How can Skye safely gain the freedom to run off lead – and what must change first for reliable recall to become possible? With the help first of the RSPCA and for the past six months in her lovely home, German Shepherd Skye has transitioned from yard dog to family Read more
How can owners balance a dog’s love of freedom with the need for reliable recall when distractions appear? They so want to be able to carry on giving Luna freedom. This is what they want to resolve in contacting me: ‘Unreliable recall in distracting situations’. ‘Distracting situations’ are exactly when Read more
When a working-breed dog ignores calls while sniffing or playing, is the real issue obedience — or that the reward simply isn’t worth it? The problem seems simple enough. They want to be able to get Working Cocker Milo’s focus and attention on them when the are out. When the Read more
Why does a dog who normally comes when called suddenly ignore recall when another dog appears?
Nala ignores Come when called when she sees another dog to run up to and jump on! That’s their only problem really apart from some jumping up due to over-excitement.
Nala is an unusual-looking dog. Stunning, large and fluffy. She is a very friendly mix of Leonberger and Giant Poodle.
They have worked hard with training the two–year-old. The problem isn’t severe – yet. She has good recall mostly but she ignores Come when she’s called when they most need it. They are doing the right thing getting help before it escalates into anything more. (more…)
I went to a delightful elderly Staffie yesterday, twelve-year-old Barney. I was told that his jumping up was a big problem, particularly for the little grandchildren. His pulling on lead was so bad he’d not been walked for nearly two years and he had now started to destroy the house when they were out.
On the few occasions when she has managed to get out of either the front door or the garden gate she has run off down the road, totally deaf to any calls to come back.
It is only by luck that she’s not ended up under a car.
When they opened the door for me to go, Marley simply walked out and down the road, coming back home about fifteen minutes later.
We may have done some loose-lead walking but he didn’t consider that to be his morning walk, so he went by himself!
Duke, the puppies’ father, and Princess, both three years old, had the wrong start in life. Duke was in a barn and then not taken out until five months old which left a big gap in his vital socialisation. Princess had been left alone for hours and was beaten for destroying things.
What if your dog was almost perfect, but just wouldn’t come when you needed him to? This little dog is a dream. I’m in love. The lady is wheelchair-bound and has had 20-month-old Chihuahua Pepe for ten weeks now. Apparently he came from a home where they also had two Read more
When a dog has learnt to be selective whether he comes or not when called, it can be good to start all over again with a whistle. Home work needs to be put in first – lots of it. After a thousand toots of the whistle over a couple of weeks, each time followed by a tiny piece of something tasty (it can be a great family game whistling a dog from room to room), we should be well on the way to creating a conditioned response.