“I’m so sorry” said the lady as she frantically tried to catch her errant hound, “He always comes back at home.”
I smiled and helped her grab hold of her boisterous Labrador puppy. Gus was keeping well away, sensible boy. It was difficult to keep social distance, but we managed to pass the dog between us using outstretched arms. I thanked her for rushing up to fetch her dog – a sign of a responsible owner. (I can be quite rude to owners who just don’t care or try to control their dogs.)
One of the common conundrums of being a dog owner is to decide when your dog is ready to be let off lead. Perhaps you’ve practised calling your dog in your house and in your garden and they come back nearly every time. Then you go to the beach and let your dog off lead – only to find that they ignore your increasingly desperate calls as they zero in on other people or other dogs.
It’s all about distractions. At home everything normal, known and routine. Little changes most of the time, so there are very few distractions and these are usually limited to birds or noises and the odd cat (and aeroplanes… ). Your dog is happy to come back for a treat as there’s little else to distract him. But once out in the wider world there are loads of distractions – people, other dogs, children playing, traffic, cyclists, joggers and a myriad of other things, all in novel places hootching with new smells and sounds, a veritable doggy treasure trove of pleasure. This sensory overload means your dog will struggle to hear you and even if they did, they may struggle to resist the temptations on offer, with all the new people and dogs to meet and play with.
Getting a good recall at home is like teaching children to read – it’s Janet and John level (for those who are old enough to remember those iconic reading books at school) – a basic, simple level. But getting a good recall at the beach or park is more like reading War and Peace – a very advanced level.
You need to build your dog up to advanced level recall gradually by slowly introducing more and more distractions in a controlled way using a lead or a long line, checking at each stage how well you dog is doing. We suggest you aim for 95% success – a fast recall, first time of calling 19 times out of 20 – before your dog is ready for the next level of difficulty.
There’s nothing nicer than being able to let your dog run free, knowing they’ll come back when you call.
Keep training and keep safe,
Carol