# Dog obsessed, completely ignores recall



## woodyblue (Apr 11, 2017)

Hi All,

My boy Woody (Hungarian Viszla X GSP) has just turned 1 and he is still completely obsessed with playing with other dogs, he's extremely friendly and has always been very well socialised, we do group walks, we regularly see other dogs on walks and stop for a play but he still will run over to another dog if he sees one.
I shout him to come back but he completely ignores me, once he's said hello and had a play he's quite happy to come back to me or continue his walk with me but its the initial running over that he just does not listen to me asking him to come back, he will also seek a dog out if he smells it sometimes I can't even see the dog.
I have tried a whistle, a squeaky ball, treats and nothing works he just has to run over and see them regardless of how fun I am being. He has already been attacked once and I am so frightened of it happening again and also don't want people to think I have no control over him.
Can anyone give me any tips or techniques that I could maybe try?


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## Mirandashell (Jan 10, 2017)

Keep him on his lead until he's out of his teenage stage and train a recall consistently with him. Start in the house and garden until that's solid and then start outside where's there more distractions.


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## woodyblue (Apr 11, 2017)

Mirandashell said:


> Keep him on his lead until he's out of his teenage stage and train a recall consistently with him. Start in the house and garden until that's solid and then start outside where's there more distractions.


His recall in the house and garden is fantastic, there can be people eating food or the kids playing with him and I ask him to come and he comes straight to me, even outside when he's off lead walking he will explore the trees and the moment I shout for him to come or blow his whistle he comes to me immediately it is literally the second he see's a dog its like he's deaf.


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## Siskin (Nov 13, 2012)

At his age playing with another dog far outstrips anything you have on offer, it's part of him hitting adolescence and becoming more confident and more often or not, more obnoxious. He needs to be kept under better control for his safety and so that other people can walk their perhaps nervous or elderly dogs in peace with a teenage thug of a dog insisting they play with him.
So you need to equip yourself with a long lead, as long as you can possible cope with and look into the biothene ones which don't get wet and unpleasant to use, a harness that fits well and is comfortable and plenty of tasty treats. Using the long line will give you the ultimate control and stop him from doing what he wants and practice ignoring your whistles and calls. You will probably need to use the long line for a number of months until you have trained him thoroughly to recall the instant you whistle him. Maturity will help but you're looking at 18 months to two years before he's mature.
If you work hard at practicing recalls it will pay dividends as he becomes an adult.

You may want to investigate a book called Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson, her methods work extremely well


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## MissSpitzMum (Dec 4, 2017)

Hi Woodyblue my own dog is very, very similar. The only thing that helped with us was neutering him, but that was a decision we made based on other things rather than recall problem! 

As other have said - longline. It is what we did whilst we practised recall over and over again. However, just to add, if your dog is truly that highly motivated by dogs, then it might be good to make sure he doesn't develop frustration whilst on a longline. My own dog did, and now we're working our way through lead reactivity due to excitment frustration. If we had known about it before hand we would have taken precautions!

If he's on a longline and sees a dog, trying to get his attention and make it fun for him to play with you can go a long, long way with preventing a build up of frustration. If he has a chance to meet a dog, make sure he does something for you first. A simple 'find it' cue can work wonders using tossed treats just to break the build up of 'I really, really want to greet that dog over there'. Not every dog will develop lead frustration, but since mine did because of a recall problem with dogs which lead to us using a longline I thought it best to mention it! It is best to prevent it than try and treat it... Believe me, I am learning this first hand!


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## woodyblue (Apr 11, 2017)

Thanks for the replies, he's by no means a thug though but very much an adolescent, I have a longline which we found difficult when he was a real puppy as he spent more time trying to bite through it and pull it off than doing anything else but will try again and see how it goes.
Woody I do believe has lead frustration, when I walk him on lead if we see another dog he barks at them if we don't go over to say hello, as you can imagine people think he's aggressive and not just frustrated.


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## woodyblue (Apr 11, 2017)

woodyblue said:


> Thanks for the replies, he's by no means a thug though but very much an adolescent, I have a longline which we found difficult when he was a real puppy as he spent more time trying to bite through it and pull it off than doing anything else but will try again and see how it goes.
> Woody I do believe has lead frustration, when I walk him on lead if we see another dog he barks at them if we don't go over to say hello, as you can imagine people think he's aggressive and not just frustrated.


Also he's already neutered!


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## tabelmabel (Oct 18, 2013)

The total recall book is really good and well worth buying! Can you distract your dog with a squeaky ball or toy? If you leave your longline trailing with a few knots in it, when your dog is about to head off in the direction of another dog, quickly squeak the ball. If that doesn't interupt the behaviour, step on the longline and attract your dog with the squeaker again.

