# My Dog Refuses To End Her Walk



## Wolfy Compton (Sep 10, 2012)

Hello,

My Border Terrier who is 2 has started to act strange when she knows her walk is coming to an end. 
We have her off the lead as she's always been fine but when she senses its home time she hangs back and when you call for her she stubbonly refuses to come. 
When we go anywhere near her to try and get her she runs off and gets further and further away.
Its like a mexican stand off; she played this game for over 3 hours the other night which is so very frustrating.
She doesn't seem interested in treats either.
Can anyone help??


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## Sarah1983 (Nov 2, 2011)

Is the end of the walk the only time you call her and put her leash back on?


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## Wolfy Compton (Sep 10, 2012)

Yes mainly or when we see a pic nic or near the duck pond we put her on the lead ... she normally comes fine no bother.
This is quite a recent thing ... like something has just clicked in her head and she flatly refuses to come back


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## Twiggy (Jun 24, 2010)

I always carry tit-bits in my pocket and call my dogs to me randomly, give them a tit-bit and let them go again.

You could do the same except clip the lead on, give the tit-bit, unclip the lead and let your dog off again.

Try not to end the walk at the same spot every day either.

Your dog is obviously a smart little fella and you have to try and stay one step ahead of them.


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## Wolfy Compton (Sep 10, 2012)

Smart is not the only word I would use to describe her agghh

We will have to keep her on the lead I think as she's just not interested in treats ... its such a shame as she loves running free with other dogs and we live near some lovely fields and woodland but I just can't trust her and don't have the time to spend playing her sill games.

Thanks so much for responding


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## Twiggy (Jun 24, 2010)

My apologies - I've just noticed your dog is female...!!

Doesn't she like any treat at all, not even something like fresh chicken or cocktail sausages? Both can be purchased relatively cheaply from supermarkets.

It would be worth the effort for a few weeks so that she could enjoy running about off the lead.


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## Wolfy Compton (Sep 10, 2012)

Don't get me wrong she loves treats and sausages of course! But its like she changes when we are out and gives us a look like she doesn't trust us ... she will come and sniff the treat then look shifty and dart off again ... its so ridiculous as she never really gets told off and treats us like we are going to belt her when really she is totally spolied and treated better than most humans


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2012)

I think she's also saying she wants more walks. The other thing you can do, is feed after walk. Not immediately, but if she is hungry she may be more willing to go home. This is a little girl who is showing her intelligence. I have a border terrier. I'm afraid it's up to you to out think your dog. and you're not managing it. At present, your dog wants more fun on the walks, off lead. If you just stop letting her have her joyous fun and never let her off, you are taking a short term lazy approach. If you ever drop the lead, you will spend the night trying to catch her, precisely because she never is allowed that joy. 

People have told you to call her back, connect her lead, massage or give treats, then release, stagger the places, and increase her length of walk, or work her harder, with balls or chasey whip. It takes you a little more effort, but will result in a happier dog, and your reacton is to attempt to make sure she is never off lead again on her walks. Bit miserable, to me. If you want a slow civilised walk only, then adopt only quiet elderly already trained dogs.


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## Nicki85 (Oct 6, 2010)

I heard of the method below from a trainer... haven't tried it but probably would in your situation...

Take dog somewhere new in car with a helper, preferably somewhere secure no main roads etc.
Go on walk as usual
End of walk ask dog to get in back of car
If dog refuses then get in car and drive off. Helper stays with dog and makes sure it is safe
Once dog is distressed (talking bit or whining, looking anxious etc. not full out panic) drive back and ask dog to get into car. Helper can tell you when to come back on phone...
You can put dog on long line to drag for whole of walk and helper can secure dog (without talking to dog etc) at end of walk if you are worried about her chasing the car.

Should solve the problem....


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## Wolfy Compton (Sep 10, 2012)

I am certainly not saying I want a slow civilised walk only, and wouldn't prefer an elderly dog thank you??

What I would prefer is less stubborn disobedient dog ... I want to be able to call for my dog and for her to come without the dramatics

I want to be ableto enjoy our walks again like we used to without the fear of her going into one of her funny moods


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Nicki85 said:


> I heard of the method below from a trainer... haven't tried it but probably would in your situation...
> 
> Take dog somewhere new in car with a helper, preferably somewhere secure no main roads etc.
> Go on walk as usual
> ...


