Puppies often rush toward people. Your puppy will chase after you if he thinks you are leaving him. The book offers the reader an insight into the mind of the dog and explains exactly why dogs behave in the way that they do.

We bought our entire gang indoors recently, after the worrying spate of gundog thefts across Hampshire. Thieves were targeting working gundog kennels and we decided that leaving them outdoors was just not worth the worry. As with any training, it’s very important to choose a reward that is reinforcing for your dog. What motivates your puppy or dog the most? Is it food obsessed? Will it jump through hoops for a special toy or game? Or is affection your dog’s favourite reward? avoid the scene of the crime. The longer you go without him running off, the less likely he will do it again but in places he's done it before he will remember what fun he can have there If your dog obeys a recall under high distraction, such as when there are lots of other dogs and people around, ensure you give an extra special reward. This lets your dog know that it did a really good job. If you stop rewarding the behaviour altogether, your dog may find other things (such as continuing to play with other dogs) more rewarding than obeying the recall. This could result in the command begin ignored.

#1 Puppy training

Ideally, training a reliable recall should begin from a very young age, as soon as you bring your puppy home. Decide what the recall command will be called; either ‘come’ or the dog’s name is commonly used. Dogs are continually weighing up the costs and benefits of their behaviour. People also do this – how many would continue to go to work if they stopped getting paid? Once the reward or incentive is gone the behaviour declines or stops altogether. First, a warning: the paper book is much better than the Kindle version. I have them both and the electronic format seems a bit off while the physical book is a joy to read.

We've also tried the whistle, he's fantastic at responding to this at home but when he goes feral he takes no notice of it. Of all the basic obedience commands people teach their dogs, the recall – the ability to have your dog come to you on command – is by far the most important and often the most difficult to train. Perhaps the most important reason is safety. Training will also make your dog a welcome guest wherever you go. Choosing the right training method Of course, there is more than one way to train a dog. And dog training methods have changed immeasurably over the last decade. This is a unique and detailed book that follows the entire training process through the pursuit of a single skill.

Total Recall – September 2012

Whatever you choose make sure it’s a special treat, something that’s only on offer during training sessions, rather than something your dog gets on a regular basis. Using a variety of different rewards adds an element of surprise. The book’s strength lies in clear, engaging writing and, in particular, in its structured exercises designed to build a recall from scratch’. Dogs Today

A reliable recall, meaning your dog will come to you every time, has many benefits. It can be used in off-lead parks to avoid confrontations between dogs and can even be a life-saver in dangerous situations such as when your dog encounters traffic or snakes. Start to gradually increase the recall distance between you and your puppy. Reward the puppy with a high value treat every time it succeeds. Again, repeat many times until the puppy succeeds every time. This is establishing a reliable recall.

Thank you

If, at any stage of this recall training process, your dog begins to ignore the recall command, consider what the possible reasons could be. Use an event marker. An event marker is a signal (usually a sound) that tells the puppy he is about to get a reward. It’s called an event marker because it can be used to mark any event in your puppy’s life, including the things he does. Like looking at you, or running towards you. We must make it more rewarding for our dogs to come to us when called than to ignore us and keep exploring. In practice however, this can be difficult. If your adult dog has always had an unreliable recall this makes it more likely to continue to have an unreliable recall – the behaviour (disobeying the recall command) has been consistently reinforced to the point where it becomes a habit.