Getting A Dog To Come back When You Call It.

[jagracer]

I have a Parsons Jack Russell which when I let it off the lead in the park will not come back until he is good and ready. His head is not ruled by his stomach so he wont come for treats. If I chastise him when I do catch up with him I get the feeling he doesn't care, probably doesn't even know why and on the occasions I've hit hit he doesn't really feel it. So I have given up with carrot or stick approach which has left me with a dog that does exactly as he pleases when off the lead.
I don't want to have to keep him on the lead all the time as he likes a run and sniff around but I am at a loss as what to do.

[Jasandjules]

There are a couple of issues.

Mainly however, you are not dominant enough overall, therefore when he is off the lead, he is in charge of the pack, and so does what he wants.

Do you have a longline? Do you have a whistle? Do not punish him when he returns, but praise him. What treats do you use?

[oldbanger]

We found that clicker training worked well for this.

Once he got the idea of the clicker, I would walk him on the extendable lead, and recall him at random. It was a long time ago, but it took maybe a week before he was OK to let off.

[Lord Croker]

Jasandjules is right - you have to show him that you're in charge at all times and in all situations, don't let him get away with anything!

[Stevenj214]

The way my obedience class did it was to start with a "Sit, Stay", walk a couple of paces to the end of the lead turn round, call "Come" and pull in the lead as fast as possible. It eventually progressed into further away, no lead.

[Disco_Biscuit]

i had the same problem with my Jack Russell, small pieces of mini Pepperami.

Start by calling him indoors, when he comes treat him and he will then associated being called to pepperami

Edited by Disco_Biscuit on Sunday 13th September 09:50

[Hedders]

According to 'the dog whisperer' the most important part of the walk is leaving the house, and entering the house. The dog has to be invited in and out of the house. It should never lead you into or out of 'YOUR' house.

This tells them you are making the deisions.

Apparently.

[jagracer]

Jasandjules said:

There are a couple of issues.

Mainly however, you are not dominant enough overall, therefore when he is off the lead, he is in charge of the pack, and so does what he wants.

Do you have a longline? Do you have a whistle? Do not punish him when he returns, but praise him. What treats do you use?

Yep, he is in charge off the lead but he buggers off chasing scents so I have no hope of catching him. I never punish him when he comes back on his own, only praise. I do however shout at him when I have to get him and he lets me catch him, I get the impression he is thinking "my dad does love me but he does shout at me for some reason now and again"
I don't have along line as I hate the bloody things and people with them wind me up when they let their dogs run around and tangle themselves up around anything that moves.
The other problem is that I have two other dogs in tow as well, one is a 12 YO GSD that is nearly totally deaf, and blind in one eye so he is on the lead most of the time and the other is another Jack that is a bit more obedient.
If I got a long line what way would I use it to train him?

Edited by jagracer on Sunday 13th September 10:57

[becksW]

Practice recall in the garden over and over again, use toys if thats better, make recall a game and fun in itself.

He's a terrier they are stubborn he needs to be interested in you to come back to you. I have a whippet who doesn't have the best recall in the world but he's certainly not that bad either. Occasionally he forgets he's supposed to come back when called, when this happens I call him until he does come back (note he never actually runs off, he is usually just more interested in sniffing the bushes than coming straight back) slowly but surely he does. When he reaches me I do fuss him but then I make him do a few commands e.g. sit and stay reward him then let him run off just a little before calling him back and giving him more praise, treats etc then I let him do want he wants again he seems to respond well to this and he will respond far more quickly next time I call him back.

The other thing to do is make a bit of a fool of yourself, call him get him to look at you if this means waving your hands in the air, whistling etc then do it once you've got his attention do a short sharp run calling him at the same time keep doing this and hopefully curiosity will get the better of him and he will run back to you to find out what you are doing. When he comes back play with him and make it fun.

Failing that seek out a trainer. They are bright dogs and a Parsons is a working dog by nature so he should be following his owners every word. Has he been neutered? If not this may help with reducing his distractions!

ETA - Don't shout at him when you do catch up with him, when you are close enough to him do some commands instead.
I should add that the above advice is what has worked for my dog, there are other approaches some good some bad.

Edited by becksW on Sunday 13th September 11:43

Edited by becksW on Sunday 13th September 11:45

[CommanderJameson]

Hedders said:

According to 'the dog whisperer' the most important part of the walk is leaving the house, and entering the house. The dog has to be invited in and out of the house. It should never lead you into or out of 'YOUR' house.

