Thank you all for the thought, comments, advice and support.

After all, I can not take her granted as she is a very good puppy in the house. She does very well when we have training/playing sessions. She is 95% in compliance with recall when we are inside (ok...make it 100% with me going to get her). I thought she would improve when I have recently trained to her come to me straight without taking a detour to pick up the toy I intentionally threw to the side of me right before I called her.

Also, I have noticed how sniffy she is compared to the pup Ed has in his Basic Obedience DVD on "walk on leash" section. They are both six-months old. But my sniffy pup would not back away from new stuff/smell on the ground even after a few pops like Ed gave his pup in the dvd. I have been using SUPER treats like raw meat as regular treats (Zuke's Mini/Power Bones/Jerkey - chicken/salmon/peanut butter/lamb/beef flavor or Plato - Chicken/Duck/Salmon, Liver Biscotti, Grizzly Nu, Paws Gourmet - all flavor) just don't cut it. She loves them but not as much as some rocks or new plants or new stuff on ground. She wouldn't trade a piece of rock in her mouth up (well..more like, trade down, with a handful of those treats. Literally, I waived a handful of treats around her nose and she actually turned away to continue to chew ordinary “rocks&rdquo. Go figure!!! I fear for her beautiful teeth but don’t know what to do. I guess I could force “out” command which she knows to spit out stuff by sticking my hand in her mouth to take it out. I have a luxury of doing that as she is a cocker whose jaw I can deal with. But, I’m not sure if that would make another my command less effective as it is associated with bad experience.

But, so far, raw stuff has worked well to overcome her distracting nose only for maybe 50 yards of walking. Then, her focus is lost and that SUPER treat becomes before plain and her "curiosity" drive takes over her and then it's time for me to carry her home. Thank goodness...she is only 23 lbs and I need exercise on my biceps anyway.

Anyway, time for bed. Thanks again, everyone , for chiming in.


I have noticed how sniffy she is compared the pup Ed has in his Basic Obedience DVD on "walk on leash" section. They are both six-months old. And, my sniffy pup would not back away from new stuff/smell on the ground even after a few pops like Ed didn't with his pup on dvd. I have been using SUPER treats like raw meat as regualar treats (Zuke's Mini/Power Bones/Jerkey - chicken/salmom/peanut butter/lamb/beef flover or Plato - Chicken/Duck/Salmon, Liver Biscotti, Grizzly Nu, Paws Gourmet - all flovour) just don't cut it. She loves them but not as much as some rocks or new plants or new stuff on ground. She wouldn't trade a piece of rock in her mouth up (well..more like, down with a handful of those treats). Go figure. BUT, she would take them right after she is done with the rocks or she can find them on the ground. But, so far, raw stuff has worked well to overcome her distracting nose only for maybe 50 yards of walking. Then, her focus is lost and that SUPER treat becomes before plain and her "curiousity" drive takes over her and then it's time for me to carry her home. Thank goodness...she is only 23 lbs and I need exercise on my biceps anyway.

 Quote: angela burrell

Pat, I totally understand about not knowing where the line is between not enough correction and too much. I have the same problem myself.

I guess when we are first starting out it is trial and error. You need to first accept that you WILL make mistakes, ESPECIALLY if this is your first dog. Luckily for us clumsy humans, most dogs are very forgiving.

I suppose that your rule of thumb should be to correct only to the point of compliance. If you go back to the Basic Obedience video, Ed shows training the recall with his GSD pup by throwing some treats in the grass - i.e. the dog is distracted. He calls the dog then immediately pops it with the collar.

The dog's reaction will tell you everything about whether you did it right or not. If you did, it will react as Ed's dog does - jumps up and eagerly complies (ok, with hunting dogs it will be less eager). Too much and your dog will tuck its tail. You don't want a tucked tail and avoidance. A yip of surprise is OK the first one or two times, but the dog should immediately recover and realize what she is supposed to be doing. If you corrected too hard and the dog goes into avoidance, just go get the dog with a happy voice (don't reel her in) and take her inside - session over. Once inside play with her or feed her so she knows everything is OK. (Cockers are pretty tough though and I don't think you will have this problem).

If you didn't correct hard enough... then your dog will continue to ignore you as she has been.

You basically want the equivalent of "HEY! I called you so you better get your butt over here!" which is between a polite "oh please come, if you want to" and "YOU BAD BAD DOG!"

One thing I have done in the past is warn my dog I am going to pop him by sayng "no" before the pop. This has trained my dog that the actual command is "come - no" or "sit - no" i.e. he doesn't have to listen until I say no.

I hope other more experienced people will chime in also, as my dogs are far from perfect in the recall department.

