# My Springer is more interested in everyone and everything except me! help!?



## welshyspringerowner (Jul 1, 2014)

Hello, I have a 4 year old welsh springer spaniel. I dont know where we went wrong with her as a puppy but she has terrible recall, to the point where she doesnt even look up. She completely blanks me and its driving me mad. I have tried running away, hiding and treats and toys but everything and everybody seems better than me. She clearly just sees me as somebody who puts her on her lead, which I have too or she will harrass and jump up people and follow them around the park. Its embarrassing and I am losing my patience, she can probably tell I am annoyed with her half the time and I have tried a angry voice (which still doesnt make her bother looking). Can you help me or have any suggestions. Shes a springer and I feel guilty having her on the lead I want her to just respect me a bit more and then she can be off the lead as long as she likes! 

Sorry for the rant, but please help me.


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## Amelia66 (Feb 15, 2011)

if everytime you recall her you put on the lead she will never come back to you as she knows thats when the fun stops. I would suggest a long line so that she is still on lead and you can step on it to stop her following people, but still let her have some free roam and work on her recall


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

welshyspringerowner said:


> Hello, I have a 4 year old welsh springer spaniel. I dont know where we went wrong with her as a puppy but she has terrible recall, to the point where she doesnt even look up. She completely blanks me and its driving me mad. I have tried running away, hiding and treats and toys but everything and everybody seems better than me. She clearly just sees me as somebody who puts her on her lead, which I have too or she will harrass and jump up people and follow them around the park. Its embarrassing and I am losing my patience, she can probably tell I am annoyed with her half the time and I have tried a angry voice (which still doesnt make her bother looking). Can you help me or have any suggestions. Shes a springer and I feel guilty having her on the lead I want her to just respect me a bit more and then she can be off the lead as long as she likes!
> 
> Sorry for the rant, but please help me.


The first thing to do is not allow her free roam so that she can do as she pleases.

It is not about respect, it is about how dogs learn, your dog finds everything and everyone else far more reinforcing than you

Buy yourself a decent harness (a roman one) and a long line and wear some gloves and work on building up a relationship with your dog.

Feed in installments and only during recall training

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.


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Courses

How to Change Predatory Chase Behaviour in Dogs with David Ryan

Saturday 5th July 2014
DOGS TRUST 
Roden Farm Lane
Telford
TF6 6BP
9.30am - 4.00pm
£50.00: which includes lunch
David Ryan

Date: 3 - 6 July 2014

Venue: Wales

Contact Gail Gwesyn Price on Tel. 01686 688920 or [email protected]

.
Books

Line Training for Dogs
By Monika Gutman

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

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

Teach your Dog to Come When Called
By Erica Peachey

Teach your Dog to Come when Called
By Katie Buvala

Training your Dog to Come When Called
By John Rogerson

The Dog Vinci Code
By John Rogerson

Total Recall
By Pippa Mattinson

DVDs

Line Training for Dogs
By Monika Gutman

Really Reliable Recall 
By Leslie Nelson

Training the Recall
By Michael Ellis

Training the Whistle Recall 
By Pamela Dennison

Your clever dog: Getting your dog to come when called 
By Sarah Whitehead

Does your dog whizz back to you as soon as you call his name?

Can you call him to you even when there are other dogs or distractions? Teaching your dog to come to you when you call is the cornerstone of training and the gateway to allowing him more freedom in the park.

If your dog has selective deafness, ignores you in the garden or the park, or would rather play with other dogs than come when you call, this specially designed training session is for you.

Ideal for starting out with puppies or rehomed dogs, and also for dogs that ignore you or are slow to come when called, despite previous training.