They do settle once they are through adolescence. My dog is now 5. He was much like yours but now he walks straight on by elderly dogs or non playful dogs. If a dog comes bounding up to him though, he is well up for a meet and greet!


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## labradrk (Dec 10, 2012)

It's normal behaviour for a lot of young dogs but there is no magic answer besides not allowing him to practice it (so keeping him on a lead/line unless you are certain there are no dogs) and working on recall and focus around distractions. Otherwise you are putting him at risk from other dogs and all it takes is one bad experience and you'll find yourself being 'that' owner of a reactive dog yourself.....something many owners of friendly dogs really gamble with unfortunately.


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## MissSpitzMum (Dec 4, 2017)

@woodyblue then if you use a longline you'll need to be doubly certain he doesn't worsen his lead frustration. It is a pain in the backside, I understand how you feel. People look at my dog like he's cujo when he's reacting on lead, but off lead he's nothing but friendly.

As for recall, along with neutering the most effective thing we found was a whistle. A whistle is loud, unmistakable, and doesn't have the frantic 'COME BACK!' tone of an out of breath and worried owner! With my whistle, which I reserve for emergency recalls (basically dogs still), he gets a jackpot of his most highest value treats I could find AND a game if he's interested. If he then runs off to greet the dog anyway I just gambled and let it happen, so the whistle doesn't loose its specialness. Because I did this the whistle is still super amazing to him and isn't in any way associated with a lead, or not having fun, so he comes back. He's come back even in the midst of sprinting over to see a dog, thats how powerful it became to him!

Just to add aswell we did keep him on a longline until his whistle recall was close to 80%. We were lucky that near where we are I know regular dog walkers we've met before who don't mind my dog sprinting over to them, so I was able to practice with them. I never let him run over to a dog on a lead though, as soon as I saw one he went on his longline. We had slip ups, but if people see you're making the effort you are easily forgiven. Although his whistle recall is pretty damn amazing now considering he's a) a Spitz, and b) 11 months old we still lead him up if we see an on lead dog, which you might have to do for a long time to come aswell!


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## woodyblue (Apr 11, 2017)

MissSpitzMum said:


> @woodyblue then if you use a longline you'll need to be doubly certain he doesn't worsen his lead frustration. It is a pain in the backside, I understand how you feel. People look at my dog like he's cujo when he's reacting on lead, but off lead he's nothing but friendly.
> 
> As for recall, along with neutering the most effective thing we found was a whistle. A whistle is loud, unmistakable, and doesn't have the frantic 'COME BACK!' tone of an out of breath and worried owner! With my whistle, which I reserve for emergency recalls (basically dogs still), he gets a jackpot of his most highest value treats I could find AND a game if he's interested. If he then runs off to greet the dog anyway I just gambled and let it happen, so the whistle doesn't loose its specialness. Because I did this the whistle is still super amazing to him and isn't in any way associated with a lead, or not having fun, so he comes back. He's come back even in the midst of sprinting over to see a dog, thats how powerful it became to him!
> 
> Just to add aswell we did keep him on a longline until his whistle recall was close to 80%. We were lucky that near where we are I know regular dog walkers we've met before who don't mind my dog sprinting over to them, so I was able to practice with them. I never let him run over to a dog on a lead though, as soon as I saw one he went on his longline. We had slip ups, but if people see you're making the effort you are easily forgiven. Although his whistle recall is pretty damn amazing now considering he's a) a Spitz, and b) 11 months old we still lead him up if we see an on lead dog, which you might have to do for a long time to come aswell!


Thank you, its good to know its not just me and is maybe an age thing too, honestly the amount of people that meet him off lead and say "he's so friendly always thought he was aggressive as he barks at us" I'm like yes I know its just frustration! When we're in the woods he's fab he will greet a dog we walk past gently and then carry on with me and his squeaky ball he's perfect but in open spaces he is a nightmare, I tend to keep him on lead if we see another dog in the open space and let him off when its clear or if we see a dog on lead I put him straight back on his lead but then he's not getting his chance to stretch his legs and get rid of some of that energy he has. We're lucky that where we walk everyone knows everyone and we know 90% of owners and dogs they all think he's great but for my peace of mind and that 10% that doesn't know us or us them, I'm going to try the longline in the open spaces again and see how he goes, he's also ball obsessed so hopefully that will take over the dog obsession in time.


