[Old Shep]

 


and if there is a setter following you too - please let me know it will be mine 

[SallyintNorth]

Top tips:

• A dog that comes is a good dog.  Always, every time, without exception.  No matter what it did before it came, no matter how long it took to come.  You are looking for a dog whose safe and eventually instinctual automatic choice has to be, always, every time, to come to you.  So you have to be a safe and rewarding place to be.
• Find the right motivator for your dog.  For a gundog it is probably food.  For a collie it is probably not food.  Find its obsession - ball, plastic bottle, ragger toy, carrot, stick, whatever, and work on making that a real obsession.  Collies are the epitome of OCD, so this shouldn't be too hard!  Then the object of its obsession is the treat; that and your approval/affection when it comes to you.
• A dog that comes is a good dog.  Always, every time, without exception.  No matter what it did before it came, no matter how long it took to come.  Even if you just asked it to Stay!  Yes, even if you just asked it to Stay.  Maybe you don't praise it to high heaven, but it must still think that coming to you is always a good idea, a safe and pleasant place to be, a good choice to make.  You can work on Stay some more when you have a 100% bulletproof guaranteed recall. 
• Repeat, repeat, repeat.  Repeat some more.  Do it all again.  And again.  You want that recall faster than thought, automatic.  Coming when called must be safe, rewarding, a nice place to be.  Not always the treat but always always safe and pleasant - a pat or a stroke and some praise.
• A dog that comes is a good dog.  Always, every time, without exception.

There's an enormous amount I don't know about dogs and probably some things I think I know that I could learn to do differently and better.

But all my dogs have, and all my dogs after the first one have had, a 100% bulletproof guaranteed immediate recall. 

A dog that comes is a good dog.  Always, every time, without exception. Ask me how I know.

[happygolucky]

  , now if we could only train partners or children like that 

[SallyintNorth]

, now if we could only train partners or children like that 

Oh, it works, trust me 

When I ran my own company, one of the members of my team had to give me just about the worst news I could have received at that point in the company's development.  We had an open plan area - most of the top floor of a converted granary, beautiful it was - so she came and stood next to my desk and calmly told me the devastating facts.  A hush had descended on the room.  I digested what she'd told me and we sat down and worked through our options and best course of action for damage limitation.

Later she told me that her colleagues had feared for her having to deliver such a bombshell.  Afterwards they'd asked her how she'd had the nerve to do it, and so calmly too. 

"Ah," she'd smiled.  "A dog that comes is a good dog. "

[doganjo]

Sorry to disagree but there is ONE exception.

If you have a pointing dog the LAST thing you want is for that dog to come off point.

So, in the main, for working pointing dogs at least you need to know pretty well where your dog is so that if they don't recall straight away you know it is on point and you need to go find it.

One thing that does help is a bell attached to the collar, (they use these in France) but that in itself causes problems since normally you work a gundog without a collar (in case it gets caught on something).  So it eventually comes down to a) have a damn good recall b) have a damn good idea where your dog is when you send it out - you can't always see them in the terrain you find birds, so you need to have sharp eyes and good instincts.

[Skip]

Again thank you very much for replying to my dilemma. And the ideas that everyone has come up with is excellent. It does give you some new ideas to work on. I am a strong believer that all dogs needs to have some simulation in their lives, just to keep their brain active. I am sure that I will win over in the end with Pip the dog, trying all the different methods and ways. So I would like to thank everybody that replied to me. If you are interested I will keep in touch with Pip's progress as it would be good to find out which one does the trick. I have trained Pip to skip but that is another story and I won't go into that on this occasion.   Regards Pip

[sabrina]

My problem has never been recall Rascal is very good but when I am out working in the stables I take the dogs with me. Jake does what all terriers do, hunt for mice but Rascal would sneak away and disappear.Now his thing are squeaky toys so when I go out I take one of his toys and play with him for a little while then go and get on with my jobs. he hangs around for ages just waiting to see if I will play which I always do before taking them back indoors.  So far this works which keeps us both happy.

[happygolucky]

Food works with my husband .....I blew the whistle to alert him last week and he took no notice what so ever......I am talking about my husband as my dogs do listen to me!!

[colliewobbles]

Well thanks for all that info and I am sure out of all that I will come out on top! So if you see somebody coming down the road with sausages hanging round my neck and sweaty old sock plus stockings and a few dead animals dragging behind me with about 20 collies following you will know I have definitely cracked it

 

[Mammyshaz]

  

[OhLaLa]

No treats of any type work with our dog when he cocks a deaf 'un.
 
Working beautifully (basic gundog) around our farm but the minute he goes through the gate it all goes out the window. He works on the principal of if he doesn't look at you, he can't hear you either, so never recalls.
 
It's the same when visitors are here. No training whatsoever, not even sit. Then the minute they go, good as gold.

[wellies]

My 15 month old setter can be a nightmare when something exciting catches his attention and my patience has been tried on soooo many occasions  High value treats have helped but in new environments he can still test those boundaries. We used a long line but, hopefully those of you with boisterous breeds will enlighten me, He would go exploring and I would end up getting a massive shoulder wrenching jolt when he reached the end of the line. He also was very good at getting tangled in it, tried it up high and low to the ground but those lanky setter legs just ended up in a mess. Even went on a long line training course and they just shrugged at my poor pooch wrapped up  I trust him in our four acres but not if we go for a walk across the fields - oh the delights of setters 

[happygolucky]

Is this more a male thing?  any male dog I have had has been the same as well as any "male" anything...selective hearing!! 

[spandit]

Is this more a male thing?  any male dog I have had has been the same as well as any "male" anything...selective hearing!!

No, my male dog is well behaved. My bitch is completely deaf when it suits her. I can bellow pretty loudly when I have to and sometimes it's the only way to get her attention. Then I can drop the volume and coax her in...

[doganjo]

No treats of any type work with our dog when he cocks a deaf 'un.
 
Working beautifully (basic gundog) around our farm but the minute he goes through the gate it all goes out the window. He works on the principal of if he doesn't look at you, he can't hear you either, so never recalls.
 
It's the same when visitors are here. No training whatsoever, not even sit. Then the minute they go, good as gold.

You haven't got focus yet then so why is he allowed to be free outside your own secure area?