Slow come when called

Hi, I have tried to use the method that you mentioned as below [Editor: the question was originally asked in relation to the e-course instructions, and do not appear in this blog] to teach both pepper and prada for the 'come' command. At this moment, prada ( the younger dog, 4 yrs of age) responded very sharpe and fast to the recall. So I have no worries about her even when we are in the park because I have tried to implement your method over and over again while having our daily walk.
But there was a slight problem with pepper. She is my older dog ( 8 years of age). She respond only intermittently to the recall. I started in our garden at home. I notice that she at times ' take her own sweet time' to come or choose whether she wants to come or not should I commanded 'come'. Even when she come towards me, it is always that she is walking in a fast pace instead of running towards me. Is there anything that you would advise in order to shape pepper to react to this recall exercise more promptly?

Best regards,

Pauline

Comments

Aidan's picture

'shape' is correct

Hi Pauline, 'shape' is correct. We do need to shape Pepper's recall.

Firstly, don't call her unless you are at least 80% sure that she will come. That is the Golden Rule of training a reliable recall. You need more practise in the garden at home for a while.

OK, back to shaping. There are two aspects to shape:
1. how quickly she responds to the cue
2. how quickly she runs back to you

At 8 years of age, don't expect her to be as fast as a greyhound puppy Thankfully, the techniques I will share work at the dog's pace. In fact, I think these warrant a whole new article - so stay tuned.

For now, more practise in the garden and work on getting a faster response before you work on having her run faster. To do this, you reinforce only the fastest 80% of recalls. I will put details in the article I will write this week.

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com