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## Twiggy (Jun 24, 2010)

woodyblue said:


> Thank you, its good to know its not just me and is maybe an age thing too, honestly the amount of people that meet him off lead and say "he's so friendly always thought he was aggressive as he barks at us" I'm like yes I know its just frustration! When we're in the woods he's fab he will greet a dog we walk past gently and then carry on with me and his squeaky ball he's perfect but in open spaces he is a nightmare, I tend to keep him on lead if we see another dog in the open space and let him off when its clear or if we see a dog on lead I put him straight back on his lead but then he's not getting his chance to stretch his legs and get rid of some of that energy he has. We're lucky that where we walk everyone knows everyone and we know 90% of owners and dogs they all think he's great but for my peace of mind and that 10% that doesn't know us or us them, I'm going to try the longline in the open spaces again and see how he goes, he's also ball obsessed so hopefully that will take over the dog obsession in time.


You could try using two squeaky balls but they must be exactly the same. The idea is the one you've got is always the most exciting and therefore the one the dog wants. Have a practice in the garden first - throw one and as he picks it up squeak the other one and say something like "I've got this one" in an excited voice. Worth a try.


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## MissSpitzMum (Dec 4, 2017)

woodyblue said:


> Thank you, its good to know its not just me and is maybe an age thing too, honestly the amount of people that meet him off lead and say "he's so friendly always thought he was aggressive as he barks at us" I'm like yes I know its just frustration! When we're in the woods he's fab he will greet a dog we walk past gently and then carry on with me and his squeaky ball he's perfect but in open spaces he is a nightmare, I tend to keep him on lead if we see another dog in the open space and let him off when its clear or if we see a dog on lead I put him straight back on his lead but then he's not getting his chance to stretch his legs and get rid of some of that energy he has. We're lucky that where we walk everyone knows everyone and we know 90% of owners and dogs they all think he's great but for my peace of mind and that 10% that doesn't know us or us them, I'm going to try the longline in the open spaces again and see how he goes, he's also ball obsessed so hopefully that will take over the dog obsession in time.


Exactly the same as mine. In the woods I think its because the dogs just appear so they don't have alot of time to ramp up the excitement AND the woods has SO many other things on offer like squirrels, mice, fox poo, birds etc: etc: In the open fields they see dogs from far away so its building and building and there isn't really much else to do on a huge bit of grass other than run and play!

Also I found that dogs associate places with certain behaviours. I can't take my dog back to his local park, the scene of his recall crimes, because he reverts back to 'what I've always done here' which is ignore me and sprint off to every dog in sight. I swapped up his environment to practice recall with the whistle, which helped hugely. Not sure if thats an option for you but thought I'd mention it. Dogs are weird


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

MissSpitzMum said:


> I found that dogs associate places with certain behaviours.


Without a doubt. We regularly walk with another dog and when they reach 'The Playing Place' they have a good chase around. Not before, not after, only at 'The Playing Place'.


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## westernmost (Nov 13, 2017)

Siskin said:


> You may want to investigate a book called Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson, her methods work extremely well


I just got and read this yesterday. Looks methodical and feels persuasive. I can't speak from personal experience, but I did notice that it specifically covers the OP's situation.


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## Guest (Jan 9, 2018)

MissSpitzMum said:


> Also I found that dogs associate places with certain behaviours. I can't take my dog back to his local park, the scene of his recall crimes, because he reverts back to 'what I've always done here' which is ignore me and sprint off to every dog in sight. I swapped up his environment to practice recall with the whistle, which helped hugely. Not sure if thats an option for you but thought I'd mention it. Dogs are weird





JoanneF said:


> Without a doubt. We regularly walk with another dog and when they reach 'The Playing Place' they have a good chase around. Not before, not after, only at 'The Playing Place'.


Yes! I had to stop taking my boy to one of our walking places during his teenage stage for this very reason. Even now I know that if we take a certain route, there's a point where he's going to lose the plot and act like a mad dog.


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## deecee (Dec 19, 2017)

MissSpitzMum said:


> As for recall, along with neutering the most effective thing we found was a whistle. A whistle is loud, unmistakable, and doesn't have the frantic 'COME BACK!' tone of an out of breath and worried owner! With my whistle, which I reserve for emergency recalls (basically dogs still), he gets a jackpot of his most highest value treats I could find AND a game if he's interested. If he then runs off to greet the dog anyway I just gambled and let it happen, so the whistle doesn't loose its specialness. Because I did this the whistle is still super amazing to him and isn't in any way associated with a lead, or not having fun, so he comes back. He's come back even in the midst of sprinting over to see a dog, thats how powerful it became to him!
> 
> Just to add aswell we did keep him on a longline until his whistle recall was close to 80%. We were lucky that near where we are I know regular dog walkers we've met before who don't mind my dog sprinting over to them, so I was able to practice with them. I never let him run over to a dog on a lead though, as soon as I saw one he went on his longline. We had slip ups, but if people see you're making the effort you are easily forgiven. Although his whistle recall is pretty damn amazing now considering he's a) a Spitz, and b) 11 months old we still lead him up if we see an on lead dog, which you might have to do for a long time to come aswell!