Including:
• How to know what's rewarding for your dog and what's not
• Five times when you shouldn't call your dog!
• Using your voice to call versus using a whistle
• What to do if you call and your dog doesn't come to you
The pack contains: A clicker, long line (worth £10), training manual, instructional DVD: 55 mins approx running time including Bonus trick, Bonus Training Session, Intro to Clicker Training, Q & A with Sarah

Dogtrain.co.uk

Website articles:

How to use a long line properly here (under information to download)

www.dogspsyche.co.uk

http://www.apdt.co.uk/content/files/training-tips/RECALL.pdf

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

Deposits into the Perfect Recall Account

List of Reinforcers

http://www.clickerdogs.com/distracti...yourrecall.htm

Nothing found for 20 Call-Collapse

How to Create a Motivating Toy

http://www.cleverdogcompany.com/tl_f...e recall.pdf

Teaching Come | Ahimsa Dog Blog

http://www.dog-secrets.co.uk/how-do-...y-dog-chasing/

Train a

http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/te..._to_you_on_cue

http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/be...me-when-called

The First Steps to Teaching a Reliable Recall: Kathy Sdao - Bright Spot Dog Training

More on the Reliable Recall: Kathy Sdao - Bright Spot Dog Training

Lesson 6


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## smokeybear (Oct 19, 2011)

Roy Hunter	Fun Nosework for Dogs
Vivian Theby	Smellorama; nose games for dogs
Martina Nau	Snooping Around
Pam McKinnon	Talking Dogs Scentwork; The Manual
Anne Lill Kvam The Canine Kingdom of Scent

Springers love using their nose and some of the above books have great ideas to incorporate into a recall

This is also a great activity

Welcome to Talking Dogs Scentwork®


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## kittih (Jan 19, 2014)

As you probably know, being or sounding angry won't have the desired effect as your dog won't want to go back to you if you are cross. Just like we wouldn't want to go back to someone who was grumpy with us. If your dog has been practicing ignoring you for a while then the more you call her the less likely she is to respond.

As suggested put her on a long line. Start somewhere with few distractions such as your garden and practice recalling her to you. You could use a new word so its a fresh start. Start with the line quite short. Call her and give her a very high value treat, toy or game. Then release her and repeat. If she doesn't come gently pull her towards you then say word and treat. Practice in the house. Gradually extend the recall and end training on a success.

You could use the normal food ration as the treats once she gets the hang of it. Once embedded go out somewhere but choose somewhere less distracting. Start with leash very short and repeat so that if she is successful you can try the long line longer. If she doesn't respond don't repeat your cue word otherwise she will become deaf to that to. Just encourage her back with the line.

Once you have recalled, make lots of fuss of her, do something fun like play a game then release her. Try and find what her main motivators are be they a very tasty treat, a game or a particular toy. Once her recall is good make sure you practice recalling for good stuff as well as putting the lead on. Good luck.


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## Sylvia58 (Jun 25, 2014)

Hi, I have a springer spaniel who loves to look for squirrels, you may have seen my post Squirrel Obsession, I have taken the advice given to me on this forum and I am in the middle of reading a few of the suggested books, I also practice recall in the garden, of course there is no distractions, I also take her to the park and practice on a long line with treats, she is staring to listen more and is not so easily distracted, but I know it's early dates yet, and one pesky squirrel up a tree and she's trying to climb up after it. But one step at a time. Good luck


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## srt9969 (Dec 9, 2013)

FWIW, I have an ESS with a recall issue, we are working with Total Recall, can't recommend highly enough. 
TOTAL RECALL: PERFECT RESPONSE TRAINING FOR PUPPIES AND ADULT DOGS eBook: MATTINSON PIPPA, PIPPA MATTINSON: Amazon.co.uk: Books


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## Buzzard (Aug 10, 2012)

Whatever your current recall word is abandon it for a start. Perhaps whistle train. You need to introduce this as if it is first being taught. You need a long line, lots of tasty treats and a whistle. Start in the house whistling and treating, whistle before putting the meals down. Then progress outside with a longline. You must not allow her to ignore you and 'practice' not returning to you. Therefore a longline is essential and lots of time and patience. Good luck.


