Every time your dog does not come back he is self rewarding himself
and this will undo your training!
- Even
if your dog comes back 95% of the time in a familiar environment that is
full of high level distractions, be aware that if you take him
somewhere new he may initially be distracted by new sights, sounds and
smells, its not that his recall behaviour has disappeared or that he
is ignoring you, at least not voluntarily, his senses become overloaded
with all the new information. This is why recall must be practised in a
variety of locations for it to be as reliable as possible.
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