When are they ready?

When do you think a dog is ready to be off leash? I've been working with Phoebe on come and she's doing really well. She is no where near ready to be off leash, she still will sometimes ignore me when she is interested in something but we made progress today so that I could call her off of good smelly distractions (another's dog pee). I know though that if she SAW something really good, like a rabbit, cat or dog, she would be off. Right now we work outside with a long light twine that I let her drag so I can grab/step on it if she starts to run or does not listen to me. I had to use it twice, once she was sniffing a piece of cheese I dropped, I told her to come she ignored me so I pulled her away with the twine and she ran over. I let her go back to the cheese and after she started to sniff I called her back again and she listened, I did it once more and she came again. The next time was when we went to a new part of the yard that she NEVER goes to and that's where she trotted away to a tree but it was close to the road so I called but she ignored, she was sniffing dog urine on the tree. So I pulled her in with the twine and did what I had before with the cheese and she listened the next two times I called her away from the tree.

So I can work with scent distractions but how do I teach her to come away from visual distractions? I mean I can't count on a rabbit showing up when I need it to. Did you need to work on these things or did you know your dog was ready before testing on visual distractions? I mean I don't think I could trust her without working with her around animals running from her (obviously we would work up to that, start with stationary then move to animals fleeing). What do you look for to be sure your dog is ready to be off leash?

Keep on practicing. One mistake I can see is that you're using your cue word to come when there is a distinct probability that she won't. Don't use your cue word. Run the other way fast, jump up and down, squeek a toy, go look at something really fascinating behind a bush...try to become more interesting than what she is being distracted by. Once she comes running toward you and you can reach out and hold her collar, feed her some high value treats and say your cue word, "come." Or "lets go"....whatever you use. And turn her loose again. Walk around in a fenced place. Do the same stuff, act like a silly fool. (make sure the neighbors aren't watching. LOL) Everytime she comes near you, use your cue word, hold her collar, feed her and turn her loose again to do what she likes.

Never repeat a command where she may not comply. Set her up so that she is likely to comply and hold off on your cue word until she does. Don't use it yet to elicit the behavior. Just associate it for now with the act of coming to you AND the goodies. Make it so everytime she comes to you, it's a party, the best time ever and plus...she gets to go back to the thing that was interesting to her.

This can all be done off leash if she's in a safe, fenced area. Try to do it where there are still fairly mild distractions. It can be done off leash because you are not going to use the cue word to elicit the behavior. If you use a long line to reel her in, that's OK, but not optimal because you are using force and she is not using her own noggin. I prefer to let the dog choose, but set it up so she WILL choose the correct response.

Once you're able to get her to come by means of your antics with certain types of distractions, raise the distraction to something more....just a little bit more and work there. Only when she's coming reliably with your enticement with many types of distractions and in different locations, will you chance it and try out your cue word to elicit her coming to you. It is a process and not something that happens over-night to be sure. But if you do it systematically and correctly, you should end up with a very reliable recall. You can also mix it up with some other skills which will follow, like sit, down, stay so she gets the idea that she is "working."

Thanks, I'll do that, I just don't have a fenced yard :/ That's why I have the line and it's why I hesitate to run in the other direction, I'll try to get her interested me in another way though, I'll see what works.

Well, if you don't have a fenced yard, then you're right to keep a long line on her. It's just that what I've found is that my dog would always come when I had the long line on because he already knew there was no other choice. But it's OK Maxy....you can still get it to be habit. Don't let her find out that it works to not come when you use your cue word.

Also, I know it's been talked about, but not sure if you recall....remember to not call your dog to come when you're stopping all the fun, doing something yucky, like clipping nails, going someplace she doesn't like.....like the bathtub, leaving the park or dog friends. Try to continue the fun after the other fun stops when you have to bring her inside...just for a while. Just don't inadvertantly "punish" her when she comes to you. Then what happens is "come" comes to mean....."YUCKY bad things." LOL.

Yes, of course, I never do that...I can't say the same about her owners, they might call her for punishment, I really hope not though, I think uncle more says "get over here" before he hits her . She does great with it inside, we have not been doing it outside much yet though. We are also working on her paying attention on walks, I have her sit when I stop on curbs but once again her owner does not do this so I'm kinda doing it for my own reasons seeing as I'm sure she won't do it on walks with my aunt, same with trying to get her peeing on command and waiting before going in or out a door. I only get her for an hour everyday.

I go over and she jumps but then sits so I put her leash on and tell her to wait. I open the door wait a second and release her and she trots out. I walk out with her and drop the leash, she then follows me to her potty spot and paces then goes, she listens to the come command very well there although I don't use it much there since I don't have treats at that time. When she squats I say "hurry up" and as soon as she finishes I say "OK" and she knows that means she can go to my house so she runs up the deck stairs and waits at the door. I take her leash off and once again ask her to wait and she always does until I release her and then she runs in the porch. Then I remove her collar and ask her again to wait and she does (as the cats sit and stare at her) and then I release her and she runs in and says high to the cats and drinks some water. So she responds well to those things, it's very fun for her.

There are certain commands she picks up quick. For instance We have been working on back up, which she does pretty poorly at, she does not like moving away from the treat I guess. On the other hand teaching her to stand on her back legs took a few minutes to get from hand signal to spoken command. Of course she did figure it out on her own, she decided to do th when I was ignoring her so I worked on it and now she does it great!

Come did not take much time either, but another problem is she knows I have treats and will not always go away from me when we are outside. I wish I could make her have no idea I had treats but she always does so I know that might be one reason she is listening so well. I think it's too early to wean her off of them for this command, but I will as soon as she is better at it.

It sounds like you're doing superbly with her. It's just such a shame that her owners don't follow through with what you're doing. It must be confusing to the poor thing. What will happen though is that she'll do all these things for you and not them. As far as the treats, yes, it's too early to wean her off. But even if you have them on you...like in your pocket, when it comes time to going to a variable reward schedule, you can still skip a time or two. She'll learn that just because they're in your pocket doesn't mean she's necessarily going to get one. However, do wait until she is giving you a correct response very reliably, almost every time. And in the meantime, treat every time she comes.

That's great how she's sitting at each intersection at the curb. I do that with Lyric too when I'm in the city.

It sounds like you've done so much for her....just giving her that attention and mental stimulation is great. Well done girl!

Big ditto to Doberluv's posts.

I'm currently putting an off-leash recall on Buddy and the biggest piece of advice I can offer you is to start with a long-line in an area with very few distractions. Drop the line, let it drag and if for some reason you mess up and give the command when she's too distracted, grab the line and don't let her go any further. When she looks back at you to ask "what the heck?! let's GO!", you have her attention so give the command again. As soon as she complies, give her a treat and release her. If she doesn't comply, just stand there and hold the leash. If she's sniffing, slowly walk away so she can't hover over that special spot. Basically don't let her get any reinforcement from her environment unless she comes to you when she's called.

I understand your hesitation to run away from her in an unfenced area, I'm not sure what I'd do in that situation. Sounds like you're on top of it, Maxy. Good luck!