I think abandoment training has many risks.........


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Wolfy Compton said:


> I am certainly not saying I want a slow civilised walk only, and wouldn't prefer an elderly dog thank you??
> 
> What I would prefer is less stubborn disobedient dog ... I want to be able to call for my dog and for her to come without the dramatics
> 
> I want to be ableto enjoy our walks again like we used to without the fear of her going into one of her funny moods


I do not believe dogs are stubborn, I do believe a lot owners are though. 

Why not look here for some good advice from qualified, reputable trainers and behaviourists?

If you want "rocket recalls" you need to reconsider what you are currently doing in order to change not only your dog's expectations but yours.

*Ultimate Recall: 4 Day Course with John Rogerson*
 Training a reliable, automatic, non-negotiable, reality recall
 Building block and foundation training of the recall
 Relationship/influence building in recall training
 The chasing/emergency recall
 Sit and/or down on recall
 Freeze/stop on recall/running wait
 Distance/direction control
 Calling dogs off of distractions
 Out of sight recall (owner hidden)
 Obedience/competition recall (dog is called from a stationary position)
 Free running recall (dog is called while in motion)
 Type "A" recall (dog re-joins his owner in motion)

JOHN RESERVES THE RIGHT TO ADJUST COURSE CONTENT BASED ON THE ABILITIES OF DOGS AND HANDLERS ENROLLED ON THE COURSE.

Dates for Ultimate Recall Course:

At Nottingham, England
26th  29th October, 2012; 4 days duration 9.30-4.00 pm (Note: New Date!)
To register contact Beverly Smith at [email protected]

http://www.johnrogerson.com/2012coursesschedule.pdf

*Chase Recall Masterclass *

Date: Thursday 1st November 2012 Venue: Windsor, Berkshire Max handler places: 10
9.30am registration, 10.00am - 4pm Refreshments and a light lunch included

Following on from the fabulous Chase Recall Masterclass with Stella Bagshaw earlier this month, we are pleased to announce a date for the Chase Recall Practical Masterclass.

In this Masterclass we will be exploring:
How to tailor your training depending on your dog's scorpion level
How to build your training based on practical, workable exercises
How to move from one training level to the next in the real world
Perfecting the advanced "leave"
How, when and what signals to use
Line handling skills that make all the difference
Getting scent to work for you
Games to play with your dog on line
Dogs attending do not need to have a chase/recall issue, but it's a perfect opportunity if they do! Dogs do need
to be social with people and other dogs.

Please be assured that even if you don't bring a dog you will learn just as much from Stella's unique and innovative training approaches. Please note, the venue has a large hall and outside areas  we will be training in both, so please bring suitable outdoor wear.

Non handler place @ £130 (deposit £65) 
Handler @ £145 (deposit £65)

http://www.apdt.co.uk/documents/Chas...calNov2012.pdf

*Books*

Stop! How to control predatory Chasing in Dogs
by David Ryan

Chase! Managing Your Dog's Predatory Instincts 
By Clarissa Von Reinhardt

*DVD*

REALLY RELIABLE RECALL 
by Leslie Nelson

Website articles:

http://www.apdt.co.uk/documents/RECALL.pdf

http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/reliable_recall.pdf

Deposits into the Perfect Recall Account

List of Reinforcers

Distractions For Your Recall

How to Create a Motivating Toy

http://www.cleverdogcompany.com/tl_files/factsheets/Training a whistle recall.pdf

Teaching Come « Ahimsa Dog Blog

How do I stop my dog chasing? - David Ryan CCAB


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Wolfy Compton said:


> Hello,
> 
> My Border Terrier who is 2 has started to act strange when she knows her walk is coming to an end.
> We have her off the lead as she's always been fine but when she senses its home time she hangs back and when you call for her she stubbonly refuses to come.
> ...


The more she does it the harder its going to be, she knows now if she doesnt want to come then she doesnt have to and you cant do a thing about it.

Best thing would be to get a harness and use a long line attached, whilst you are working on the problem, if shes not treat orientated then see if you can find toys that she will find rewarding, shes a terrier so there must be some that may pique her interest, maybe furry ones with squeakers in them, these ones worked well at training with breeds like lurchers and terrriers
They have no stuffing in them so easy to carry, and have squeakers, some dogs its tennis balls they cant resist, see if you can find toys that are a motivator and reward she values instead, then play with her, and send her away with go play again after rewarding. You can call and run in the other direction so it becomes a chase me game but her chasing you, call her and hide and reward when she comes to find you. If there are two of you you can play piggie in the middle with the dog running from one to the other getting a reward from each of you each time.

