Come!

[YorkvilleNewfie]

Okay, I have a question then...Mila's recall isn't too hot and I'd love to perfect it but she is very low energy. Most of the time when she's out in the yard with me or somewhere else out and about and I need to be able to call her, she's usually laying down.

She lays a lot. And she doesn't like to get up once she is laying down and that's where 99% of the trouble arises with her recall...the unwillingness to stand up to come. In an effort to make sure we don't have a wrestling match again like we did this weekend, how do you deal with that, if you recall and she ignores it in a laying position; what do I do about the part where I'm supposed to "go get her" for failing to comply, but she is laid down, firmly holding her ground like a mighty Oak? :lol:

I hope this description makes sense. If not, I should videotape it...

 

[R Taft]

Jane did add the bit i forgot to mention.....Don't use the word, untill you know they will come. I suppose because i start inside and mine are so keen to eat, I will always get the "come". I use their meal at first, so they are very keen to come.
Kirsten try to use the "come" only when your newfie is hungry. Maybe you just have to wait for times when you know Mila is going to be hungry and will come. that is why I do the Click/"yes"...reward first. Get to be automated.If I knew she doesn't get up, I would also check if there is a reason for this.
My dogs get extremely exited when we play the game. Excitement does help in the more boring dogs. That used to be a huge issue with Annabelle. But she now loves training.
The hardest is when you have a dog, who does not like food or any rewards. But that is why sometimes we use the daily food allocation all through the day for training. Nothing comes in a bowl for those dogs. All from the hand during training

 

[YorkvilleNewfie]

If I knew she doesn't get up, I would also check if there is a reason for this.

Oh, no health worries, she's just my big blob! She's definitely on the low energy spectrum of Newfs as well as being hard to motivate, very stubborn/knot-headed and supremely lazy! My neighbors always comment on how funny we look walking down the street as she's usually lagging behind me more often than she is beside me. She's not a very enthusiastic exerciser She's my Zen dog. Her idea of a wonderful afternoon is laying down in the grass for about 6-8 hours straight watching and smelling the world as it goes by and then power napping for the remainder of the day :lol: I always joke that gravity has a stronger pull on her than any other object in the natural world! She does get the zoomies on occasion, but not too terribly often.

Oh, and thanks for the response Ronnie!

 

[wrknnwf]

Playing, as Ronnie mentioned, is a huge factor in getting a dog to respond. Be silly when you call her. The sillier the better. You may have to teach her how to play before you can teach her how to come.

Sing to her, dance around her, run away from her, play hide and go seek, or play bow to her (bend over when you call). Throw a toy in the direction you want her to go. Lift and spread your arms. SMILE and be as upbeat as you can, even if you are exasperated. Keep her guessing as to what you're going to do next.

I know it's difficult sometimes to get them motivated. If it's hot where you are, it's even harder. Don't give up, stay happy and look for the thing(s) that gets her excited. Think about the things she does or gets to have that make her extremely happy and then try to use those as a motivator. Maybe it's food, or ice cubes, or treats, or toys, or a ride, or a walk, or just happy talk. Every dog has something that makes them excited.

Don't lie to her, though. For example, if you say "let's go for a ride", then you have to take her for a ride. BUT, you can pair that (or whatever) with the "come" command in the beginning. If whatever you are tempting her with causes her to get up and come towards you, then you can say "come" in a cheery way and let her have her reward.

Put on your thinking cap. You can do this!!!

 

[R Taft]

Playing, as Ronnie mentioned, is a huge factor in getting a dog to respond. Be silly when you call her. The sillier the better. You may have to teach her how to play before you can teach her how to come.

Sing to her, dance around her, run away from her, play hide and go seek, or play bow to her (bend over when you call). Throw a toy in the direction you want her to go. Lift and spread your arms. SMILE and be as upbeat as you can, even if you are exasperated. Keep her guessing as to what you're going to do next.

I know it's difficult sometimes to get them motivated. If it's hot where you are, it's even harder. Don't give up, stay happy and look for the thing(s) that gets her excited. Think about the things she does or gets to have that make her extremely happy and then try to use those as a motivator. Maybe it's food, or ice cubes, or treats, or toys, or a ride, or a walk, or just happy talk. Every dog has something that makes them excited.

Don't lie to her, though. For example, if you say "let's go for a ride", then you have to take her for a ride. BUT, you can pair that (or whatever) with the "come" command in the beginning. If whatever you are tempting her with causes her to get up and come towards you, then you can say "come" in a cheery way and let her have her reward.

Put on your thinking cap. You can do this!!!

Let me tell you this works....Annabelle was a sad dog in obedience, she was slow and looked depressed. I asked Jane for help and she gave me ideas about being silly and happy . I follow that now for most the Rescues, including Lukey. And boy does it make a difference.
we only do Obedience in non-newf classes and all the Judges are always amazed at the energy my guys have.
But it was Jane(WRKNFW) who guided me this way. It has made training a lot of fun and I have passed it on to anyone I work with..... Ronnie

 

[Ocean's Edge]

This has always been a particular area for us - the most critical command, and the most difficult for us to work on.

Buddy's come when called by name (no come command) is 100% perfect in the house, 100% perfect in his yard, but out in the general yard - he figures the game is over and you're gonna haul his arse in and he's GONE ... usually throwing a look at you back over his shoulder - if he's got his ball in his mouth he looks all the world like a 5 yr old in footie pajamas with a red fire engine doing the run around the house going "I'm not going to bed!" Cute as hell, but not at all fun .. or funny.

Yeah we made some mistakes, back when because of the poor quality of the fences here, Buddy got loose a couple times. (Also the reason this issue is so critical for us). It's really the only behavioral issue we have left with the Budmeister of any concern.

