I have two dogs that seem to enjoy delaying their reactions to recalls. In light of my puppy plans, and the fact that both my dogs do it (and so it must be a handler problem), I wanted to solve this.

So here's two examples. The manchester terrier (my parents' dog) only likes to be outside to pee for about 5 minutes in the winter, because it's cold. However, when I open the door and call her, she stands from afar, wagging her tail, looking at me but not responding. I have to close the door, pretend to walk away, and then open it again before she comes in. Today I had to do that several times.

The vizsla mix (my dog), does the same thing, but not just outside - he does that any time he's off leash. I say, "Come!" and he stands there looking at me like I'm an idiot, until I say, "Come on, let's go!" Usually after that he'll come running up to me very enthusiastically, but other times he'll continue to ignore me.

For a while, I had them both on leash all the time, so I could enforce their recall...but on leash they do it perfectly, no problem. I left them on leash for about a week, and immediately after allowing them to be free and off leash (indoors), they started the ignoring thing again.


First of all, has anyone else had this problem? I'm assuming it's something I've done wrong, since both of them do it. Part of me wonders if they ignore me because they think I'm going to put them in their crates. Anyway, any suggestions? I don't want to pass on this bad habit to my puppy.




EDIT: They respond immediately (happens so fast they become motion blurs) if I have a treat.

Heather, that sounds exactly like our dog Buster. We would let him out in the yard to pee or lay around or whatever. Then when we wanted him to come in the house, would open the patio door and call to him. He would just look at you with his tail wagging like, "I know you want me to come in, but I'm not ready - let's play instead." Sometimes, he would put his head down and butt up in the air like dogs do when they want to play. Then you would go outside to get him and he would dash away. Then we'd go back inside and he would come up to the patio door and then race away when he saw you coming out again. Like you said, the only thing that would get him inside was a treat! Other than that, he was a perfect dog. We are trying to train the puppy we have now a little better!

We must have long lost relative dogs, Diane. Let me know if you figure something out that improves it!

Mine haven't been so bold as to offer a play bow, but today I did go hopping out on one foot (I could only find one shoe), and Bella would run towards the door and JUST as I turned around to come inside with her she'd bolt to the back of the yard again. Funny in hindsight, NOT funny at the time.

Only you know the answer to the crate issue (does the dog believe he's going in the crate?), as there, you've provided no forward information how your dog might relate "come" with crate.

As for not coming when called, it sounds to me like this issue requires a long line when outside, for the dogs in question.

It's been said a zillion times that recall (TOTAL) is the most important command you can teach your dog. In your case, it seems to be a respect issue, just blatant disregard off leash.

Can you get the dogs to come 100% in the house? I'd start with that and build up to the command with the distractions outside, using lead, then begin incremental work without leash in your fenced yard, treats in hand!!!

One thing to keep in mind is that "come" should *always* be a pleasurable experience for the dog. You mentioned that the lack of recall at the time was NOT funny. Ask yourself, specifically, what did that mean for the dog? Was it "COME" "COME" "COME" and when the dog finally did come it was reprimanded? Even verbal reprimands when the dog has not fully learned the command, are unfair to your dog and IMO will perpetuate this problem. TOTAL recall can be achieved with patience, proper training and respect. Remember, you are the leader.

Just to add, when you do start the incremental training stages outside off lead with your dog, it will be more beneficial if you train one dog at a time and then later, the dogs together...break it down.
Very time consuming, however, will be so worth it in the long run. You mentioned you plan to get a pup. IMO, training total recall with your current dogs will be virtually impossible if you are busy potty training a pup.

Thanks, Michele.

You're absolutely right about how difficult it will be to train them out of this one the puppy arrive, which is why I'm really going to focus on this for the next couple months I have with them alone.

In terms of being more specific about what actually happens, you've got me, I do repeat the command, but I certainly don't scold or correct when they do come in the house. On that note, though, now that I think of it, I'm so disgruntled that I don't praise. They can probably tell that I'm irritated.

As for whether they think they're going to their crate, for the vizsla mix, I'm positive that that's the reason. Outside of the home, his recall is stellar. As for the manchester terrier, who does a perfect recall inside but not outside, I think she's afraid of coming through the door. She's the family dog, and when I wasn't around as much a lot of the dog chores were put on my (much) younger brother, who's uncoordinated to say the least. He slammed the door on her a couple times by mistake. I've tried to work with her on it, and I'm very patient with her when she does finally try to come through the door.

Thanks for your input, and I'll get out my long line right now. It's really important to me to have my current dogs under control before the next one comes, otherwise I'll have total chaos.

Two things: Ditto what Michele said about COME being a.) fun and b.) very important to have your dog respond to reliably.

These things I can tell you already know. I think you're right about increasing the reward (praise/treat) when trying to get your dog to come. Long lines are a good way to start and have a little bowl of treats by the door for reinforcement while your dogs are still unreliable.

The other thing is, these dogs sound they want more exercise or play time! While I wouldn't give into it when they're telling you to do it, maybe they could use some more exercise or stimulation so they're not so anxious for it everytime they go out?

Amber, you're probably right. It's the winter weather, it's very discouraging for long walks! I'll just have to pull out my parka and suck it up.

I did do a little work with them this morning, and as usual as soon as it wasn't *needed*, they did absolutely everything I told them to, instantly. I threw in some lines like, "You guys don't want to go to your...crate....do you? COME!" and they did it anyway. I was a little bit impressed. Usually if they hear the word crate, they hide. I also did some crate work, to show that I don't close the door and leave every time...and there's a treat in there sometimes, too!

As for the manchester terrier, I put her on a leash and threw treats out the door and then called her in, and I can tell now that it's really a door-fear issue, because she was trying to come through the door but she was incredibly hesitant. I can only guess how many times she got slammed in there by my little brother (who didn't know any better, that shouldn't have been his responsibility)...she's starting to improve though. She's moving back in with my parents soon, but fortunately my brother is much older now so I think he can handle waiting until she's inside to close the door.

I've also attached a long line to the back door so I can work on the recall with the manchester terrier in the mean time.

Thanks everyone, I'll update if anything interesting happens.

Heather,

This is just me being nosey, but how come your folks aren't training her? I only ask because of how much I know members on this board are adamant about training their own dogs and not sending the dogs off to a trainer...

Don't get me wrong, I think it's cool and probably very helpful for your folks. Just curious.

Also, I really liked some of your ideas, I'm going to use some of those with my girls (dogs). Thanks.

Hi Cat, I train the dogs because one of them is mine and technically, one of them is half-mine (I paid half)...also, they would never have dogs if it weren't for my persistent nagging. And last but not least, they don't know squat about training dogs. If they were doing the training, I'd have to be there anyway, coaching them through it. I set the dog rules and do the training.

Plus, I'm not sure if it's clear, but I'm an adult-child. Hah. I'm going on 20 and I've been in charge of the dogs since I was 8, reading dog books since I was 6, staring at dogs since birth, you get the point. I prefer being in charge.