Understanding .... Now! Options

[nikirushka]

I'm not sure why cos nothing ever happens after the word 'Right!' but it seems to be the precursor to oh oh better do as she says....

Exactly this It's 'NOW!' with mine too, but I've never done anything after it, they just seem to know

I have both group and individual recall cues..sog girls here or boys here will work as will their individual names and of course, the vast majority are now whistle trained, which makes life even easier

Me too - the whistle training is working brilliantly for Linc and Paige, got a flawless recall from contemplating a greyhound this morning (their biggest issue is dogs with recall)

[Muddikins]

Funnily enough I had been thinking of starting a topic on a similar theme since Jack has just had his annual spring lecture on recall.
Over winter we don’t see daylight on our walks for several months except at the weekends and since we are out in the countryside we simply don’t see anyone or anything and his recall doesn’t get used very much so he reverts to all of his previous understandings of what a recall is and I have to sit him down as soon as we get some light and get him to relearn it. I have translated this year’s lecture from the original ‘hound’ for ease of comprehension:
“OK Jack, what does ‘Come here’ mean?”
“Mean? Where you talking to me then? I always thought you were talking to yourself.”
“No Jack, come on, we have done this before”
“Only kidding, it means that I have to put my head up and look around cos I am missing something dead interesting like another dog or a rabbit or something that I really should go and get involved with”
“No it doesn’t, you used to think that but then you learnt better, have another go”
“Oooh, hang on, its all coming back to me now, it means that I have to stop what I am doing and go and do something else somewhere else”
“Better but not quite right, let me give you a clue, it involves sausages”
“Hmmm, sausages, I like sausages!”
“Yes, I know, but the recall?”
“It means I need to weigh up whether or not I want a bit of sausage more than I want a rabbit right? Can I have a bit of sausage now?”
“No, not unless you go away and come back when I call you”
“You’re nuts you are! Catch me if you can wheeee”
He just about gets it right by October by which time we are back in the dark anyway.

[laa]

Could you not just practice recall regularly for no reason through the winter anyway? I'm always practicing recall with my Misery, often without any reason to so she's well versed each walk when she DOES need to recall quickly! She's getting Very good

[leweylab]

Funnily enough I had been thinking of starting a topic on a similar theme since Jack has just had his annual spring lecture on recall.
Over winter we don’t see daylight on our walks for several months except at the weekends and since we are out in the countryside we simply don’t see anyone or anything and his recall doesn’t get used very much so he reverts to all of his previous understandings of what a recall is and I have to sit him down as soon as we get some light and get him to relearn it. I have translated this year’s lecture from the original ‘hound’ for ease of comprehension:
“OK Jack, what does ‘Come here’ mean?”
“Mean? Where you talking to me then? I always thought you were talking to yourself.”
“No Jack, come on, we have done this before”
“Only kidding, it means that I have to put my head up and look around cos I am missing something dead interesting like another dog or a rabbit or something that I really should go and get involved with”
“No it doesn’t, you used to think that but then you learnt better, have another go”
“Oooh, hang on, its all coming back to me now, it means that I have to stop what I am doing and go and do something else somewhere else”
“Better but not quite right, let me give you a clue, it involves sausages”
“Hmmm, sausages, I like sausages!”
“Yes, I know, but the recall?”
“It means I need to weigh up whether or not I want a bit of sausage more than I want a rabbit right? Can I have a bit of sausage now?”
“No, not unless you go away and come back when I call you”
“You’re nuts you are! Catch me if you can wheeee”
He just about gets it right by October by which time we are back in the dark anyway.

That made me ALOT!

Hope Jack took note of your lecture 'cos there's lots of those distracting pesky rabbits around at the moment asking to be chased

[nikkiwoo]

When Lottie was younger she wouldn't recall to any of the normal cues, the only word she would come back to was sausage but it had to be said in a certain way.

When we went away for a few days we left Lottie with my parents & I explained about her recalling to 'sausage'. On our return my Dad was most put out that what I had forgotten to tell him was that he had to call it in a very high pitched girly voice (it was more of a sosseeeeeeeeeedge)

[Muddikins]

Could you not just practice recall regularly for no reason through the winter anyway? I'm always practicing recall with my Misery, often without any reason to so she's well versed each walk when she DOES need to recall quickly! She's getting Very good

I could but this behavioural training works both ways. When he first arrived he used to give me one good recall per walk and no more, the first time he would spin round, hare back and sit there going 'Yeah?', the second time he would just ignore me so I learnt to use that one recall wisely until it became a bit more reliable and its a hard habit to get out of and I will still use 'wait' or 'wrong way' to stop or redirect him rather than recall if at all possible.

That made me ALOT!

Hope Jack took note of your lecture 'cos there's lots of those distracting pesky rabbits around at the moment asking to be chased

We see a wild white rabbit every morning and he is under strict instructions that that one is not for chasing, it's a natural albino and must be at least fourth generation now. The original one we saw last spring managed to breed before meeting Mr Foxy and so their genes are now in the warren gene pool and a new white one appears quite regularly. Jack has clearly been on diversity awareness training though and refuses to discriminate.

[laa]

I could but this behavioural training works both ways. When he first arrived he used to give me one good recall per walk and no more, the first time he would spin round, hare back and sit there going 'Yeah?', the second time he would just ignore me so I learnt to use that one recall wisely until it became a bit more reliable and its a hard habit to get out of and I will still use 'wait' or 'wrong way' to stop or redirect him rather than recall if at all possible.

Ahhh I see, how annoying!