Maybe even try some new treats, cheese, chicken, hotdogs, sausages, liver or garlic sausage. Mine would sell their souls I think for cheese, one probably for tennis balls too.

You could try changing to a whistle if you havent used on aleady, priming it indoors by walking around giving treats for every blow of the whistle at first so she knows whistle means reward. You need to if she come though when out always send her off again with go play. Keeping her on the long line while retraining though should prevent her continuing to run off and ignore you while you are trying to retrain.


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Ooops got interrupted.

You may also find the following useful with your BT

*Why can't I get a reliable recall?*

'Come' is no harder to train than any other behaviour but in real life it has a huge number of criteria that have to be raised one at a time in order to guarantee success.
Often when puppies are brought home to their new owners this is the first time they have ever been separated from their dam and siblings and so they naturally attach themselves to their new family by following them about everywhere. Owners find this quite attractive and wrongly assume that this trait will continue into adolescence/adulthood, whatever the circumstances. A dangerous trap to fall into…

At some point in time, usually from around 6 - 10 months, depending on the individual, "Velcro" dog will morph into "Bog off" dog (this is especially true of a breed that has been developed to exhibit a high degree of initiative). This is the time when owners suddenly realize that their dog will not recall when it sees another dog/person etc. Not only is this inconvenient but potentially dangerous as the dog could be at risk of injury from a car/train/another dog etc.

*How and when do I start with a puppy?*

My advice is to prepare for this inevitability from the day you take your puppy home. If you are lucky the breeder will have started this process whilst still in the nest by conditioning the puppies to a whistle blown immediately before putting the food bowl down during weaning.

Dogs learn by cause and effect ie sound of whistle = food. If you, the new owner, continue this from the moment your puppy arrives you will lay down strong foundations for the future.

By using the whistle in association with meals/food you need to establish the following criteria:
•	Come from across the room. 
•	Come from out of sight 
•	Come no matter who calls
•	Come even if you are busy doing something else
•	Come even if you are asleep. 
•	Come even if you are playing with something/someone else
•	Come even if you are eating

Once this goal has been realized in the house, drop all the criteria to zero and establish the same measures, one at a time, in the garden.

Once this goal has been realized in the garden, drop all the criteria to zero and establish the same measures, one at a time, in the park/field etc.

To train this, or any other behaviour:

1.	Make it easy for the dog to get it right
2.	Provide sufficient reward

Do not expect a dog to come away from distractions in the park until you have trained it to come to you in the park when no diversions are around. Be realistic and manage your expectations; your sphere of influence/control over your dog may be only 20m to begin with, therefore do not hazard a guess that the dog, at this level of training, will successfully recall from 50m or more away. Distance, like every other criterion, must be built up over time.

Some simple rules to follow when training the recall:

•	Whistle/signal/call only once (why train the dog to deliberately ignore your first command?)
•	Do not reinforce slow responses for the dog coming eventually after it has cocked its leg, sniffed the tree etc (you get what you train!)
•	If you know that the dog will not come back to you in a certain situation, go and get him rather than risk teaching him that he can ignore you. (If you have followed the programme correctly you will never put your dog in a position to fail).
•	Practise recalling the dog, putting him on the lead for a few seconds, reinforce with food/toy etc and immediately release the dog. Do this several times during a walk etc so that the dog does not associate a recall with going on the lead and ending the walk or being put on the lead with the cessation of fun.
•	Eventually, when the behaviour is very strong, alternate rewards ie verbal praise, physical praise, food, toy and also vary the "value" of the rewards, sometimes a plain piece of biscuit, sometimes a piece of cooked liver etc so that you become a walking slot machine (and we all know how addictive gambling can be)!

In my experience recall training should be consistent and relentless for the first two years of a dog's life before it can be considered truly dependable. You should look on it as a series of incremental steps, rather than a single simple behaviour, and something that will require lifelong maintenance.

*What about an older or rescue dog?*

Follow the same programme as outlined above however for recalcitrant dogs that have received little or no training, I would recommend dispensing with the food bowl and feeding a dog only during recalls to establish a strong behaviour quickly.

