Puppy - recall/lead training questions?

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ecrozier

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Hoping within the next few months to take delivery of a new puppy!*
Been reading various books etc on getting things right from the start, as current dog is 9 now and we only got him as a 6 month old rescue so am a bit rusty on all things puppy shaped!
Pretty confident with most things like correcting unwanted behaviors, toilet training etc, but am a bit confuddled about walks/lead training/recall etc.
I need this dog to be a) good on lead and b) good recall. I am confident of the principles of how to train both, but what I am unsure of is how you walk your pup before it is either fully recall reliable or lead trained? I can easily go out onto our village green once a day and work on lead training, but can't see that you would do more than 10 mins at a time of either stopping if they pull or changing direction...? So would be nice to take pup to local park for second outing of the day, and walk there, but it will take a while to instill reliable enough recall to let them run loose won't it?! Would you use a longline for this? And call them back before they reach the full extent of the line?*
I can go to one or two 'dog proof' places like my parents large garden to practice off lead recall but as its 40 mins away would only be able to do that once a week or so :/
Any info on approaches you have taken would be much appreciated!*
 
I think you might be overthinking it a wee bit :)

I would always encourage people to feed by hand out of the pocket with young pups, encourages them to stay beside you because they learn - Mum = food/ball/fun stuff.
They are more focused on you because you produce something that is higher reward than most other things (we hope!)
Then when the lead is introduced there won't be so much conflict.

Also try not to think of formal LEAD TRAINING sessions, make everything fun and upbeat and incorporate training into walks, make everything fun or the dog will sour.

I still, out on walks, if the dog gets ahead of himself, just stop, I look like an eejit but he has to learn.
 
With a young puppy distance doesn't matter - you tire them out at home. Teach them to stay with you by changing direction when the lead is loose, and praising them when they are in the right place (next to you on the left, which is where heel is traditionally taught, or right as you desire) with the words 'GOOD heel' - that way they are learning to follow your lead, and you are associating the word heel with them being in the right place.

Recall starts at home, calling the pup to you with their name and the word 'come' in your nicest voice then having a little game with them, or a treat - also use feeding time as a chance to practice this. When they are on the lead, you can do a puppy recall, which is when you walk backwards away from them, calling them to you as you do and giving them a big fuss when they catch up.

A puppy class is always a good idea, as you will have someone there to guide you, and your puppy will learn to behave around other dogs. Look for one with a good trainer to client ratio, and also make sure that off lead playtime is properly supervised, with the trainer giving guidance on how the puppies should interact, stopping any bullying behaviour, and if necessary dividing the puppies up so more timid pups are not thrown in with the bigger, more boisterous ones.
 
hi
I asked the guy who was the gundog trainer at the cheshire show last year as my spaniels recall was a bit hit and miss (she was 6 months)
he said the best thing to do was never let them off untill you are absolutley certain they will come back. stay on long lead until completely trained. he also said a very small space (small back garden etc) was the best place for training and have it be immediate and down to a t before going off lead.
I reverted to long line in the Manege (too open in the garden) and had rewards she couldnt resist (just cooked chicken or sausage)
the lady who breads Working cockers, I asked a little advise and she said having them retreive a ball works really well for recall training, get them really interested in this. It took a while longer (all other training was picked up on really quickly) her nose is to the ground a lot and she was very distracted by birds! now she will stop in her tracks and come back :)
 
This is my method, when you first let off the lead you take a dog with you that will come to call straightaway. The pup will follow its friend whilst your calling the pup. I don't use food as I personally don't like food training.
 
CaveCanem - yes probably putting too much thought into this aren't I!! Wasn't going to do formal training sessions though don't worry - was more thinking of exploring the green outside the house and using that as a chance to work on lead training, which obv I would start in our garden at home. Will try that with the food too - although do want to feed raw and I'm not sure about carrying chicken wings around in my pockets ;)
Spudlet thanks. I have done a fair bit of reading now re things like using toys/feeding to start working on recall at home, and our garden whilst not huge is big enough to start the process! I guess what I was confused about is whilst teaching pup to recall, if we do go out and about, I don't want to start off bad habits on the lead... But a long line would be a good compromise, so he can play at a bit more distance from me on that, then reattach the short lead and then enforce the walk at heel on that lead.... Is that about right? Have lined up puppy class already, run by a friend who will also be our dog walker when required.

Thanks Lovescobs, I will do that. Start in our house, then work up to our garden then my parents garden, then there are a couple of relatively well enclosed parks near us we can move on to with long line to start with when it's 100% off lead in all the gardens!

Here is hoping I'm overthinking this hugely and he just copies our 9 year old rottie who is now 99% reliable on recall - although would prefer him not to copy kaiber on lead as he's not great!!
 
Lol cross posted Kaylum! My Rott is pretty good, he doesn't really like strange dogs (fine when introduced properly) and isn't particularly interested in chasing things (ESP nowadays as he lost a leg to osteosarcoma), so hopefully he will be around long enough to help me teach new puppy to recall!
 
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