How Long Does It Take? -- Reliable Recall Training.

johnny1609

Active Member
my dogs hunt purely on sight alone and on what i run them on. i go at night with a lamp and point it at the animal i wish them to take, they will then attempt to catch it and if they catch it retrieve it to me, providing they are able to carry it. as soon as they lamp is switched of they will return and normally at the same speed they went out.

theres many things my dogs do that as i said i dont class as trick buts necesities but a few more things id like to teach the pup.

e.g. if i see something over a hedge i will tell the dog to 'go through' and they will push through the hedge
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
//" i dont class as trick buts necesities but a few more things id like to teach the pup."//

I understand. I tend to call allllll behaviors my dogs does as "tricks":rolleyes: when another person, might call them "cues" or as you put it, "necessities" or "manners".
Right now, i'm just beginning to teach my dog to NOT step off his own grass onto the cement street we live on. Out of habit, i call this a "trick". :) but Another person might call it a "cue" or a "necessity". And maybe we'd ALL be right!!:ROFLMAO:

Besides being required for your hunting work, like the cues you mention above that you use to for your dogs, i think tricks training also helps prevent boredom in dogs who aren't going to hunt that day, gives the dogs a chance to figure something out, a chance to use their very own brain. I even think, that teaching dogs tricks, makes the dog smarter. I do. I think the brain is like a muscle, in one way, and that the more the dog uses his brain,
the more "in-shape" that brain IS. I have no proof of this, but i think so, that dogs who learn tricks tend to be "smarter" dogs with sharp lil brains.

Most dogs do NOT get a chance to use their own brain much, we hand them their dinner, we choose how they spend their days and nights, we choose what they play with, where they go, even where they sleep is often chosen by a human.
so giving a dog a chance to learn something,
to figure something out,
is often a real big thrill to a dog. A lot of us here think the #1 complaint of many dogs is boredom.

maybe even hunting dogs, on the off-season, or on days or weeks they don't get to hunt, well, maybe on those days, even a hunting dog might get a lil restless to "do something".:ROFLMAO:
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
anyway, Johnny, obviously you are great at training hunting dog cues, but, if you want to learn how to use a clicker, or to train some other type of cue or trick, to keep your lil pack of hunters' minds sharp in the off-seasons, just post a question.
All of us, all of us, are always asking each other how to teach this, how to teach that, and what one person does not know, the next person does.
I would bet i learn something new here every week, and i always leave DogTrickAcademy (DTA) feeling inspired to teach my dog something else. My particular dog tends to get pretty bored, if i do not give him a chance to use his own brain, so i sort of "have to" teach him things.

at any rate, don't hesitate to post any questions, all the rest of us post questions all the time. Sometimes, i'll be struggling to teach this cue, or that cue, and get stuck,
and when i post, WA-LA, someone else has great idea to try, and it works.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
those are great activities!! still, not quite exactly the same thing as LEARNING something new, or having to figure something new out, but great things to do just the same!!!
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
//"the adult dogs dont need teaching anything are are abit stubborn "//

i'll certainly agree, that some dogs can be more of a challenge to teach things than other dogs,:ROFLMAO: but i really believe, any and all dogs CAN learn stuff.
ALL of 'em.

just for the sake of learning! just to give the dog a chance to figure something out, a chance to use his own brain..

many of my dog's tricks are safety cues, as well, making managing his safety all the easier.

not all dogs, like all types of tricks, :rolleyes: my dog has his favorite kinds:) . but his learning NEW stuff all the time, makes him smarter, imo, cuz he IS more accustomed to figuring things out.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
and lol, some of us around here, think teaching adult dogs stuff, is easier than teaching some puppies stuff.:ROFLMAO: not everyone agrees on that, but some of us do think that!!:ROFLMAO:
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
dawg MIssy, that is one great question!!! More ppl should wonder that same thing!!

I think, if you can successfully call your dog back to you from both short distances,
AND long distances, even amidst distractions, even if bunnies or cats are going by,:rolleyes:
if you can still call him back, that is a very good sign.

You can practice these things in fenced in areas. In my area, there are a few fenced in fields and woods, where i can practice that. I'd bet if you search around, you can find some type of fenced big big areas in your town to test these things(???) after you've mastered recall long distance in say, a giant fenced-in school yard.

If you can't recall your dog then it's too soon to let him off leash, imo. Others may have other ideas.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
GREAT JOB, Missy, but, you would also want to recall even further, couldn't tell for sure, but,that looked like a 50 foot recall? but great job!! YAY! Great start!!

when i have my dog off leash, i recall him every few minutes anyway, to make sure
he is "with me" mentally, lol.
but *i* have to worry about bunnies, if my dog sees a bunny, he's gone. but, we're working on it........:rolleyes:


what if Missy were to see a cat, would you be able to recall Missy off of chasing a cat?
 

bekah1001

Honored Member
Here is another way :

I taught Manny this way and he picked up his recall really fast. After two session i was able to call him away from a toy that I threw before he could get to it.
 

MissyBC

Experienced Member
At the park, this is what I've been doing... on Missy's 50' lead:

--> sending her ahead of me with a "go on!" and calling her back with "this way" or "come". :) She's getting better all the time, but there is no fence, so if I decide to drop her line at all I start to worry two seconds later - there's a road which only has occasional cars and no fence beside the field/park where she runs... that's why I worry so fast!

Should I pretend nothing's different when I drop it and see how she does? How can I relax about her 50' lead dragging when there is no fence?

What sort of signs should I watch out for in order to be able to figure out if she would be ready to be totally leash free? :D That's my goal! Any help would be appreciated as I'm not taking obedience classes atm!

Also, she used to be/and still is a car chaser if we're close enough to the side of the road.

If I'm playing fetch with her then she has no interest in the cars.

Thanks for all your help~!
 
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