Dont trust off-leash....

My DH and I have 2 dogs (1 y/o and 1.5 y/o). They are very good dogs but we cannot trust them off-leash. We have a fenced in yard so it is not usually an issue but when we go to visit friends/relatives that dont it is very difficult. Next month we willl be going to my parents house in NH and they have 6 acres and a lake that I KNOW the dogs would LOVE to have their go at, but I cant trust them not to run off in the woods, not to mention that they will not come when called. It becomes a (chase me) game to them and the closer I get to them, the faster they run away. How can I solve this?? I would consider bringing a rope and stake to my parents, but I'm afraid they will only tangle and hurt themselves. Plus I know they would have so much more fun off-leash. Please help!

you'll need to teach them come. Do you know how to do that? If not we can help you I'm sure. I think if they know come and will do it NO MATTER WHAT then that's all you need. If they move to far from you, you should be able to say come and have the dog stop in his tracks and run on back. Of course they should never be out unsupervised, that's just an accident waiting to happen. Don't ever play the chase me game, this means don't let them off leash in an unfenced area until they know come. If you do let them out not leashed make sure you call them to you a lot throughout the time. Sometimes give them a treat when they come other times just verbal praise. Making them come a lot throughout also teaches them that coming does not always end their fun by you bringing them in. Better to be safe than sorry, make sure you don't let them out in the open until they really know their come command.

Oh, I would never let them out in the open unleashed! And if I cant trust them, they wont be off-leash at all. It is just such a shame, cause I know they would have so much fun running around the property. Is it possible to teach them to come on command EVERY time in one month? We are going to NH on July 20. Can you guys give me some tips on teaching this command. I took them both to obedience school but this command was not really taught very thoroughly because it was more of a basic puppy class.

I would really appreciate any tips you can give me as it would make both the dogs and our lives so much happier.

The first step towards getting them off-leash, is to teach them a reliable recall.

This isn't very hard. It literally took me 2 days to teach Kona a reliable recall.

First off, make it FUN! Get loads of yummy yummy treats, treats they wouldn't normally get. This will make it worthwhile to them!

Never try to get your dog to come to you unless they are actually coming to you. Wait until you see them coming towards you, and say in a happy, excited voice "Come (insert name here)!". Then, when they actually come to you, grab their collar. Grabbing their collar is a must in my book, so that they cannot run from you after they get a treat. Once you have their collar in one hand, give them the treat, and tell them what a good boy/girl they are. Make it exciting and fun for them! Then, as time goes on, lessen the amount of treats. This will wean them from waiting for a treat when they do the command correctly. It takes patience, but it is totally do-able in a few weeks or less.

Keep doing this until they are coming to you every time you give the command. You have a good bit of time left on your hands to practice this.

Good luck!

How frequently should I do these little training sessions and for how long? Also, if I get them to come to me....will they come to anyone? I ask this because DH does not have the time or patience to train them.....I have done all the training thus far an I want to be sure they come when he calls as well.

Should I consider investing in some sort of dog whistle? I pathetically am not capable of whistling and everyone finds it funny that my dogs are just about the only dogs that have no response to someone whistling.

I never whistle. Whistling is my emergency recall. So I NEVER use it unless I can't see her or she is running towards something dangerous.

Normally, I do a session of 10 or 15 minutes, followed by about 5 or 10 minutes of playtime. I normally did it about 3 or 4 times a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less. That is up to you.

Then, we go inside, chill out a little, and go out a few hours later and do it again.

Oh, and remember to try to train the dogs separately. Though it can be done, I have never had success trying to train more than one dog at a time. I could probably try now, since Kona is fully trained, but haven't yet. It'll be less frustrating for you in the end!

You answered my next question before I was able to ask it. I wasnt sure if they would get confused if I trained them together.

This is going to be very difficult for me as I am not home from 8AM-6PM, it does not allow a lot of time for 3 training sessions PER DOG.

Well, lessen the time training then! Instead of 3-4 times a day, I'm sure 1 or 2 would be fine.

Do you work weekends as well?

If not, then you could squeeze some extra training in then!

I can definitly do it 2 times a day. I always walk them in the morning before I leave, so I can do it before that and again when I come home. And I do not work on weekends so I can do it more then. Thanks

No problem, if you have any troubles, don't hesitate to give me a hollar!

Good luck to you and your pups!

Also, don't be afraid to squeeze a few recalls into some other parts of your day. You don't always have to set aside 15 minutes. After you set up their breakfast in the morning, use the "come" command as they step forward to get their bowls and then use the breakfast as a reward. If you are sitting around watching TV, practice once or twice during commercials. It always amazes me how much those little "easy" practices help. It makes it very easy for your dogs to be right, and gives you a great chance to reward! Meg has one of the most reliable recalls I've seen on a dog, and I still make a point to ask for easy ones sometimes and give her a great treat.

