less-than-perfect recall and fetch

[DanW]

Hello all you wonderful eskie people, long time lurker/ first time poster here. Apologies in advance for a somewhat long first post, but there will be puppy pictures at the end!

Our fantastic toy eskie, Nova, is just about to turn 1 year old. She's sharp and picks up new tricks very quickly. I started using a clicker for her most recent tricks - play dead, jump through my arms, jump on my back, and she learns them all in just a few short training sessions.

My issues are with that most basic command - come, and playing fetch. Both of these were taught very early on, and she still does them, but seemingly 'on her terms'. In most situations, she will come when called and retrieve a ball for fetch. The problems arise when we are at a park and we need her to come to us, she'll come sometimes, but not if there is something else she's really interested in. Same thing for fetch - she'll be fetching and doing fine, but can easily get distracted and go sniff something else or say hi to a dog or some people. What puzzles me is that after a while (anywhere from 5-20 seconds), she'll suddenly get back on track and come (or bring the ball back). I refrain from any punishment and usually reward the fact that she did come back, but will generally end the off-leash time as she has lost that privilege.

My question is - do I go back to using a long (20 foot) training leash and start from scratch with come and fetch until she is 100% again? I feel like the consistency is slipping by her 'choosing' when to obey and I really want to have the recall and fetch at close to 100% when off leash, at a big park. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

As promised, puppy pictures!




and her fully-grown, striking a pose:

[JimmyThy]

Welcome welcome, Dan, Nova & family. Another new member from Vancouver (Sendiulino is the other new member) - cool! AND you both have an all-black cat along w/ your female Eskie. How coincidental is that??? Maybe you guys can have a playdate in the future

Anyway, sounds like you've got her figured out in noticing that she's doing her commands/tricks "on her terms." It's pretty impressive to me whenever I hear that an Eskie is fetching in general, b/c neither of ours have ever had interest in it. In fact, Atka even goes so far as to hate putting anything in his mouth 

I totally agree with you that you should go back a few steps and start using the 20ft leash until she's more consistent. In addition, I'd also make those commands really attractive by rewarding her with the highest value items whenever she does them, and doing it only for those commands (especially the "come" one, for safety reasons). That will definitely help her "want" to do this command more consistently, too.

Glad you stopped lurking and joined officially. Now we can see more pics and hear more stories of Nova, too, especially when she turns 1 !

[Geno]

Welcome to the board!!!

Geno

[Yukon]

Welcome! Nova is very cute!

It's true that every time Nova chooses not to come when you call, you are weakening your recall.  Basically, she is learning that responding to her recall is optional, and she can choose not to do it when there's something else that is more interesting/rewarding for her. 

That being said, it sounds like she is doing well with her recall in boring environments and at home, and not as well in distracting/novel/exciting environments.   That's normal, and you have to train for those situations as well in boring environments.  Sometimes, when a dog is really over-excited, it doesn't even hear you anymore, because it is so focused on the object of its arousal. 

Take a step back, make it easier.  Practice your recall at home with super high value rewards.  Then, start to make it harder (at home still).  At home, can she recall away from toys? From food? From another dog?  From a bowl of water when it is hot outside?  From an interesting new person?  Think about the things that distract your dog at the park, and try to recreate that distraction at home in a training situation.  Start far away from the distraction, then slowly move her closer.  Make sure you are using very, very high value rewards so she is successful and still chooses to come to you.  Then, when that is going well, take the show on the road -- start going to new places (on leash) and work on ignoring the distractions.  Petco/Petsmart are great for distraction training because there are dogs, people, food, noises, rodents, etc.  All of these things will help -- they will reinforce for her that it pays to pay attention to you and do what you ask even when there are other attractive choices out there.  Once this is going well, take her back to the park and practice there too.  Use the environment as a reward as well.  For example, if she wants to greet a new person, and you want her to come to you, call her to you, give her a quick little treat when she comes, and then release her to greet the new person. 

Good luck and let us know how it goes! 

[jeannette84xx]

I just wanted to add, I had the same problem with my dog Guinness with the recall.. this is what I did

So he wasn't that well trained, selective hearing type of dog. If he doesn't think there's food or incentive he doesn't listen, so in the house its still not 100%. At the park, we are off leash.. and the parks are big so I wanted to make sure he can succeed. Bring your dog to the park HUNGRY for training, if you usually feed breakfast or dinner before going, skip it. At the park, give some treats when the dog isn't too far away. When she's consistently coming to you from a close distance to get the food you can slowly let her get further away for the come command, but do not do it too far that she won't succeed. 5-20 seconds is pretty good though I think.. my dogs come back to me consistently but sometimes they want to "finish up" their last activity before coming back to me which may be sniffing something for 5-20 seconds more or peeing somewhere. They are more responsive when treats are involved but have become so used to doing it after training and repeating over and over, that no treats works too.

[BanaerEskies]

I haven't read though all that was posted, but the basics for teaching come that I use are:

NEVER EVER EVER use the word "come" unless you can enforce it until it is solid - use a long line at first

ALWAYS reward come as if your dog just won the lottery

NEVER use "come" to call you dog to punishment

You have to be more interesting than the distractions, so GET INTERESTING

[DanW]

awesome, thank you all for the warm welcome and helpful ideas! I will definitely be implementing these into my new recall training regime. I'll be sure to report back with progress updates.

One more puppy picture, just because its pretty funny to see the size difference between Nova and I - big guy, little dog!


and her chilling with her BFF:

[JimmyThy]

The size difference is adorable!!

Nova seems to be a girl where opposites attract, huh? With her 2 (nearly) black-furred BFFs...

[TigerLilly]

Most of what I would have suggested has already been said but I just thought I'd add in that sometimes the parks are so big that your dog can't hear you so maybe a dog whistle or something could help.  As far as fetch goes....it seems to be a strange eskie quirk that they just have a hard time learning that but learn other things at the speed of light.  I've always been curious why that is.
But the primary reason I'm replying to your post is the great photos.  She's so adorable!  I love the one of her with the cat and her at the beach.  I hope to see more photos of her and her friends .