Recall and long lines!

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flatcoat2

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Could someone link me to one of the old threads about recall and using long lines please.
I am having serious issues with my spaniel and think i have to go back to basics. Also, what is the best food treat to offer rather than just their own boring food?
 
Hiya, will have a poke around for you. What are your issues?

I find the way to a dog's heart through cheese, chorizo and chopped up hotdog sausages. If you can cook up liver too, mine go mad for chopped liver.

Fast before training, make them work for their food and you can also integrate hand feeding - IE all food comes from you and your pockets, not a bowl on the floor, if you have the time and patience for that.
 
Can't help with long lines as my hatred of them is well documented (for my own circumstances that is, not because I don't think they're a good training tool - I just can't be doing with them:o).

However the best treats I have found are little bits roast chicken and hot dog sausages:D Basically anything really smelly and horrid will do the job, soft is better than biscuits too as they need to get little bit down them at the right time and by the time they have finished crunching a biscuit the chances are they will have forgotten what they did to get it!:rolleyes:

ETA CC is right and I meant to say - you need to put them on the Norty Dog Diet - no food before they go out to start with as then they will be more into your treats. As they get better, you can gradually start feeding them breakfast again, although mine still has less food at breakfast than at teatime, just to make sure he is up for earning the odd sweetie or two :)
 
Thats great, thankyou. Basically she was not trained or even know her name when i got her at 8 months. She is a sprocker. She normally is not too bad off the lead and always keeps an eye on me. If i put my hand in the air she comes back and gets a treat. The problem is getting her attention to look at me. We honestly wonder if she is partially deaf. (i know you will all say its just a spangle thing!) but if she has her back to you and you are right behind her, you can talk to her, call her name and alsorts and she wont even know you are there. The only way to get her attention is to touch her, then she jumps and looks round as if to say 'oh i didnt know you were there!'
I desperately need to find a way to get her attention. Im sure the lure of tasty food will do the trick but i need her to know i want her!
 
If she is totally engrossed in a smell, she might really not be able to hear you as all her attention will be focussed on her nose. Part of the trick is reading her body language and recalling at the right moment:)
 
flatcoat2 said:
Thats great, thankyou. Basically she was not trained or even know her name when i got her at 8 months. She is a sprocker. She normally is not too bad off the lead and always keeps an eye on me. If i put my hand in the air she comes back and gets a treat. The problem is getting her attention to look at me. We honestly wonder if she is partially deaf. (i know you will all say its just a spangle thing!) but if she has her back to you and you are right behind her, you can talk to her, call her name and alsorts and she wont even know you are there. The only way to get her attention is to touch her, then she jumps and looks round as if to say 'oh i didnt know you were there!'
I desperately need to find a way to get her attention. Im sure the lure of tasty food will do the trick but i need her to know i want her!
Click to expand...

Sounds like my Springer, at 5 months he had no name and no training whatsoever. At first he was quite clingy and we had him off the lead with no real problems. However he quickly got worse until we were having to rugby tackle him to catch him. No reaction to noise, no reaction to being chased, nothing! We also thought he was deaf, but he's not, he was just completely switched off!
Also when a Spangle is on a scent their nose takes over, you just have to find away to get through to that tiny part of their brain that is still wanting to behave!!!

Have you tried using a whistle? My dog is still fairly unreactive to my voice, he will do as he is told but can just as easily ignore you. However he never ignores the whistle!! As she's a Spangle too, try a 210.5 acme whistle.

Then walk her on the long line, then stop, wait for her to head back to you and as she's on her way blow three short pips on the whistle and give her a big lump of chicken when she gets back.
Keep going until she is coming back when you whistle rather than waiting for her to be coming back before whistling (if that makes sense). Just keep building until it's completely ingrained!
She's sounds better than mine was in the way she is keeping an eye on you, it shouldn't take long to remind her to behave.
 
Have you checked so that her ears are not full of hairs down towards the ear canal? I've heard that i.e. some Spaniel breeds, Schnauzers etc, can grow almost like a jungle of hairs on the way into the ear canal and it wouldn't be of any help, if she also walks around with self-made silencers.


I will simply presume that her previous owner didn't spend much time on her, since she wasn't trained and didn't knew her own name, so perhaps she simply haven't learned that when people say things around/nearby her, it has some relevance to her?


But of course, if you truly suspect that she is deaf, take her to a veterinarian that can do a hearing test on her and find out how it really is.


Good luck with her. :)
 
Thanks for all the answers. SOrry, was on my mothers computer earlier and forgot to log in using my name! I am going to buy a long line tomorrow and have already bought a whistle so i will start work in earnest tomorrow.
 
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