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## LaceWing (Mar 18, 2014)

Initially, you could try long line work. Harness and long line, to the park. Walk where ever you want to go and ignore the dog. Change direction every couple of minutes. If the dog engages in pulling you, change directions so that she is following you instead of the other way around. I&#8217;ve used this on shelter dogs, dogs from puppy mills, spoiled dogs, etc. At some point, you will find the dog never tugs the leash. This is because he is keeping on eye on you. Some say this is an alpha trainer, that you are leading the hunt. I think the dog just eventually figures out that you are attached to him and he has to stay within so many feet of you. Keeping in mind that he is still sniffing and stopping and trotting, etc., just keeping an eye on you. It took my niece&#8217;s chihuahua 6 minutes to figure this out, one very spoiled terrier mix 6 days, twice a day, 45 minutes each session to finally figure it out. Every other dog has come in under 25 minutes.

It is easier to pull a dog from the side rather from the back. A harness is going to control the front end.

So, a couple of sessions just doing the long line work as outlined above. Follow with working on the recall, with your dog I would use fetch as well as simple praise and petting. Then, working on sit in place, so you can park your dog without having him come up to you (very useful if he ends up on the other side of a highway and you have to watch for traffic), down, heel (call him to the heel, praise and treat, release). And so on.

You have to have real lesson time and forget about a leisurely walk or ride until you have her really under control. When you start back with your ride, stop at a park and use your long line to let her sniff and explore.


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## Phoolf (Jun 13, 2012)

I have kind of overcome this problem with my dog. All the suggestions so far are excellent but I found that by taking her away from a lot of excitement she cares a lot more and managed to find me a lot more rewarding than other things. I now walk where we rarely see dogs and probably will continue to do so as it's more relaxing, we get more time together and she has come to realise Im not so bad. The more fun and rewarding your dog finds running off (to play, to say hello etc) the longer it will take to fix; by removing yourself from those situations (walking in less populated areas) and managing it (long lines to prevent access) you're beginning to form that relationship.


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## Sarahliz100 (Jan 5, 2014)

Phoolf said:


> I have kind of overcome this problem with my dog. All the suggestions so far are excellent but I found that by taking her away from a lot of excitement she cares a lot more and managed to find me a lot more rewarding than other things. I now walk where we rarely see dogs and probably will continue to do so as it's more relaxing, we get more time together and she has come to realise Im not so bad. The more fun and rewarding your dog finds running off (to play, to say hello etc) the longer it will take to fix; by removing yourself from those situations (walking in less populated areas) and managing it (long lines to prevent access) you're beginning to form that relationship.


Yes, I did a similar thing to this too. For a while there were places that I could be fairly confident my dog WOULDN'T pay attention to me. So we avoided those places (mainly the local park) whilst I worked on getting my dog to focus on me in quieter places. I made myself very rewarding to be around - ball, frisbee, hiding treats for him, bits of training etc so that he was keen to engage. I worked on his recall from the beginning again (starting indoors with a whistle and progressing to outdoors) and rewarded him every time he came back. If he didn't recall promptly I would go get him and he'd go back on lead for a while until he could demonstrate he was paying attention to me. He isn't allowed to stay offlead ignoring me.

Now I can walk him at the park and he'll pay attention to me (as the keeper of the precious tennis ball) providing we don't get within a 10m radius of other dogs. I either avoid getting in that 10m radius, or put him on lead to pass, or if I'm happy a meeting is appropriate give him the "say hello" cue so that he doesn't get to practise running off to other dogs without permission. Still room for improvement but manageable. I view every walk as a training opportunity and engage with him lots. One day I hope for that elusive 100% recall!


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## Riff Raff (Feb 12, 2013)

Susan Garret's Recallers online course sounds like an ideal fit for your situation:

NEW! Recallers 5.0 | Susan Garrett: Dog Trainer, Agility Champion, Owner of Say Yes Dog Training


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