Your training should be over several sessions a day, which means you can avoid the risk of bloat. It is essential that the dog learns that there will be consequences for failure as well as success.

Divide the day's food ration up into small bags (between10 - 30), if the dog recalls first time, it gets food, if it does not, you can make a big show of saying "too bad" and disposing of that portion of food (either throw it away or put aside for the next day).

Again, raise the criteria slowly as outlined in puppy training.

Hunger is very motivating!

For those of you who believe it unfair/unhealthy to deprive a dog of its full daily ration, not having a reliable recall is potentially life threatening for the dog ……………

*How do I stop my dog chasing joggers/cyclists/skateboarders/rabbits/deer?*

Chasing something that is moving is a management issue. Do not put your dog in a position where it can make a mistake. Again you need to start training from a pup but if you have already allowed your dog to learn and practise this behaviour you may need to rely on a trailing line until your dog is desensitised to these distractions and knows that listening to you results in a great reinforcement. Chasing is a behaviour much better never learned as it is naturally reinforcing to the dog, which makes it hard for you to offer a better reinforcement. If you want to have a bombproof recall while your dog is running away from you then use the following approach:

Your goal is to train so that your dog is totally used to running away from you at top speed, and then turning on a sixpence to run toward you when you give the recall cue.

You need to set up the training situation so that you have total control over the triggers. For this you will need to gain the co-operation of a helper. If you have a toy crazy dog you can practice this exercise by throwing a toy away from the dog towards someone standing 30 or 40 feet away. At the instant the toy is thrown, recall your dog! If the dog turns toward you, back up several steps quickly, creating even more distance between the you and the toy and then throw another toy in the opposite direction (same value as one thrown)..

If the dog ignores you and continues toward the thrown object, your "helper" simply picks the ball up and ignores dog. When dog eventually returns (which it will because it's getting no reinforcement from anyone or anything), praise only. Pretty soon the dog will start to respond to a recall off a thrown toy. You will need to mix in occasions the toy is thrown and the dog is allowed to get it ie you do NOT recall if you want to make sure it does not lose enthusiasm for retrieving.

For the food obsessed dog, you can get your helper to wave a food bowl with something the dog loves in it and then recall the dog as soon as you let it go to run towards the food; again if the dog ignores you and continues to the food, your helper simply ensures the dog cannot access the food and start again. (It is extremely important that the helper does not use your dog's name to call it for obvious reasons).

Gradually increase the difficulty of the recall by letting the dog get closer and closer to the toy/food. Praise the moment the dog turns away from the toy/food in the 
early stages of training. Don't wait until the dog returns to you; the dog must have instant feedback.

Once the dog is fluent at switching directions in the middle of a chase, try setting up the situation so that it is more like real life. Have someone ride a bike/run/skate past. (It is unrealistic to factor in deer/rabbits however if your training is thorough the dog will eventually be conditioned to return to you whatever the temptation in most contexts).

Until your training gets to this level, don't let the dog off-lead in a situation in which you don't have control over the chase triggers. Don't set the dog up to fail, and don't allow it to rehearse the problem behaviour. Remember, every time a dog is able to practise an undesirable behaviour it will get better at it!

Most people do not play with toys correctly and therefore the dog is not interested in them or, if it gets them, fails to bring it back to the owner.

Play the two ball game, once you have a dog ball crazy. Have two balls the same, throw one to the left, when the dog gets it, call him like crazy waving the next ball; as he comes back throw the other ball to the right and keep going left right so that YOU are the centre of the game and the dog gets conditioned to return to you for the toy. Once this behaviour is established you can then introduce the cues for out and then make control part of the game ie the game is contingent on the dog sitting and then progress to a sequence of behaviours.

HTH


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## Wolfy Compton (Sep 10, 2012)

Thank you so much to everyone for taking the time to reply 

We had another incident with her yesterday as she managed to squerm out of her collar when she got tangled up with another dog.

She ran off ... My husband did what a lot of you suggested and just walked home slowly making sure she was following.

She then just sat over the road from our house refusing to come in for hours.

Its terrifying with the cars. Everytime you go near her she bolts off. We had neighbours out trying to help temping her with treats but she's simply not interested.

I have no idea what goes on in her head.

Some kids actually ended up grabbing her for us. 

