We have a 14 month old male (castrated) border terrier and recall is
getting to be a problem. It wasn't until recently. I had trained him
to come to a whistle, which was always rewarded with cheese and never
followed by being put onto the lead or anything negative. Recently he
seems to be becoming impervious to the whistle, so we have effectively
lost recall with him.

Does anyone have any ideas for getting recall back?

The ony thing I have thought is that a different tasty reward might be
the answer. Another observation is that he seems to be going through a
particularly energetic phase right now, and so the chase instinct
might be increasing.

thanks

VZ

On 5 Apr 2007 11:37:31 -0700, wrote:

We have a 14 month old male (castrated) border terrier and recall is
getting to be a problem. It wasn't until recently. I had trained him
to come to a whistle, which was always rewarded with cheese and never
followed by being put onto the lead or anything negative. Recently he
seems to be becoming impervious to the whistle, so we have effectively
lost recall with him.

Does anyone have any ideas for getting recall back?

Have you ever thought of actually CORRECTING the dog when he doesn't
come when called?

Do you know what corrections are?

Training a reliable recall is actually very easy to do. You've
probably already managed to do part of it correctly, by using a
whistle, by always rewarding him for coming, by not putting him away
after being recalled, etc.

But you've left out the part about there being CONSEQUENCES for *not*
coming.

The ony thing I have thought is that a different tasty reward might be
the answer. Another observation is that he seems to be going through a
particularly energetic phase right now, and so the chase instinct
might be increasing.

And the more often he gets away with not coming when called, the more
often he'll try it. Yes, BTs have a strong instinct to chase things,
so until you have successfully trained a reliable recall in your dog,
don't take him places off-leash where he's likely to come upon things
to chase.

And unless you are essentially 100% certain that he'll come when
called, DO NOT CALL HIM!

Just go get him, and put him back on his leash.

A professional trainer can help you with exercises that you can do in
your own back yard, and then maybe in a fenced park, etc. that will
eventually instill a very reliable recall in your dog.

But you should also remember that no training works 100% of the time,
so be careful where you allow him to run free. A dog (yes, even a
neutered one) that gets a whiff of a female in heat, or sees a rabbit,
etc., can run off faster than a speeding bullet, so you've always got
to be OBSERVENT.

You want to be in a position to recall him *before* he gets too far
into a chase mode.

PS: Nothing is more effective at getting a bomb-proof recall than the
proper use of an e-collar. But if you're not prepared to spend the
bucks (they can be pricey) for a really good one, and then take the
time to learn how to use one properly, stick with traditional methods.

--
Handsome Jack Morrison

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