Recall Training

Good Morning All,

We had a bit of a fright yesterday whilst out with Caley over the field. Caley has always been really good on her recall but recently she seems to have turned deaf by choice. Some lads were playing football and once Caley spotted the ball ran straight to it and would not come back, she then spotted a little boy and jumped up to him (not to hurt him - just to play). Luckily the boys parents were understanding. We immediately put her on her lead and took her home, I was mortified at how she just jumped up like that to a little boy.

Also, when in the garden, she will not come in when called, she has turned so stubborn, what happened to my cute little puppy . We have therefore decided to return to basics and we have purchased a 10m recall training lead.

Could you please advise the best way to train her, we are going to use it in the garden as well, so if she is does not come in when called, I can reel her in without chasing her around the garden and waking the neighbours up.

Is that what I should do when out as well, should I "reel" her back in if she does not return when called and then how long before I let her go again. Any help appreciated.

She is getting to the rebellious stage, it's very common so don't panic too much.

Recall is very hard to get perfect, but you've done that right thing with the training lead

Head out to a big open area without a lot of distractions and practice with treats and toys. Then as she gets better add more distractions by going to busier places etc.

Sounds like you have done the right things already by going back to basics with the training. If you can just keep the training sessions to a few minutes at a time and always end on something she can do well and give lots of praise.

Sounds like the teenage phase and you are on the right track. Just be patient and it will pass

Many Thanks, I did wonder if this was a teenage phase, she even chewed one of our dining table chairs last week (thank god they are old) which she has never done before...and don't even get me started on the sulking..

Sulking................. you must be mistaken a Staffy sulking, never heard such a thing

What gets me the most, she is naughty and gets told off, she then goes off and sulks and refuses to acknowledge you which then makes me feel bad......never known anything like it ha ha ha

Caley is a month younger than Ralph, and we are also going through this. He has developed 'selective hearing'!

He is being really naughty at home and out and about... barking at me for attention when I am sitting on the sofa or demanding to go out for a walk as soon as we've got back in.

Recall has gone out the window, so the training lead is back out!

He's also started getting a bit snappy. When I tell him off, he 'air snaps' in protest. I just turn my back on him or go the other side of the baby gate!

OMG...that sounds identical to Caley, she sits and looks at us demanding to go out, she doesn't bark at us, but she does whine and when we do let her out she does not do anything, it has only been this last week where she is getting really stroppy....glad to here its not just me

On a good note, I took her for a walk this morning and she was actually really good on the lead, not pulling half as much and when she did I just stopped and made her sit for a while, I think she knew we were not happy with her from yesterday, so tried to please me.

Guess its back to the beginning again lol

I think you have it sorted, you have acknowledge the problem and i would agree i think she going through her teenage years and just pushing her boundaries sane as a human would! Tyke tends to go deaf when in the garden especially if the sun is out he will look away as if to say i can not hear you.....

But i would do the same as u, we just gone through the same just different scenario and we cracked it!

Good luck and keep us updated!

my max do the same is a naughty boy with his recall but was good when was at 4-8 months

My girls recall is usually amazing! She went through a phase of not listening but as you said, took her back to the basics and now she's great. She just chooses to ignore me when dogs are around which is a problem I'm trying to cope with at the moment! The only thing she'll do command wise is sit so she can sit and watch them which is quite embarrassing! She ran off to play with other dogs and caused havoc on the field which mortified me too! She's now harnessed up as soon as other dogs are in sight! And if you've seen my post she's getting quite naughty around other dogs too so I guess they both go hand in hand! I'm just waiting for my 20m training lead as the other one I had wasn't big enough as she couldn't run too far from me before so I couldn't correct her properly and hopefully they'll be a spot in training classes soon

im having the exact same problem so i need to get a recall lead ASAP as my staffy is 7 months old now almost 8 mnths and she acts tone deaf lol but when she does come to me even when we playing she tries to run round me but i understand that she is a puppy and just wants to play but i wanna get this sorted before she gets too old to even care