[Mammyshaz]

Wellies, I'm in total sympathy. As hard as it is, just keep up the reward training and take deep breaths under gritted teeth  as you praise him when he does recall,  eventually    ( but try to ignore situations when you think he may not recall. No point in standing shouting in vain when he has no intention of returning. Just sit it out and as he does return then recall and praise  ) he will regain his skills when he gets through this naughty stage ( only to hit another naughty stage in another few months  ) he will grow out of it a he matures.

You can always come on a walk with myself and a few friends with all ranges of breeds and ages. It helps put things into perspective and realise they all do it at some stage. It helps when you have a good day and it's somebody else who has the troubled day, then you can sigh relief and do the sympathising     Tho at the moment all my walks seem to give relief to everybody else!!  ( my boy is 10 months now and he will be lucky to make it to 11 months at this rate  )

[Moleskins]

annie would know the solution but she has left the forum

Some good advice from In The Hills though
forgive me if I'm repeating, if your dog won't come to you don't chase it but run away from it. The game is 'chase' and the dog will catch you, when it does reward it and then play the game again. After a couple of goes let the dog 'catch' you then while fussing it pop the lead on.

[ShaunP]

Can't help except with sympathy - we have a collie with convenient deafness 

You should meet Gem....."The Border Collie you are calling is not responding. It may respond if you try again later!!!"

[Goldcraig]

Mindy the CKC, who at 7, has decided to embark on "Kevin and Perry" years...I swear she looks at you with disgust when you call her (if she even decides to look at you at all) before doing what she wants anyway... And no, she not deaf, she can hear a crisp packet scrunching at 50 yards....

[omnipeasant]

Six months is not a great age to have recall totally mastered. Agree with everything ITHs says but I want to emphasise only call when you are likely to be obeyed. Let your pup chase the swallows for a little while, then call him back when he is losing interest and he is more likely to come back. If things go wrong ignore it, pretend it didn't happen and try again later. Dogs live in the moment.

Your pup will reward you one day by surprising you with his obedience in a sticky situation. I was out with three border collies and a JR terrier today. JR terrier set up a hare that came towards me and the collies. On the lie down command they all responded beautifully and stayed down while the confused hare weaved between them.  It might seem a bit fraught at the moment but gentle persistence will get you there.

[sabrina]

What I do, is call my dogs and when they come to me praise them, then send them away to play again. If every time you do a recall is to put the lead on or spoil their fun they soon learn that it is best not to come.