One thing you may be interested in. In Ed's puppy video you will notice he states that he uses flexi-leads for puppies. That is probably the best advice I had ever heard, and I used one with my puppy. I found it was SOOOOOO much better than a long line because 1. it had a comfortable handle that did not hurt my hand and 2. it has BRAKES. I cannot tell you how many times brakes came in handy. With a long line, if your dog takes off running and hits the end you can hurt your arm (ask me about the scars on my hand). With a flexi that doesn't happen. Also it will never tangle. The downside to a flexi lead is that it teaches the dog to pull against the leash. I used a flexi lead in any situation requiring a long line (mine was 25 feet).

Here is the link to Ed's streaming video page (Warning! This page is like a vortex that will suck up your free time! http://leerburg.com/videolist.php ).

I followed Ed's method and my puppy rockets to me no matter what he's doing. I erred on the side of caution and used just enough to get his attention. The first time we tried Ed's distraction recall he wanted to go right back to the treats. So I repeated the command + pop and we had a big party when he got to me. Once he calmed down into a sit, I let him go back to finish the other two or three treats. I taught him "bring it here" the same way. Once he brings the toy to me, we play tug for 2-3 seconds, he wins, runs off in victory, rinse, repeat. He's learned that coming back to me means fun. When it's time to go in or stop playing I always go to him to take the toy and change the command to "c'mon". That way he knows "ok, play time's over and it's time to go back inside". Our biggest recall issue has been containment. He likes to launch into me at the last second, so I've started giving him a target like Michael Ellis shows in a recent LB Newsletter.



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Pat. Everyone has a different view on treats, but I only have two rewards for my dogs. Pieces of hot dog and praise (verbal and/or physical). I'm nowhere near an expert, but both of my dogs respond well to both. We don't dote on them though, so praise is always an earned reward. Even if the "work" is just laying calming in the kitchen for our adult dog or just being calm for the puppy, either sitting or laying while tethered. My pup's either in his crate or on a leash, no exceptions.

Thanks for chiming in. I have started e-collar training with her this weekend after having conditioned her for 2 weeks. She seemed to get better. But, oh...mind, I had not realized that she was quite a hard dog. It took quite a bit to get her to respond when she is distracted. And, one time I accidentally push Continuous button for a maybe a second. She responded with a bit of startling feeling but didn't yelp and gladly took treats.

Also, I have a silly question to ask you all. When I was watching remote collar training DVD, I was reminding again that a training session should be keep to 3-5 mins. So, what should I do with the rest of time she is out? I play with her, but when we are playing. I have a feeling I'm still her. For example, when we play fetch, I give her treats when she bring back. Also, she will have to sit and wait for "fetch" command to go get it back (I ask her to sit every time). Similarly, when we play tug, I mark and treat when she "outs" when told.

Apology for sounding a bit idiotic. But, I watched DVDs because I have no experience and rely heavily on instructions provided. And, when it comes to imagination on dog-training, I have none (at least just yet) and do not want to be off base.

BTW, do you have any of your own training/playing with doggies videos on YouTube? Would sure love to see them.

You might want to give her some time to just be a dog and sniff around, or safely explore.
But that can certainly be combined with short more formal training sessions, and then games that may still involve some obedience but are still just games.

I also always have them sit before throwing..this is a safety issue for me because I don't want a 70 lb dog bouncing around trying to get the toy in my hand. For them it is just routine now, I don't throw until they sit.

 Quote: Pat Khan

Perhaps, I should to save it when we are outside and would continue to condition her with SUPER treats using random/jackpot methods so her ears are always up for that.

Why? Every time something good is coming her way, you have the opportunity to associate the recall with good stuff.

In fact, inside/outside gives you chances to emphasize the fact that the recall is the recall no matter where it happens. You don't want the dog to perceive the recall as something that happens only in THIS spot in THIS yard with THIS tone of voice.

(P.S. When I get 100% compliance with no distraction, that's when I introduce minor distractions, and I increase them very very gradually. I also don't add distraction and venue change together.)

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

I also don't add distraction and venue change together.

Oooooh. I hadn't thought about the fact that a venue change is a distraction all of its own.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

In fact, inside/outside gives you chances to emphasize the fact that the recall is the recall no matter where it happens. You don't want the dog to perceive the recall as something that happens only in THIS spot in THIS yard with THIS tone of voice.

This is crucial; I can say this because I recently made the mistake of getting lazy about using the recall word in the house. I was mostly using it outside and rewarding with one specific toy, and I realized that she now associated my recall word with that one exercise (flying at me with a toy for reward)

I have started to generalize again, and she's back to responding properly to my recall word...(and I vary the reward between treats and toys and fun stuff)