I tell all my friends with dogs if you can teach your dog one thing only, teach the recall, it doesn't have to be pretty but you want it damn near 100% reliable. After you get your pupper to understand what you want, start increasing distractions and increasing the level of drive you call him back from. The game I play with my dogs is to have them run after the ball I just threw then call them back, after they turn around and head towards me I send them out again. It tells them just because I called you back doesn't mean the game is over.
Clicky linky

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_DBqMWXtw0&list=UULFpPvSoJPLK1fCF9tShLqQ&index=5&feature=plcp

Like Connie said start with 0 distraction and once your solid under no distraction then slowly add distaractions. As with any new commands it's good to start with 0 distractions and be sure there solid before adding to many distractions and possible failure, set yourself/dog up for success.
Always on a lead until there 100%, 6ft then 15ft, 30ft, 100 ft line then your dog won't be able to bail. But if you are off leash at a park or somewhere it might be good to not call your dog if there's a chance for failure and just go to your dog and get him instead of blowing 5 "come fido", like Bob said don't call him.

Without a solid recall there should be NO off leash at a park or anywhere else that the dog can refuse and run. Don't put the dog in that dangerous position of failure!

All right, guess I gotta bore you with more detail. The reason I have had very little interaction with this dog is because when my wife and sons got it, it was very much against my wishes. My wife and I were having very serious problems and on the verge of divorce. It was just the wrong time to add another responsibility, so I refused to have anything to do with it. We have thankfully worked all that out since then and are on the right track now.

Now, as wrong as I was about how to raise/train dogs, my wife and kids would take the dog out off leash and play, without her being trained to do much of anything. Sometimes they'd lose focus on her for a short time and she'd take off through the woods. We live on about 10 acres in the country. She doesn't go far or for long, but I don't want my dog bothering others any more than I want theirs on my property. Plus she could get to the road if she chose to.

So, when she does run off, they ask me to help get her back. I have, on occasion, been able to get her into a sit from 10,20, 30 feet away and get her to stay there long enough for me to come to her, not get her to come to me. I'd say it works maybe 50% of the time. If she chooses to keep running it's useless to go after her. So that's where we're at with this.

I did start trying to do very short comes last night with her and had my son do it also. She responded very well to it because she absolutely loves these bacon treats, forget what they're called. So we'll keep working at that and see where it goes.

The video I ordered is the power of markers one.

"So, when she does run off, they ask me to help get her back. I have, on occasion, been able to get her into a sit from 10,20, 30 feet away and get her to stay there long enough for me to come to her, not get her to come to me. I'd say it works maybe 50% of the time. If she chooses to keep running it's useless to go after her. So that's where we're at with this."

I'm sure you understand that this has to stop. If you don't stop this, then you can forget teaching a reliable recall (or having a safe dog). The dog just can't have this "optional" recall and be off leash and uncontained outside.

I hope you share this thread and the threads I linked you to with the other family members involved, and that you all watch the DVD together.


But DVD or no DVD, this is crucial:

 Quote: Bob Scott

Without a solid recall there should be NO off leash ..... that the dog can refuse and run. Don't put the dog in that dangerous position of failure!

That is absolutely the plan Connie. Now that my wife and I are on the same page we are trying to get this issue with the dog straight and we all will be watching the dvd. I just bought a 30' leash so that if they want to play with the dog outside, they have a way to stop her if she shows the urge to take off like that. I mis-spoke before when I said they'd take her out off leash. She has always been on a leash, but it was a very short one so if she took off, or they stopped paying attention to her long enough, they couldn't stop her.

When you get the marker training down and if you begin to enjoy training you may want to look into E collars. I use the pager function(vibrator) for recall, it gets there faster then my voice and allows for a lot more freedom of movement for me and my pupper.

I actually have an E collar that's never been used. How the heck does the pager function get used to teach a recall?

 Quote: Kory Fox

I actually have an E collar that's never been used. How the heck does the pager function get used to teach a recall?

It's really not, IMO, the way to teach the recall the first time. It's an additional layer of instruction for you, at this point.

 Quote: Dennis Jones

When you get the marker training down and if you begin to enjoy training you may want to look into E collars.

I'm with Dennis .... when you have marker training down and if you decide you like training .....


That is, you have a tainted command (now perceived as optional), and no consistency at all, and in that position (and believe me, most of us have been there at one time or another), I would urge that you teach the recall the simplest possible way.

JMO!


The pager can be used several ways: as a recall command (as a replacement for you calling) or, for example, with my deaf dog, I use it as a cue to look at me for a hand signal.

Ditto with Connie....in spades!!!!

If you don't even know how to operate the pager function you don't need to go near the dog with a e-collar.

In my sometimes less then humble opinion I believe a person has to have more then a basic understand of training and dog behavior before they ever touch the e-collar. Again IMLTHO it can be an excellent tool but also one of the most abused and abusive of dog training tools.