"I vote it's eye drops, I wouldn't come either haha"

I don't use the recall for stuff like this on a dog who isn't 100%. I go get the dog.
Conversely, I make it a point to use the recall for every good thing. Make that recall inextricably bound in his dog-brain with good stuff.


"Unless I have a bribe (food/toy) then he comes like lightening. I should probably start another thread about that haha!"

Surprise that dog. You have taught him that your rewards are telegraphed. Have a high-value treat in your pocket on a walk, where you have never had one, and ask for a sit. After the dogs looks at you with a "WTH? Here!? On the sidewalk?!" face and sits, which you mark and reward, the dog will not forget that.

Thanks David. That helps a lot. It's good to know it's fairly common for newbies to have this problem. I was thinking I might be too soft for protection sports but I think it's something I can work on.

 Quote: connie sutherland

Surprise that dog. You have taught him that your rewards are telegraphed. Have a high-value treat in your pocket on a walk, where you have never had one, and ask for a sit. After the dogs looks at you with a "WTH? Here!? On the sidewalk?!" face and sits, which you mark and reward, the dog will not forget that.

We actually just started doing that yesterday! He did well but was a little slow. But I think I said earlier that there were more distractions than we anticipated so it wasn't fully his fault. Our neighbors have a Beagle we've never seen before (maybe newly adopted) that howled at us literally the entire way down the block haha. He was leashed out front, but Conan just looked at him a few times but he always sat eventually so it wasn't completely failed.

 Quote: Dennis Jones

I think it depends on the dog, Erika requires a strong voice and Roxie her mother I discovered responded well with a softer voice with a slight Irish accent.

You crack me up. lol

Post us some more videos with you doing the Irish accent.

 Quote: Nora Ferrell

 Quote: Dennis Jones

I think it depends on the dog, Erika requires a strong voice and Roxie her mother I discovered responded well with a softer voice with a slight Irish accent.

You crack me up. lol

Post us some more videos with you doing the Irish accent.

I'd like to see those too

Katie,

In the situation you described there could be a combination of things going on. Being assertive can be one of them. I would like to know how the dog was trained to start with. Some people feel they need to scream at the dog to get them to obey. Being handled by someone other than their trainer/owner could also be a part of it. When I start a dog off I don't use a leash and I don't talk either. Whistling is good enough because there is no way to misinterpret a whistle.
Your relationship with your dog speaks louder than a yell ever could. Keep it positive and a win win situation for your dog and he/she will do anything for you.

Michael, I'm not sure if you're referring to my situation with the GSD at the FR club or my dog on the walk, so I'll answer both.

I'm not sure how the GSD was originally trained. The only thing I really had trouble with was getting her to come to me, which makes sense since she had only known me for about 10 minutes. So I think a mix of that with a lack of my full assertiveness was the problem. I certainly felt assertive and loud (my boyfriend was watching and said I wasn't loud at all though, I'll work on it). But it was my first time at a FR club and my first time handling a dog in FR, so I'm sure Darla (GSD) and I both knew I didn't really know what I was doing.

Our Corgi was originally trained through the basic obedience training most pet owners go through. I've since discovered Leerburg and marker training and everything else on this wonderful website. We've recently started Conan with markers trying to perfect his basic commands, and he's been doing so well we thought we could take him out. We did again today and he was a little better, but not much. But I think we're making progress. He did a few sits today very quickly and we jack potted those. We'll see how he does tomorrow. We are assertive with him, but not very loud as he's pretty sensitive, but also pretty stubborn. Patience is a virtue with him haha.

Also, I forgot to add, they do use whistles at the FR club for recalls but I didn't have one and no one had any extras. We went through a handler defense and a face attack, which was a blast, but weren't really doing anything serious since I don't even have a dog yet. It was the first time seeing whistles used for recalls and I do want to train Conan on a whistle recall as well.