This tells them you are making the deisions.

Apparently.

Dominance is a huge deal in controlling your dogs, but too many people confuse "dominance" with "being a shouty violent person", and the two aren't the same thing at all.

You can dominate a dog very effectively by ignoring it.

[becksW]

CommanderJameson said:

Hedders said:

According to 'the dog whisperer' the most important part of the walk is leaving the house, and entering the house. The dog has to be invited in and out of the house. It should never lead you into or out of 'YOUR' house.

This tells them you are making the deisions.

Apparently.

Dominance is a huge deal in controlling your dogs, but too many people confuse "dominance" with "being a shouty violent person", and the two aren't the same thing at all.

You can dominate a dog very effectively by ignoring it.

Very true. THe inviting in and out of a house is taken too far sometimes. Not something I've ever done with my dog, just no need, he is not a dominant dog so no need to enforce this kind of behaviour. A lot of people mistake fear aggression in dogs as dominance, so by trying to become more dominant they actually worsen the dogs bahaviour. Boundaries and rules do not always need to be about dominance.

[Jasandjules]

jagracer said:

Jasandjules said:

There are a couple of issues.

Mainly however, you are not dominant enough overall, therefore when he is off the lead, he is in charge of the pack, and so does what he wants.

Do you have a longline? Do you have a whistle? Do not punish him when he returns, but praise him. What treats do you use?

Yep, he is in charge off the lead but he buggers off chasing scents so I have no hope of catching him. I never punish him when he comes back on his own, only praise. I do however shout at him when I have to get him and he lets me catch him, I get the impression he is thinking "my dad does love me but he does shout at me for some reason now and again"
I don't have along line as I hate the bloody things and people with them wind me up when they let their dogs run around and tangle themselves up around anything that moves.
The other problem is that I have two other dogs in tow as well, one is a 12 YO GSD that is nearly totally deaf, and blind in one eye so he is on the lead most of the time and the other is another Jack that is a bit more obedient.
If I got a long line what way would I use it to train him?

Edited by jagracer on Sunday 13th September 10:57

1. Don't go to him to catch him. When you get near enough, issue the recall command and then make him come back to you before putting him on the lead and giving him praise.
2. A whistle is slightly better for recall IMHO and experience as there is no emotion in your call thus no anger/fear etc. for the dog to pick up on.
3. Do you dominate him in other ways? (I don't mean beat him or anything, but take food from him etc.. and does he walk to heel whilst on-lead?)
4. I can appreciate it being a LOT harder when you have three dogs to control. Do you have the time to take him out on his own?
5. The longline is a pain, but it's simply a way of letting the dog get further away before recalling him - and being able to make him come back thanks to 40ft worth of string........I also tied two longlines together as well to give plenty of range (this was with a rescue dog who had previously lived in kennels not a house).
6. Part of it could also be, he is a terrier, he will have lots of energy, does he get walked long and far enough to knacker him out?
7. Even if not food orientated, I would be willing to bet that he'd be interested in baked liver. I do not know a single dog in my life who will turn that down (and that includes dogs bred to ignore other people and food), it is basically the Alpha dog's food - therefore Beta/Gamma dogs will be rather keen on it.....

[jagracer]

Jasandjules said:

jagracer said:

Jasandjules said:

There are a couple of issues.

Mainly however, you are not dominant enough overall, therefore when he is off the lead, he is in charge of the pack, and so does what he wants.

Do you have a longline? Do you have a whistle? Do not punish him when he returns, but praise him. What treats do you use?

Yep, he is in charge off the lead but he buggers off chasing scents so I have no hope of catching him. I never punish him when he comes back on his own, only praise. I do however shout at him when I have to get him and he lets me catch him, I get the impression he is thinking "my dad does love me but he does shout at me for some reason now and again"
I don't have along line as I hate the bloody things and people with them wind me up when they let their dogs run around and tangle themselves up around anything that moves.
The other problem is that I have two other dogs in tow as well, one is a 12 YO GSD that is nearly totally deaf, and blind in one eye so he is on the lead most of the time and the other is another Jack that is a bit more obedient.
If I got a long line what way would I use it to train him?