Chell I do not like being a pessimist, but I don't think one month is enough to get them as reliable as they need to be at your parents' place. I LIVE up here and there are a ton of distractions that are likely to make your dogs forget the command. Don't get me wrong, training recall is a GOOD thing to do, and Angel Chicken has given you GREAT advice on how to do it. It is just that your yard and your home are familiar (and boring) territory to them. Up here, there are not only squirrels and birds and chipmunks, there are skunks and porcupines, deer, bears, groundhogs, moose, fisher cats, you name it and they all smell so interesting that if they have been running around at your parent's place (and they have a LAKE, like with ducks and geese? ) your dogs are going to have such a blast that they may forget the recall.
I do wish you luck, and maybe one thing that will help for when you are at your parent's is to have your dogs in the fenced yard at your place and wave a treat, and in your happiest voice holler "come" so that they will get use to the concept of "we are outside and someone is calling from the house".
Good luck and have fun!

Oh yes, one month is plenty of time to train the recall, as long as she is persistent with training. There may be new stuff for them to check out, but the goal to achieve is that the dogs WILL come, no matter what is under their nose at the moment. That is what the yummy treats are at first. Yummy treat+ happy mommy= the best thing in the world, and there is nothing better than coming to her. It is very possible to train this in 1 month. I have often trained it in less than a week. With Kona it took 2 days.

You can do it, Chell! I have faith in you! Keep me updated!

OK, so I started the training yesterday when I got home. On my way home from work I stopped at the pet store and bought a bag of treats that I KNOW they LOVE but I dont often buy because they are expensive. Then I went to the hardware store and bought 40 ft (20 ft per dog) of thin nylon cord and snap hooks. I am using the command "Here!" because I thinkt hey have grown accustomed to ignoring "Come!". After maybe 2 times of using the command with a slight pull on the chord, they came every time. I knwo it is because they know they are gtting a treat, but they are coming. I did it periodically throughout the evening whenever they wandered away from me and they came every time. I even got them to come inside a few times after playing out in the yard. Hopefully if I do this religiously every day, they will be good by our trip. This morning they remembered the command as well. Here is hoping this actually continues to work!

Just one question........how long should I be doing this before I eventually ween them off of the treats?

Well is there something you would reccomend for when I am up there then? They are not going to have much fun being stuck on an 8 ft leash the whole week (nor am I).

Long lines are great for training, but be very careful not to use a tug on the line to get them to come - not even a little one. Then the command becomes "Fido, come!" and a tug. The line will not be there when you need it, so don't use it to get your dogs to come to you; just use it as a safetly net so they can't leave!

That's fine. The only reason I got out of my nice air-conditioned room this morning to drag myself to work is because I know I'm getting paid for it. Your dog needs a reason to come to you; treats are a great reason!

That's great! What I would do (if you aren't already) is call them to come inside and when they do, give them a bunch of great treats, and then race back outside with them and play for a bit. You don't want them to think that coming to you means their fun is over; make it even more exciting to come than it is to just stay in the yard.

My opinion - never wean them off the treats. The recall is, without a doubt, the most important command in my dog's life. I don't ever want her to think, "Well, I didn't get a treat last time. Maybe it isn't worth it.". Obviously, there are some times that I call her to come and I don't have a treat, but any time I am training or hiking or anything that I planned, I have treats for recalls.

I'd say keep working on it as much as you can, and bring your longlines with you to NH. You can always keep the dogs on those for a day or so and evaluate how they are doing before deciding if you can take them offleash.

Well, I read somewhere that if you call them and they ignore you (and you dont correct them) that they will learn that ignoring you is okay....is this wrong?

Thanks for the help everyone, I really appreciate it! Ill keep you guys updated!

Good call on the lead lines! These can be very useful in training them (you said you have a fenced in yard, so I didn't mention it before).

Don't correct them if they don't come. Remember, you want them to think the best thing in the world is coming you you! When they ignore you, just go on about your business for a few minutes, then try again. If they come the next time, praise the crap out of them and give them a treat.

Right now, it seems you have it going really really well! By this time next month they'll be walking off lead like old pros, I'm sure

This is why you do not want to call them (yet) unless they are already coming to you. You are basically teaching them "The word come means you running to me". If you say "come" while they are sniffing around at smells on the grass, you are teaching them "The word come means sniff around and ignore me."

Right now, you want to set it up so that every time you say "come", your dog is coming to you. Do whatever it takes; clap your hands, call "puppypuppypuppy" in a high-pitched voice, run away from your dog, etc. When they get excited and come tearing over to you, clearly say, "Fido, come!" and then treat when they get to you. You want to associate the word with the action.

And Angel Chicken is right - coming to you has to be the greatest, most fun thing in the world. Corrections aren't going to make that happen. Set your dog up for success and then reward. I'm sorry if I missed this - what kind of dogs do you have?

Funny story - one of the first obedience classes I went to watch at the school where I taught was an intermediate class. They were working on recalls and having "races" where two dogs at a time would get called with their owners on the opposite end of the room. Whichever dog got to the owner first won. One of the dogs was a very distracted, not very obedient Borzoi. The owner, as soon as they said "go" called his dog's name and then basically threw himself down onto the ground! The dog came running over at full sighthound speed to see what was going on. I still think of that when I'm working on recalls.

Borrow a distraction-someone else's dog, a cat, buy some of that skunk repellant from Home Depot and sprinkle it in your yard (it smells like fox urine-REALLY interesting to dogs).

The idea is once you think you have them to the point where they are coming reliably, you have to raise the bar and have them come with distractions. Since you eithe don't have any in your yard (or if you do, your dogs are already used to them so they don't fit the description of distractions) you need to create them so your dogs can practice recall with distractions.
Good luck!