When we got her indoors we were careful not to tell her off;she looked a bit sheepish but not much then acted as thought nothing happened all night.

We are scared to take her out now as we just don't have the time for her messing about. I had to leave work early to come home.

So frustrating 



Is this a common problem?


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## lemmsy (May 12, 2008)

Offlead good (fun, fun fun, doggy disney land), onlead bad??

Few thoughts here:
Lead-off Good, Lead-on Bad « Kay Laurence

Quick suggestions:

Practice recalls though out walks. Pair a collar grab with good stuff (food, then being released to play again). Clip her lead on on various occasions on walks- ask for controlled behaviour (sit, down), reward with release to sniff/play etc. Going onlead doesn't always mean that the fun ends.

Don't always put the dog onlead to go home in the same place (too predictable- allows the dog to practice the unwanted avoidance behaviour).

Play fun games onlead too (tracking, scent work etc).

Have you considered using a comfortably fitting harness that she cannot slip out of?
Happy training


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Wolfy Compton said:


> Thank you so much to everyone for taking the time to reply
> 
> We had another incident with her yesterday as she managed to squerm out of her collar when she got tangled up with another dog.
> 
> ...


Going through phases of not recalling and running off can be a common problem that can start in adolsecence when the previously eager to please dependant pup suddenly realises there is much more interesting things then you now.

The problem can really start though, when they start to avoid and run off and it becomes a habit and the more they realise they dont have to listen and come back then the more they tend to do it. If its not nipped in the bud and stopped you can have an ongoing problem that just gets worse and worse.

The only way to do it is ensure that they cant, keeping them on a long line if you have to and go back to basics and start really intense recall training.

The more they learn to avoid, like she now knows she can back out of her collar, run off and you cant catch her, and picks up on cues that its the end of the walk the harder it will be.

I would deffinately get her a good fitting harness and a really good fitting collar. For walks in the street also get a double end training lead with clips both ends and clip one end to the collar and one end to the harness for double security, you can also then attach the long line when training recall to the harness as well.

You need to call her back periodically when she is on the long line throughout the walk, reward her when she comes back (you have the long line to guide her back and she cant run off anyway). Then after rewarding send away again with go play each time, this way she should with training be caught out as she is sent off to play each time she comes back, she should get less suspicious so she wont know when its home time. Often mistakes are made by letting the dog off as soon as you get there, letting them do as they want and only recalling and putting them on lead to bring them home, they get wise to it and learn that if they come back it means end of their fun, so will avoid you. Some people out of fraustration and annoyance then also tell them off when they finally get a hold of the dog, even tense body language and the fraustration in your voice will be seen as negative to the dog.
When re-training her you need to keep your voices light and inviting. You also need to call/guide her back as soon as you see her start to get distracted or start to wander too far too, letting her get totally distracted and then trying to get her back makes it harder still. Vary your rewards for food treats, try chicken, hotdogs, sausages, cheese, many like the cheese spread in tubes. Liver based treats are usually a favourite too. Also use toys if shes not particularly food orientated, Like furry squeaky toys, furry toys you can attach and drag them along, some dogs find things like tennis balls irresistible. Use playing with a toy as a reward and to interact with her sometimes before sending her off with go play again. Some dogs cant resist calling and you running in the opposite direction as a chase me game, or calling and you hiding so they have to come and find you. Different things work better for different dogs, varying rewards also keeps their interest more too as they get curious as to what they are going to get.

Once she is retrained and reliable on the long line, you can then leave it attached still but use it as a drag line, so the second she starts to get distracted or gets a little too far, if necessary you have something to grab still so she cant run off and get into bad habits, go back to holding the long line if you have too for a few sessions.

Once she is realiable on a drag line, then you can try letting her off again in confined areas at first with lesser distractions, when shes passed that test after awhile, then you can take her to more interesting places, at first with lesser distractions and then build them up, as and when you know she is still reliable. Go back to the previous stages again if you need too if she starts to become distracted again and wanders.

If she has got deaf to being called and your voice, try a whistle perhaps, starting indoors just walking around and literally for each blow of the whistle treat, she should follow you around, then try it when shes in the garden sniffing around, stand by the back door whistling and treating when she comes. Then try it by whistling her from inside the house, when thats OK try it outside using it when shes on the long line. Through all the stages you need to always vary the rewards and also always send her away after with go play again.