Because of the previous mistakes, because we don't have a large safe place to practice off leash skills, and because Buddy has never been a dog to respond to treat training. (He likes his food and treats, but if there's something more interesting going on he's just not interested). This has made 'traditional' training a bit difficult and has for a while had us kinda stumped.

We need to take the core principles of training and apply them creatively to Buddy's own situation. I think it's going to be a step by step process. I've gotten a lot of great advice on this - it's just taken me a while to figure out how to apply it to our situation. Lemme lay out my plan here, and get a feel for what you all think

Buddy loves his ball game, a daily routine, and as part of his daily activity I don't want to restrict the activity. I can't really take his daily ball game away from him accept as a training reward, but we have in the past been able to adapt and use the ball game to teach and train other behaviors (oh like NO jumping on people).

To start with during his ball game (which he plays with both my husband and myself). One or the other of us (and we mix it up) use the happy playful come command and a hand signal when he fetches the ball - he brings the ball to the person calling him (the other person ignores him if he brings it to the wrong person), he then gets lots of praise and head rubs (which has always been part of his training) if he brings the ball straight back.

While we're working on that. We're going to start working on the long line (I have a 25 ft but I think I might up it to 50ft) again James and I together, again using the happy voice and the praise, with the same consistent hand signal. I expect it's going to be a longer harder adventure without the treats - but aside from keeping him hungry all the time I don't see much alternative.

Past that it's gonna be a bit of a trick - but we'll have to find a safe area to practice off leash eventually. I'm hoping we can get the horse yards done with fencing panels, or perhaps this will have to wait till we move. Again I suspect this will be a difficult phase - Buddy's behavior on leash (including the long line) is better / more attentive than off.

The next step will be to move the training to a safe place away from home, but with distractions, we might even back step to the long line in this instance and then again graduate to off leash.

Things I really like I hadn't thought about - but make absolute sense, reaching for his collar every time - Buddy has always been very bright and it's those clues he picks up on, even a very subtle shift in tone that says the game is over will send him running the other way.

Someone else suggested to me to keep the formal training sessions short - 3 maybe 4 repetitions - and then a high value treat - like a ride in the car to the mailbox.

Something else that occurs to me. ... up till now, Buddy's played the petulant 5 yr old about coming in when the game is over, and like a petulant 5 yr old we've given him a clear and definitive signal when the game is over (there's a timed security light on the side of the house)... but we've made the mistake of not MAKING him come in when it's over. We quit playing and go in (now he will follow us in 5 minutes later cause playing by himself is boring), but letting HIM decide when he's going to come in is a mistake. I think perhaps... combined with the touching the collar every time, we ADD in taking the leashes out with us even for a game of ball in his yard, and using the leash to bring him in when WE say the game is over. (this will have the added advantage of I hope of decreasing his excitement every time someone touches a leash doesn't necessarily mean we're going walkies....)

I know I'm kinda rambling here, and a lot of this may sound obvious or repeating what's already been said.... but I'm just kind of thinking out loud here. If we have a concrete game plan - hubby and I can have it all worked out between us and show the dog a united front... (same as we did with the kids)...

Feel free to jump in here ... I know every situation, not just my own is unique, and it might not work in our situation; or if I give it some thought I may be able to see ways of adapting other stuff into our overall plan.

 

[YorkvilleNewfie]

Playing, as Ronnie mentioned, is a huge factor in getting a dog to respond. Be silly when you call her. The sillier the better. You may have to teach her how to play before you can teach her how to come.

Sing to her, dance around her, run away from her, play hide and go seek, or play bow to her (bend over when you call). Throw a toy in the direction you want her to go. Lift and spread your arms. SMILE and be as upbeat as you can, even if you are exasperated. Keep her guessing as to what you're going to do next.

I know it's difficult sometimes to get them motivated. If it's hot where you are, it's even harder. Don't give up, stay happy and look for the thing(s) that gets her excited. Think about the things she does or gets to have that make her extremely happy and then try to use those as a motivator. Maybe it's food, or ice cubes, or treats, or toys, or a ride, or a walk, or just happy talk. Every dog has something that makes them excited.

Don't lie to her, though. For example, if you say "let's go for a ride", then you have to take her for a ride. BUT, you can pair that (or whatever) with the "come" command in the beginning. If whatever you are tempting her with causes her to get up and come towards you, then you can say "come" in a cheery way and let her have her reward.

Put on your thinking cap. You can do this!!!

You're the best Jane! I mean it!

 

[R Taft]

This has always been a particular area for us - the most critical command, and the most difficult for us to work on.

Buddy's come when called by name (no come command) is 100% perfect in the house, 100% perfect in his yard, but out in the general yard - he figures the game is over and you're gonna haul his arse in and he's GONE ... usually throwing a look at you back over his shoulder - if he's got his ball in his mouth he looks all the world like a 5 yr old in footie pajamas with a red fire engine doing the run around the house going "I'm not going to bed!" Cute as hell, but not at all fun .. or funny..

I know the problem...that is why we tell people to use the recall and not finish or go home, let them go again. this is what we practice when we are out and about on walks either at the Lake, woods or River. We do the recall probably well over forty times in a walk per dog. Each time rewarded, collar held for a moment and "off you go again, play or sniff". The dogs now think the recall does not mean end of game.
We also have a 60 foot long leash, that we have attached to the new dogs. Lukey wore his for a while, but we just let him roam and recalled him the whole time and let him go. He is now off leash and has a really good recall. It takes a lot of time and a lot of positive from the caller. And even when they have a good recall, we still do a lot of recalls throughout our walks, we give them a pet or treat and "off you go" again. So I think my dogs think that there is a good chance that the call means treat or a pet and it is worth the risk to them