Recall/no bolting?

All right, I'm trying this one more time. I have tried so many times to teach Zeus some form of a recall. It works well enough when he's in the yard or house. But if he ever gets beyond the fence, he has ZERO recall. He gets a scent, turns completely deaf and dumb, and takes off like a streak of blonde lightning.

Anybody have any ideas as to how I can correct this? Seriously, I'm open to anything. Taking off like that is not safe for him. He needs to either a) have a recall, or b) know to not take off like a bat out of hell. Perferably, both.

I was thinking of starting him in the yard. When he's very good with that, I'll try putting him on a very long, light line, and start working on his recall and such when he's outside the fence.

Thoughts?

Yep, baby steps. We moved from in the house, to in the tennis court (fenced in, no grass to sniff, less distractions), to the small dog park when there were no dogs there. We practice all the time on our morning walks--I walk her on the flexi through the park, and when she strays too far, I call her and give her a treat.

That said, if she escaped, she'd still run like a bat out of hell--we haven't done it with enough distractions yet.

*sigh* that's the problem I'm having. He recalls like a champ when we're anywhere BUT the great outdoors.

I find that a stop command is often more reliable than a recall. The dogs seem less reluctant to sit or down mid-chase than to turn around and abandon the chase by performing a recall.

How do you train that?

More info please! That sounds exactly like what Zeus needs!

*sigh*
I was afraid someone would ask...I'm getting over a migraine, so I don't know if I can explain it well right now, but I'll try...

First they learn a down at my side. When they reliably go down on one command, then I start doing random downs. With the dog on a leash and anywhere except at my side, I ask for a down. Immediately after asking for it, I begin to walk towards him -- this prevents him from coming to me (which they often want to do) and allows me to be close enough to reward them if they down or re-command them if they don't ~ sometimes the distance is too much at first.

As they get better at it, I fade out the walking to them. I down them and as soon as they drop, I release them and we play for a bit.

Then I start adding movement - asking them to down while they're walking, asking them to down while they're running, asking them to down while they're playing. I then add distractions -- in the form of toys first and then other distractions and work on it in other locations.

When they're good at that, I add distance by putting them on a long line. Most of the time, following the drop, I immediately release them and play with them. I'll sometimes ask them to hold the down for a little while just to avoid issues with them anticipating the release. I think that may be part of it. When they're chasing something, and I ask for a down, they assume that following the drop, they'll be released and be able to continue the chase. They have a solid enough stay that they'll wait there, eagerly wanting to continue, while I can walk up to them and leash them. As soon as I leash them, I release them enthusiastically and play with them.

That was a great explaination, thanks! :hail:

Thanks! That was really helpful! Definitely going to start working on that one.

Me too !

That sounds like a great idea.

A trainer I worked with a few years ago recommended having the dog on a long line, giving the recall command and then running backwards. The dogs weren't able to do anything except run towards the handler and even after being taken off leash after proofing, would try to "beat the slack". I don't know if it's particularly a method I would recommend, as she was a really old-school, Kohler/military-style trainer, but if you're out of other options, you might give it a shot. I'd start off with proofing as much as possible before trying to hit the slack.

LOng lines in open places. Lots and lots and lots of practice. I used three 50 foot lines hooked together for Pepper. AT the kennels we had lines much much longer than that for working with young dogs to bring back the bird. Especially dogs that had already been messed up by their owners in the keep away game. BAcked up with daily obedience practices to set in place that you are the leader and doing what you say gets more exploration and more fun.

That happened to me a few months ago. I leaned over to pick up the newspaper and Baloo took off across the road, like a bat out of hell, after a deer, jerking the leash right out of my hand. It was about 7:30 AM on a weekday, so there were more than a couple cars coming from different directions.

Amid my panic, all I could think of was to yell, "Sit." He stopped dead in his tracks and sat down. I yelled for him to "stay" and he waited right there until I got to him. It's a good thing he's a pretty smart dog, because his trainer (me) sure didn't have anything to do with the good outcome.