Walking along the beach with my new pup, Gus, eight years ago, I was happy to let him off lead. We’re developed a good relationship and he’d been glued to my side until then, so I was happy to see him start to develop some bravery and go exploring and sniffing.
Until he spotted a spaniel walking nicely with her owner.
He ran up to the spaniel, jumping in her face and trying to get her to play, much to her and the owner’s displeasure. I did the usual waste-of-time thing of screeching at Gus to come back with absolutely no effect as I ran over to them.
A rather unseemly and embarrassing few seconds ensued as I tried to grab my wriggly, slippery, pup-eel while simultaneously apologising to the other owner and trying to protect her rather gorgeous spaniel from being pestered by my unruly pup. Finally, we crawled away, shame-faced on my part and rather frustratedly on Gus’s part.
At that point I realised that the slightly irregular, haphazard training I’d done to that point needed to become far more planned and rigorous. Once we got home we started playing the key recall games we teach in our Perfect Pet courses. I used a long line for a week or so on the beach and with patience and persistence Gus’s recall improved very quickly – and spaniels have been safe from his attention since.
Teaching a good recall is simple but not always easy – and it does require practice. There are no magic bullets but there are just a few simple games that, if you play them regularly, will result in your dog having a stellar recall. Which will also allow them to have more freedom on walks. A double whammy.
There are six key recall games in our Perfect Pet courses. This six week live online course will show you what and how to train your dog easily and quickly using our signature Perfect Pet games. You get the game manual and one great benefit of the online course is that you can re-watch the game videos and each course lesson as often as you want.
So if you need some help with improving your relationship with your dog and teaching them the key basics such as recall, walking nicely on lead and manners, then come and join us online.
Spaniels, all other dogs and people on the beach need to be safe from unwanted attention.
Keep training and keep safe,
Carol