Monty
Monty goes hunting. He will come back when he is ready.
Here is eight month old Springer Monty, finding it so hard to sit still while I took his photo! He lives with elderly Cocker, Millie.
To come
The main and ultimate thing they want just now is for young Monty to come when he is called. He will do so, when he is ready and if there is nothing he would rather do.
Millie
Monty is a teenager after all. I myself remember the trouble I got into when I was told to be home by ten and didn’t get in until eleven! I was even willing to endure my parents’ anger and do it again next time.
Sometimes ‘recall’ is a straightforward training procedure and classes will fix it, but this isn’t always the case.
Reliable recall starts at home.
If our dog doesn’t find us sufficiently relevant so doesn’t listen to us at home, then it’s not reasonable to expect him to come to us in a field full of smells and little animals to chase. He is selective about how quickly he does as we ask at home – even simple things like sitting. When called from across the room he only comes to them when he wants to.
Reliable recall begins when he listens to those simple things we ask him to do for us at home.
We can make a game of recall around the house so that he is conditioned to come when called. Most importantly, he has to have reason to do our bidding. Is there something ‘in it’ for him?
These things should be established inside before he is granted freedom outside again. Meanwhile they can give Monty exercise on a long line and work, work, work on a reliable recall in the face of distractions.
Back to front
We tend to do things back to front. Because a puppy normally sticks with us, we give him freedom. Then, when adolescence strikes we may try to take that freedom away. Far better the other way around, to limit freedom initially and gradually grant it. Everything is much harder when the dog has already got used to freelancing.
One last thing about recall is that out in the fields we are competing with exciting stuff, so we need to make ourselves motivational. The reward, whether it’s food or play, needs to be worth coming for. Just as my parents didn’t stop me going awol in the evening by getting angry, being grumpy with a dog that returns late won’t help at all.
For some reason it didn’t occur to my parents that extra pocket money when I come home on time would probably have worked a lot better with me!
Three months later: Monty is now a year old and things have improved on all fronts. He is much better off lead and really enjoys the gun dog training we do.