That's almost the exact approach I take and most other dog owners are fine with it. Sure, your dog will make a mistake sometimes but you learn to spot when that's likely to happen and put them on the lead or distract them. Some things I found that really helped:

1) Keep him calm to/from the off-lead area. If he constantly sniffs the ground his excitement levels can increase. Watch the speed of his body movements and try to keep things slow.

2) Age - It generally gets much better with age...

3) A special toy/ball. My dog loves a football so I reserve that for recall only or to avoid the run to the other dog (my dog usually stops 10m or so before he gets there but still...).

4) When he does recall, scatter the treats on the ground. This is more rewarding for them and has the benefit of calming them down.

5) Don't recall him if you judge that he won't listen. Just go and get him.

6) If he does blow a recall, just go and get him. e.g. recall once and once only.

7) Food - if he is worse before pooing his food might be making him uncomfortable. Try a different food.

The on-lead reactivity (if frustration based) will generally get better over time but keeping them calm helps the most with this.


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## woodyblue (Apr 11, 2017)

thanks everyone, this is all really helpful stuff!

I use his squeaky ball for his recall and we play with his other non squeaky and we have a whistle so will definitely try the whistle for special recall and try the scattering of the treats, I do definitely think he will get better with age but I just want to be the best mum and owner I can be for him until then so all this advice is great.

I also think I maybe need to stay a bit calmer when he does run, I do tend to do the panic screaming after him which probably does not help the situation, I do check myself on that everytime I do it as I don't want to be the crazy lady in the woods with her dog that shouts a lot.

I've been trying the calm talking to him when we see another dog when on lead walking and pointing the dog out well in advance letting him see it then trying to distract him with treats, he's a work in progress.


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## woodyblue (Apr 11, 2017)

McKenzie said:


> Yes! I had to stop taking my boy to one of our walking places during his teenage stage for this very reason. Even now I know that if we take a certain route, there's a point where he's going to lose the plot and act like a mad dog.


yes I'm completely with you there's a certain part in the woods where he goes crazy and there are 3 different directions he can run in so we go back on lead everytime there until we're through that bit!


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## woodyblue (Apr 11, 2017)

westernmost said:


> I just got and read this yesterday. Looks methodical and feels persuasive. I can't speak from personal experience, but I did notice that it specifically covers the OP's situation.


Definitely will have a look into getting this then.


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## MissSpitzMum (Dec 4, 2017)

Yes don't run after him screaming. I know where you're coming from, I did the same because in that moment you just react. Problem is the dog then sees it as a game, and my own dog would play 'catch me if you can' whilst I was trying to wrangle him away from the other dog. So he would be dodging me, I would be fumbling about, the other dog owner would start to get annoyed (understandably!!) and my dog would repeat it the next time because it was super fun to 'dodge mummy and greet dogs'. I found letting him get his jollys out from greeting the dog then saying happily 'come on then, let's go!' and giving treats for walking away worked... Unless the other dog wanted to play then you just sigh, sit back, and let it happen until there was a natural break in the game.

Sounds like your doing great, and you are definately not alone or a bad owner. Some dogs are just jerks when they are teens. Thinking about it big picture, though, I would rather have a lead frustrated friendly dog than a fearful / snappy one. Keep telling yourself that and it gets easier to love them when they are carrying on looking like aggressive little so and so's! I also find having a lead reactive dog makes you really, really aware of other dog owners and how their dogs are feeling which in turn makes you a better dog owner anyway! Think of it like he's training you to be an amateur dog behaviourist .

For lead frustration, I found that having the dog 'watch me' worked far better than anything else. Train a really powerful 'watch me', have LOADS of small but high value treats, and when there is a dog you do watch me -> treat -> watch me -> over and over again, letting him look at the dog when he wants to but only for short amounts of time to begin with before the next 'watch me'. He went form barking and whining at every single dog he saw, to only at about 20% of the dogs he sees in about a month. Of that 20% they are generally dogs who are pulling and barking with lead frustration to say hello to him too, so I can't really blame him. If he reacts, I just try and get him out of the situation as quick as possible acting like nothing is wrong (staying calm, saying 'let's go!', or trying a 'find it!' to see if that distracts him and throwing lots of treats on the floor), then when the dog is far away and he's stopped reacting, I then ask him to 'watch me' again just to get something positive out of the encounter. If the other owner is ok with it, I let him greet the dog as a reward for not reacting which is far better value than any food I could offer, using the command 'say hello'. 

Never, never let him greet if he's carrying on (pretty easy to do since most people take their dogs away sharpish!). Either he'll be rewarded for barking and do it again or his frustration can lead to actual aggression (think road rage during long traffic jams). Its never happened to me, but I've read that it can happen so better safe than sorry.


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