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## DogTrainer01 (Apr 13, 2011)

Oh she sounds right up my alley! 

By the sounds of what you're describing, she is honestly just two steps ahead of you and has easily put together the pattern of going back on lead. Out of interest, what do you actually do when you re-call her? For instance do you call her back and then try to reach out for her? or show her food and as she's about to eat the food try and grab her collar?

You need to look at it from her perspective, one tiny bit of food which will be eaten in an instant and not touch the sides - even sausage, roast chicken etc - is not going to be as high value as staying out for an extra 3 hours running, sniffing, playing with dogs, chasing birds etc. You need to observe her and see what she finds rewarding (toys, food and life) and use those things to your advantage.

For example, when teaching my terrier to loose lead walk the best reward I could give him was to go and sniff. He is extremely toy and food motivated but when on lead those things aren't as reinforcing to him as sniffing another dogs pee.

Another example regarding re-call - he was foraging around in the bushes in the local park when he clocked a cat on a fence (just to point out, said cat wasn't bothered at all - he didn't move and hardly bothered to look at Andy). I waited a few seconds as I knew he wouldn't come back as the rush of finding an actual cat was so exciting, I then re-called him and made a complete twit out myself and bless him, he came running out the bushes so I kept encouraging him. Once he reached my side, I quickly gave him a handful of mixed treats and had a massive party and then released him back to the cat. I repeated that twice, the third time I released him and then re-called as he was running back to the cat and he did a complete u-turn. As soon as I saw him u-turn I got his tuggy toy out and started running off in the other direction. As soon as he reached me we had around 30 seconds of tuggy and then I threw loads of high value treats into the ground for him to find and 'helped' him find them (yes, people at my local park think I'm completely loopy).

I really advise buying a long line - Outdoor Training Line Lead for Dogs 10m by Pets at Home | Pets at Home

I'd also put her in a correctly fitted harness (Welcome to the Dog-Games Shop are very good) which she can't squirm out of.

At home, I'd work on collar grabs ('How to' Train your dog to like his Collar Grabbed - clicker training - YouTube) so she stops recognising your hand coming out means lead on and fun stopping/going back home. I can now say to my BC 'collar' and he will literally place his neck in my hand to hold.

I want to make it so my dogs love coming into my space so I train loads of different tricks that I can use out randomly when walking. So I can say 'Andy, jump' and he'll come running back and then jump into my arms, 'Kobie, touch' and he'll come running back and shove his nose on my hand. So all the time, they're learning that its rewarding to come back and 99% of the time they'll be released to go back to do dog stuff. At the same time, its all relationship building . 
The beauty of having her on a long line, you don't need to try and catch her. You can just re-call her/re-call and ask for a trick and throw some food down - whilst she is eating you can then non-obviously pick up the long line and head off.

With my puppy, I've had to make actually being on lead rewarding after being off lead. So we again do various tricks, we do happy talking or I throw a piece of kibble into the grass for him to find.

I'd also look to changing you're re-call command, as the one you're using at the moment just means 'oh, they're trying to catch me...bye!'

Sorry for going on a bit, I have quite a soft spot for terriers. Please don't feel disheartened at all - it'll all come! 
Edit - oops sorry, some of what I've said other people have already posted!


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## Wolfy Compton (Sep 10, 2012)

Thank you so much to everyone who has teken the time and effort to respond and help me in such detail ... I will give all of your suggestions a good go and let you know how we get on x


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## hutch6 (May 9, 2008)

I don't see this as a recall problem.

Sure a recall command will get a dog back to you but if the dogs needs are not being met by the owner but are by the dog then it hass no reason to come back so a recall command will not work.

My last rescue did excatly this and I had to crouch on the floor and pretend I'd found the best thing in the world ever for her to come back. After thinking it wasn't very dignified looking like an overinflated characature of a kids TV presenter I varied things to see what she wanted. On walks she just fizzled off and did her own thing running free, seeing other dogs, blasting in circles around us and things but never really showed an interest in bieng in the group or being near. It is in her nature to hunt up but I suddently realised she was just bored and making her own fun in the great outdoors so why would she want to return home when she got to play the greatest game of all time but she made the rules, the decisions and didn't need me except to get her there.

