Recall question

Wellyboots6

Any ideas for how to train an old dog new (or forgotten) tricks?

Tyson seems to have forgotten what recall is over the past couple of months!

Or rather, I can call him when he wanders off and he pays no attention to me whatsoever. He knows what I want, as when I walk over to him he runs off.

Its getting quite frustrating as I am now wondering whether he can be trusted off his lead as he will only come back to me when he has had enough of whatever it is he is doing when I call him back to me.

In his classes (3 a week currently!) he started doing a lot of off-lead work and used to be really good at it and stuck very close to me. Now he just wanders off and does his own thing.

He used to be whistle trained but now ignores it. He used to come to the command 'come'. He used to come to his name. He used to follow me if I ran in the opposite direction. He used to run towards me if I shouted 'this way' meaning I was going in a different direction. He used to come and look for me if I hid.

I had wondered if he was going deaf, but he can hear the rustle of a food packet a mile off and I can just think the word 'cheese' and he goes mental! Neither work when we are out and about though!

krlyr

I would look at why he keeps "forgetting" his training, as it seems like he's had lots of various cues to mean the same thing but now ignores them all.
Do you practice recalls throughout the whole walk, or only recall him when it's time to go? Getting a dog to recall, have the lead clipped on, then let them go straight away can help them realise that recall doesn't always mean the fun is over.

Do you always reward a recall? If he chooses to come back to you over interesting smells or other dogs, make sure it's worth his while! Keep treats to hand at all times, or if you've found yourself without, make a huge fuss and/or play a game with him instead. I think recall is one of those things that often needs constant reinforcing, because the behaviour when a dog doesn't recall is so rewarding in itself (as opposed to ignoring the command to sit or fetch - nothing much happens if they dog doesn't obey then, but when he fails to recall it's likely to be because he was having fun elsewhere)

Are you weakening your cues by using them when you know he won't respond? Eventually, the whistle, his name, the recall command etc. start as "come here", but morph into "come here when you're finished entertaining yourself" and then "come here if you want, but I won't do anything if you don't". You should only ever use the command once, don't use it when you know for sure he won't listen, and if you use it once and it's ignored, you take it into your own hands and go and fetch him rather than repeatedly calling him. If he does eventually mooch back to you, reward the recall still but take it as a reminder to brush up on his recall skills. You may want to perhaps teach a down-stay/emergency down on cue so that you have an alternative to use if the recall command is ignored, though do be careful not to overuse these if he's ignoring them too.

http://ahimsadogtraining.com/blog/teaching-come/
http://www.clickerdogs.com/perfectrecall.htm

http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup/videos?query=recall
http://www.youtube.com/user/pamelamarxsen/videos?query=recall

You might also want to teach some other attention-related exercises too, to help maintain that focus on you during walks. A "watch me" command, "touch" to encourage the dog to interact with you physically, check ins, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/user/pamelamarxsen/videos?query=attention
http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup/videos?query=attention

Fire_Fox

Hearing one noise but not being able to hear another or having different hearing abilities when there is or is not background noise can be a symptom of hearing problems, IMO get your dog checked over by the vet.

Wellyboots6

Thanks krlyr, was hoping you would reply!

He has had various cues to mean the same thing as he 'forgets' one and so then I try a different one, then he 'forgets' that etc etc

I do practice his recall when we are out, rewarding him and then letting him off to play again so he doesn't think it always means home time, or lead time.

He really isn't treat orientated so that isn't helping. If I could bottle one of his favourite sniffs then I'm sure that would work wonders!!

I agree with possibly weakening the cues, as his 'forgetting' seems to start off gradually, so then I suppose each time he doesn't respond he gets rewarded by whatever it is he is doing. It's going to be difficult now to pick a moment when I think he will respond though!

I have trained him quite well now with the 'watch' and 'touch' that you suggested a while back on another one of my training related posts. They just don't seem to register at a distance!

Fire fox, I had him at the vets on Monday to see if his hearing is OK, and they can't find any problems with it. He definitely has selective hearing, but I am not sure that is medical!

krlyr

katy721 wrote: »

He really isn't treat orientated so that isn't helping. If I could bottle one of his favourite sniffs then I'm sure that would work wonders!!

You joke, but you can reward a dog in other ways than treats. If sniffing is what motivates him, work that into your training regime. Look up the "premack principle" - you get a dog to do something it's not so eager to do (leave the interesting smells and come back to you) by offering a behaviour it does want to do as a reward. A bit like telling a kid if he eats his vegetables, he can have his favourite dessert, or if he does his homework, he can go out to play with his friends.

http://louisesdogblog.word press/2011/04/08/the-premack-principle-and-the-recall/
http://www.ehow.com/video_2268140_premack-principle-teach-dog-come.html
http://boogiebt.word press.com/2012/05/25/the-power-of-premack-a-recall-repaired-by-sarah-owings/
(sorry, you'll have to remove the spaces from two of the links)

If sniffing gets him going more than chasing a ball, you could initially a bit of basic tracking by chucking a handful of treats on the floor to sniff out as his reward, or throw a toy into long grass to find, or just let him off to go sniff at interesting smells nearby.

Wellyboots6

Oooh brilliant!

That sounds like something that might work.

It's raining a lot today so he isn't wanting to go for a walk. Might try with the longline in the house for a bit to give him the idea