Edited by jagracer on Sunday 13th September 10:57

1. Don't go to him to catch him. When you get near enough, issue the recall command and then make him come back to you before putting him on the lead and giving him praise.
2. A whistle is slightly better for recall IMHO and experience as there is no emotion in your call thus no anger/fear etc. for the dog to pick up on.
3. Do you dominate him in other ways? (I don't mean beat him or anything, but take food from him etc.. and does he walk to heel whilst on-lead?)
4. I can appreciate it being a LOT harder when you have three dogs to control. Do you have the time to take him out on his own?
5. The longline is a pain, but it's simply a way of letting the dog get further away before recalling him - and being able to make him come back thanks to 40ft worth of string........I also tied two longlines together as well to give plenty of range (this was with a rescue dog who had previously lived in kennels not a house).
6. Part of it could also be, he is a terrier, he will have lots of energy, does he get walked long and far enough to knacker him out?
7. Even if not food orientated, I would be willing to bet that he'd be interested in baked liver. I do not know a single dog in my life who will turn that down (and that includes dogs bred to ignore other people and food), it is basically the Alpha dog's food - therefore Beta/Gamma dogs will be rather keen on it.....

1. I don't bother going for him any more, there are a couple of places on his round that I will go to and call him when he gets near, I do praise him when he comes back and he ill come and sit by me when he is ready, I have also praised him and let him carry on his way a a kind of reward and so he doesn't think that every time he comes to me he will end up on the lead.
2.Will try the whistle.
3.He's pretty good on the lead but having three dogs they all want to be in front but he does walk to heal.
4.Will try that as well.
5.Will borrow one and give it a go.
6.He does get knackered and also has a good space in the garden to run rond with the other one which is the same age.
7.Will try something more tasty. With feeding time, he is not food orientated and now only tends to eat if I put his food away from the other two dogs and also likes to be with me when he eats, I was out for the day yesterday and left his food until I came home. When I'm around I normally give them 30 minutes or so to eat and then remove anything that's left.

Thanks for all the help and advice from you all, it gives me somewhere to start and work from.

[Menguin]

You could sellotape a boomerang to it.

[Silent1]

With my Rottweiler I took a different tack, I still wanted her to be dominant over anyone but me as she's a guard dog.
So when she wouldn't come back I'd tow her in from her collar and not stop If she bit me. I was basically showing her I wont give up. Now she will do anything for me but won't listen to anyone else at all unless she's met them when I'm there.

She also used to struggle with understanding what people wanted so a few times of showing her and she'll do anything include attack on command.

[greengreenwood7]

not everyone likes them but there's always the electric collar route. had issues with one of our dogs when we first got him, he couold be as close as 20 feet, but ignored any calls. did the usual training type tricks - we're not experts but we've managed to train our other dogs without issues. anyway, resorted to the electric collar - just a quick zap to break his concentration and it only took about 3-4 walks for him to learn that 1 call or whistle meant that he should come right back. if all else fails, might be worth thinking about..

[MartinQ]

I've got some experience with this problem being a Beagle owner.

I don't think we'll ever be able to walk her off-lead, but these are the tips our trainer gave us.

The first thing is never to punish the dog when you finally catch it. It will associate returning to you with punishment. Praise the dog, give treats and let it go again so it learns that returning to you is not the end of 'playtime'.

[DBSV8]

my old dog had no legs & was called ""fag""

every morning I would take him for a drag ....

bugger never came either when i called him

[Mobile Chicane]

Some other little tricks you can use to reinforce that you are the boss here:

- Feed the dog only after you and the rest of the family have eaten.
- Don't allow the dog on furniture, or upstairs.
- The dog should have his own bed and not be allowed to sleep anywhere else.

These and other house rules such as entering doorways first need to be enforced and maintained. From the dog's perspective the 'pack' hierarchy is something to be continually challenged, so unfortunately you can't ever think "He's got the idea now, I can relax the rules."

Something like agility training might also help to burn off some energy and give him the chance to use his brain.

[Silent1]

Mobile Chicane said:

Some other little tricks you can use to reinforce that you are the boss here:

- Feed the dog only after you and the rest of the family have eaten.
- Don't allow the dog on furniture, or upstairs.
- The dog should have his own bed and not be allowed to sleep anywhere else.

These and other house rules such as entering doorways first need to be enforced and maintained. From the dog's perspective the 'pack' hierarchy is something to be continually challenged, so unfortunately you can't ever think "He's got the idea now, I can relax the rules."

Something like agility training might also help to burn off some energy and give him the chance to use his brain.

you don't need to do that though, you can show dominance without keeping them off the furniture etc