I spent a few sessions with her away from my other dogs with my sole focus on her and got her interested in chasing frisbees rolled along the floor - she's of 100% sight hound base so it was in her blood to chase. After that I started playing tug-o-war with her on a rag toy - she chased something and now wanted to take her further instincts out on something. Does she like food? Sure thing. Does she value food over frisbees? Absolutely. Would she refuse food for a game of tug-o-war? In a breath. 
We'd play tug-o-war and fetch with the rag toy on walks and then as soon as we got back into the back garden so the fun continued regardless of where we were. I phased out the sessions in the back garden as soon as we get back but we still go out for some 1on1 battle action.

What games do you play with your dog when on a walk or at home?


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## classixuk (Jun 6, 2009)

hutch6 said:


> I don't see this as a recall problem.
> 
> Sure a recall command will get a dog back to you but if the dogs needs are not being met by the owner but are by the dog then it hass no reason to come back so a recall command will not work.
> 
> ...


LOL! You're not the only one who has done this during training.

My dog and cat had a love-hate relationship while my dog was growing up. The dog loved the cat, and the cat hated the dog. I used this to my advantage when recall in the park failed miserably during the adolescent years.

I would approach the nearest bin, crouch down (as if looking behind it) and say, "Wow! Hello Tigger. What are you doing here? Good boy Tigger!" and then proceed to 'stroke' whatever empty space there was hidden behind the bin.

Now, to people walking into the park I must have looked like a right nutter - a bloke with a lead hung around his neck out walking and stroking his imaginary dog called Tigger who liked to sit beside bins. But, from my dogs point of view on the other side of this piece of theatre - it really did seem that Tigger had made a rare appearance in the park and the ENTIRE family could now play together!! He just had to come get him 

Never failed! LOL


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## Cleo38 (Jan 22, 2010)

classixuk said:


> LOL! You're not the only one who has done this during training.
> 
> My dog and cat had a love-hate relationship while my dog was growing up. The dog loved the cat, and the cat hated the dog. I used this to my advantage when recall in the park failed miserably during the adolescent years.
> 
> ...


LOL, that's fantastic - made me laugh so much :lol::lol:

Did people warn their children not to approach you?! 

I do agree that a bit of play acting does help alot with some dogs. With Roxy I take an array of toys out, we play lots of games, etc - I never have a relaxing walk with her 

For a working trials exercise I am trying to get her interested in bits of old tat that she has to find in a search square. I spent part of our walk today producing these bits & acting as if they were the best things in the world. We ended up playing with an old bottle top & am sure the person who passed up probably thought I should just buy her some proper toys rather than playing with rubbish


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## classixuk (Jun 6, 2009)

Cleo38 said:


> LOL, that's fantastic - made me laugh so much :lol::lol:
> 
> Did people warn their children not to approach you?!
> 
> ...


I ended up finding that taking a bag with me filled with dried liver (and only ever to the park) was a good way to replace the imaginary cat. To this day though, I do know that if all else fails, that imaginary cat will get my dog back LOL. The thing with the dried liver though is that rather than people warn their children away from me, I ended up becoming the 'pied piper' of everyone's dogs. People would be taking a casual stroll in the park and suddenly their dogs would shoot off as soon as they were off lead - it turned out that what was happening (in the dogs mind) is they were associating Paddy's territorial marking at the park gates with "The Liver Man is in the park!" and just shooting off to find me.  I'd be half way around the park and owners would say "I knew you were in. My Jack shot off as soon as he smelt the patch of wee near the gate. Thanks for walking Jack for me." 

I really do feel for you with the bottle tops. When we've done similar exercises I've even tried explaining to people as they pass, "Oh, don't mind me...we have a very important exam on Thursday night and we're just practising" but I have found this makes them look at you even more weirdly!

If it weren't for my liver pack attracting their dogs I reckon most handlers would have given me a wide berth all these years!


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## ozrex (Aug 30, 2011)

I have a friend at the Dog Obedience Club who has a Bull Terrier who was a disaster at a recall (used to b*gger off and go visting). 

None of the usual methods gave a totally reliable recall until she tried collapsing. She did this amazing stagger-with-flailing-arms thing and collapsed on the ground. Madge came flying over to look and sniff. Got huge food reward and lavish praise from recumbent owner.

Now while we all call and hold two hands up, Madge's owner starts to stagger.... looks ridiculous but it works.

Worth a try if you can't get the dog when you get home. Make funny noises, stagger and lie on the ground in the garden. It may get you a very curious visitor.


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