Recallers

So, Louis has a terrible recall (he's 8 months old). This makes going to the dog park a pretty bad idea (though I still do it, I admit).

I've been working with him at home on this since the day I got him, but at the park there are simply too many super awesome and rewarding distractions (other dogs .... wheeeeeeeeeee!).

I am interested in the Recallers course, but want to know if I have a chance of being successful with it.

Thoughts? Experiences?

Not if you keep doing things you know aren't helping and only hurting the situation

I'm a smart ass, what can I say

I signed up for it, paid...and barely followed it at all. I don't do well with online courses if I'm not 'obligated' to keep up (as in having a spot where I'm posting videos/getting feedback directly). So you have to know yourself a bit and know how likely it is you will get anything out of the course.

And yes - you do have to not do things that are hurting the situation. I also went into it knowing that I wasn't going to be 100% restricting my dog's access to reinforcers. Which I knew was going to limit my success. I'm not even sure WHY I signed up for it, as I type this out!

Ha! Ok, point taken.

I KNOW I shouldn't be taking him. But ****, can't figure out a way to adequately exercise him with out it.

Well, don't try to call him then.

You may be there longer than you wanted though.

I know how you feel! The off-leash dog park is the only place Hugo can legally be off-leash, so it's hard to not take them. Plus it's his favorite place in the world. I worked on Hugo's recall for a long time and didn't see any progress until I put the long line on him and made it stay on. If the long line was off, I NEVER called him in. I only called when I could real him in if he made the decision to ignore the call.

When you go out to the park, does he ever check in with you? Look toward you to make sure you're there, come back to check in, etc? I REALLY wanted Hugo reliable at the dog park, so I took him there every singe day for at LEAST an hour, more like 3 on the weekends. I kept him on a long line and I drilled recall like you wouldn't believe. I rewarded him with nasty smelly canned dog food and bison tripe every time he even looked at me. I also played with him a LOT. We played modified chase (obviously he runs much faster than me so he would just zoom really close to me and I would fling myself at him like I was going to tag him and he would zoom back around). We also played a ton of tug with toys he valued. I let him play with other dogs but ONLY when I said "go ahead." If another dog approached him (can't control other people's dogs) I would give the "go ahead" cue, as if it was my intention all along.

He made HUGE leaps in that time period, and it was right as he was the age your guy is, in which our boys are bratty teens. : ) He comes on the 1st call now, hasn't blown me off in months and is very nearly 100% on not leaving to greet another dog with out my permission. Occasionally if one passes close by he starts to head off to them (esp. if he knows them) and I have to recall him and then give the go ahead if it's a dog I know he can play with.

I know it's easier said than done, but I would really avoid letting him self-reinforce.

I know that's a little be of unsolicited advice, lol, but as for recallers, I plan on taking it. I know it's expensive, but I do really well online classes and am really good at following a well put out schedule.

Thank you for the advice! I love it. I did have him dragging a long line for a while and didn't ever call him without it, but my line wasn't long enough. LOL! The dog park I go to is HUGE. Trees, trails for walking etc. Many, many acres.

I really need to work on building value in a couple of toys, because while he loves to play with me at home, at the dog park he couldn't care less and just wants to play play play!

I took Recallers 2.0 with Cohen. I enjoyed it and found it useful. It didn't perfect her recall overnight, but now ~3 years later (3? I dunno.), Cohen's recall is basically 100%. Correlation |= causation, but I think it was helpful.

It's not brand new info, but it's well organized, presented well, and there's a support system for any questions or issues that crop up. If you have a couple hundred dollars burning a hole in your pocket, it certainly can't hurt.