Recall Training - without food

[LucyA]

Hi Guys,
Blitz is doing great at the min. Seems to be acting a little bit teenage but apart from that good.
We've changed his diet from Landywoods to the Prize Choice meats, we tried putting him down to 2 meals but he looked skinny within a few days so I am keeping him on 3 for the moment.
However. I do have a problem.
We have never got anywhere with his recall!!
When we are out he is not interested in food at all which makes training a pain.
When I am out in the car I can say to him 'to the car' and off he trots, waits for me to open the car and jumps in. When we have him on the lead we have to catch him unaware to get him back.
Once he knows we are after him he literally will do anything to stay away from us, staying close but not close enough.
We don't chase him, we stand and wait but usually we only get him when another dog comes near and he is too busy sniffing to notice us getting hold of his collar.
He knows 'chewy' means treat and at home comes running for a treat, on a walk it doesn't work.
We need to go back to basics as now we have a dog walker who is having the same issue with him.
Any suggestions on where to start would be appreciated!!
Lucy x

[kita]

Try saying 'Bye' and walking away from him.

He needs to know that you are not going to just stand there and wait for him, you could disappear at any time so he has to keep his eye on you!!

Sue

[LucyA]

He follows me Sue, just not close enough for me to put his lead on, if I reach for him he darts off, never more than say 5 meters

[Bonniesmummy]

Try getting him to do another command like sit or down then approach, I taught bonnie 'wait' so to get the lead back on I would get a sit then a wait before I approached then lots of praise when I had it on xxx

[LucyA]

Good idea Auds, I'll give it a go, Blitz does know the command wait!
I'll let you know how it goes xx

[lauraburns]

For this reason, I always clip the lead on 2 or 3 times in a walk just because I can! That way, the lead going on doesn't always mean and of play or end of walk. Clip the lead on, walk 5 or 6 steps, lots of fuss and release again! Try making a game of it to, tell Blitz to sit/ down/ wait, whatever works, clips the lead on and maybe run around with him while he is on the lead for a minute, and let him off again. Hope that makes sense, it does to me, but that isn't saying much at the moment!! Lol!!

[sezpet]

If all else fails, drop to the ground,you may look silly but most dogs are so curious as to what is wrong with you they come right back for a closer look!!
It has worked for me a few times!!!

[LucyA]

Two more fantastic ideas! Thanks guys, will work them all in together and see what I come up with.
Sez - I'm not afraid to look silly for the sake of my dog, I haven't had pride for years lol x

[nisbreagha]

A long line around 15ft you can get them off eBay pretty cheap. Put it on let it drag and call in if no reaction reel him in and treat him repeat this till he he's the message. The line allows ths freedome and you the cconfidence that you'll get him back.

[RainbowLass]

Originally Posted by nisbreagha

A long line around 15ft you can get them off eBay pretty cheap. Put it on let it drag and call in if no reaction reel him in and treat him repeat this till he he's the message. The line allows ths freedome and you the cconfidence that you'll get him back.

this is how we trained Ellie, my dane. Her recall was awful when i got her, and it took about a week on this and she was spot on after that.
I used a whistle, and found that after a while it was a fail safe.. even if she tried to ignore me, she never ignored the whistle because she knew there was always food in it for her!!

Mind you, you should try keeping hold of a tracking line when you have a dane in full flight at the end of it!!! Skinned my hand a few times before i learned to tie knots in it!!!