Training to come when called!

[Nudibranch]

Aargh! How? My 18 month dachshund will sit, stay, lie down, fetch and drop things on command but he will NOT come when called, unless he feels like it. He doesn't run off or anything but will just stop and look at me, and refuse to come when I call him. Sometimes when off-lead, he will refuse to pass bigger dogs and it does become embarrassing, he makes me look completely incompetent. He is a bit socially inept despite being well socialised as a pup - he will often bound up to dogs wagging his tail and play-bowing but as soon as they respond he starts barking. He also invites a chase and then starts screeching and yelping as soon as he gets one! This is when the refusal to come becomes really annoying.

I've started putting him on the lead when other dogs approach, and making him sit/stay while they introduce themselves, which seems to be helping but might this make things worse in the long run? He isn't food motivated at all - I've tried the whole treat thing - so is there anything I can do?

 

[CAYLA]

I have been working on a dog today, with a fixation, and lack of recall, he to is not wanting to run off, but gets a little fixated on moving objects rsp kids footballs and dogs

and stands so far ahead with a very dominant/alert stance as if he is contemplaiting coming but won't.

I long lined him, and made him take note by changing direction, he then gets a sharp jerk reprimanding when he did not follow as I change direction and he must follow, once reprimanded and unable to turn in the direction he pleases as he has to follow the long line, or a check and reprimand via his half check, as I dont like to use full checks on the long line, he actually took the treat when he had not option but to follow and sit at my feet, in the form of chicken breast and cheese

, once he is forced to come close (once the fixation is broken) he was more then happy to take the treat and further assosiate it with coming to me, I sometimes use a clicker to click and treat, to gradually phase out the treats, and the dog then assosiate treat with clicker and of course he has to come to me to get it

I tie the long line around my waist, so I can grab the line quickly if I need to, as it was a bull dog type I had, so obs safety is my priority.

At first he was bloody defiant and looked like i was going to be a long day, but to my suprise he responded well after 10 mins of this routine, I then was able to let the line trail still around my waist and have him watch me for my poss change of direction

to avoid a reprimand, I will work like this for months with him, Im never in a hurry to undo my work, it's hard enough as it is

I will also keep him on a lead for the next few months when passing dogs, as I dont want him to get into any bad habits, and hopefully the training I put in will allow me to pass close to dogs and keep his attention.
As he will have learned the reprimand for his action, and should look to me for my next move.

I hope that makes sense, it's hard for me writing down instead of showing

Try some tasty treats, like chicken and cheese, the dog today showed no interest until he had no other option but to sit infront of me, he certainly would not have been tempted at me wafting it from a distance whilst he was in fixation mode.
Try toys, if he is more toy orientated, I took a ball as the dog I had was ball obsessed, but the ball did not work, treats did

 

[EQUISCENE]

May be useful to watch a few Caesar Milan programmes - he often works on similar problems and you might get some different ideas to try.