My dogs recall is rubbish....

krlyr

Don't give up hope - you can build up toy drive in dogs

http://www.thecrossovertrainer.com/creating-toy-drive/
http://susangarrett.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/tug-drive/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsKYOrL2VLE

Artytarty

Sorry to laugh but this thread title always makes me think of a dog with a memory problem!
He can remember when he was a puppy but not what he had for tea.
.*ill get my coat....*

bouncydog1

Sympathise wholly as in the dim and distant past our spaniels have acquired dead rats, maggot ridden rabbits, dead hedgehog - list goes on!!

joansgirl

When I posted originally I was still extremely peed off as I'd had to crawl through a gap in the fence on all fours and got wet and muddy plus scratched to bits by the undergrowth. On reflection, now I've had time to calm down, I can see the positives (and the funny side). When I got to her and grabbed her collar she dropped it straight away, no hesitation. She made no attempt to grab it again. Now that's a massive improvement on her part. And with the pheasant she picked up I think if I'd have let her carry it for a while she would have lost interest (maybe) and dropped it. She is a Lab and naturally wants to carry "stuff". She made no attempt to try to eat either the carcass or the pheasant. Since the carcass incident I've kept her on the lead most of the time and her "drop it" and "leave it" are pretty good. Plus she's only 9 months old with a huge enthusiasm for everything and everybody. Hopefully she'll calm down as she gets older.

rising_from_the_ashes

My Lab is a predatory chase :eek: and it's taken a LOT of hard work, frustration & tears over the past 18 months to get her to a point where, most of the time, she can be trusted off lead

I am obviously very selective about where she gets off lead (beaches are good as you have clear vision ahead &, apart from birds, there's little for her to chase whereas woods as a nightmare and we rarely go!)

"Ball" has been an absolute godsend suggested by a friend / amateur dog trainer - it keeps her focused on something and is a fantastic distraction should we see something that I think she may go after

I've also been doing whistle training - which took a long time to take effect - but is now pretty good

I have to watch her though - and she will still chase things if I don't see them / grab / distract her first BUT it's miles and miles better than when I got her


She will also find dead things :eek: and there is rarely a walk that I'm not brought some disgusting find or other but at least she does just retrieve them & come back (one of her offspring is a cadaver dog ... I know where it gets it's "nose" from!)

She was 5.5 when she came (just over 7 now) - so there's always something that can be done with the right training (no matter the age of the dog)

Good luck

krlyr

Saw this yesterday and thought of you, it's a video tutorial for building up a drive to chase a certain toy on a lunge whip, and the aim is to build the drive at the same time as building control when aroused. The end goal being that you've taught a dog control such as a solid recall from a squirrel (or in your case, recall from the scent of a dead animal)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flolk6NrRhg

You'd keep the toy and whip for training sessions so they were novel items and more intriguing to a dog with lower toy drive. The Collie in the video has an obvious desire to get the toy so if yours was less interested, you may need to 'prime' the toy first. Here's a good guide on building drive for a particular toy, and as they use a piece of string it does tie in nicely to using said toy with a lunge whip later on
http://www.clickerdogs.com/createamotivatingtoy.htm

krlyr

Found this article today about building toy drive in a non-toy-motivated dog. May be of some help if you still need it (or to others reading this thread in a similar position!)
http://www.helixfairweather.com/images/stories/PDFs/nontoymotivated%20cr.pdf

Buffythedebtslayer

This is so helpful!


I have two dogs and it is an utter nightmare with one of them. He will not come back. I feel like a typical silly woman with two silly little dogs!


Plus neither were well socialised as puppies so can find other people/dogs/ the wind a distraction.


I walk them on retractable leads and there have been improvements. Essentially one is motivated by food and the other, the submissive one is motivated by fear. Very sad. and my fault. SO I spend a lot of time feeling guilty. Still like I say there have been improvements.


thanks for all the links


XX

zaksmum

My Jack is a lab crossed with a whippet and has the prey drive of the lab and the speed of a whippet.

So if he sees a rabbit while off lead somewhere rural there is absolutely NOTHING that will stop him going after it.

He nearly always catches the poor things too!