Help With Dog Recall

Hi...This is my first post and I am looking for some help with Banjo, believed to be a bull lurcher and around 18/20 months old.

He is a resce and believed to have had a bit of a rough time with someone trying to 'batter' sense into him.

I have had him for 1 year and on the whole is a good fella having stopped eating my house...literally...window frames, doors. He is still a boisterous lad but getting better. My biggest problem is he has absolutely no recall and when he does finally respond, he will only come so far toward me and if I try to leash him, takes off again........any advice would be appreciated. :wub:

shooly said:

Hi...This is my first post and I am looking for some help with Banjo, believed to be a bull lurcher and around 18/20 months old.

He is a resce and believed to have had a bit of a rough time with someone trying to 'batter' sense into him.

I have had him for 1 year and on the whole is a good fella having stopped eating my house...literally...window frames, doors. He is still a boisterous lad but getting better. My biggest problem is he has absolutely no recall and when he does finally respond, he will only come so far toward me and if I try to leash him, takes off again........any advice would be appreciated. :wub:

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No recall...know how that feels!...took us ages to develop reliable recall.

Try sounding very excited and run in the opposite direction....hopefully he should think that your playing a very good game,we also found running away and sitting down a good way to arouse his curiosity.....ok, you'll look a bit daft but at least you'll have your dog back!

Banjo is a very handsome boy :wub: :wub:

From what you say I doubt there's going to be a quick fix for this, sighthounds can be challenging to recall at the best of times and it sounds as though he may have been badly treated in the past, so he's learned the safest thing is to stay out of reach.

Personally I would keep him on a long line (attached to a harness rather than a collar for safety), lunge lines used for horses are great for this, and take him somewhere with as few distractions as possible. He's already learned to ignore you calling him, so start again with a whistle.

Keep him close to you at first, use the whistle then gently reel him in on the long line and give him something really tasty - chicken, sausage etc and loads of praise and fuss. Keep repeating this until he's starting to come for his treat as soon as he hears the whistle, then gradually let him go further away from you but still on the long line and keep practising (and practising and practising.....). Once he's reliably coming back to you in a low distraction area do the same thing somewhere with more distractions (other dogs etc) around.

When he's reliable in that situation then go back to somewhere quiet, let go of the lead and let it trail, then repeat the whole thing, then a high distraction area with the lead trailing loose. If he does run away you can get a foot on the trailing lead to catch him again!

Be patient and prepared for it to take time, he's got to un-learn past experiences. If he 'fails' at any point go back to the stage before for a while. You need to set him up for success rather than failure so don't be in too much of a hurry to move on.

I always reckon it's best for a dog to be exercised before a training session so they aren't too mad, and to be hungry enough to be tempted by the food rewards, so maybe skip his breakfast and make him 'earn' his food by coming back to you.

Joining a training class for some extra practice and general obedience training might help too!

Loads of luck, I hope you are able to make some progress with him :luck:

welcome to k9, i was going to suggest a whistle myself . i have 3 whippets 2 will come back when called the other one has quiet a high prey drive so when were out shes to busy enjoying herself to take any notice of me (lol),but ive had great results with the whistle because its a diffrent pitch it seams to register when my voice dosnt, i started in the house then moved on to the garden when she came i gave her a piece of chicken because i know thats what she loves more than anything, now when shes out i always carry a whistle , when she goes in to prey mode i use the whistle and it does work . your dog may have been hit in the past when he has come back maybe because he didnt come back quick enough so dosnt want to come back to a voice command but a whistle a nice treat and lots of praise would be a diffrent assosiation for him

Thank you so much for some good sound advice that I will certainly be using.....I hadn't thought of using a whistle as my two previous lurcher girls were great....but this young fella has a headfull of fear at times as if he is remembering times not so good.

I will start his basics along the farm track where I live and then when the time is right can have a go, with rope trailing in the field.

He will get there with time and patience. Thanks again folks :clown:

some very good advice on recall here from fee fee I will only add recall training is all about timing initially time your call to coincide with when the dog is not occupied with something else.

I know this doesn't help the op but prey drive and recall are not the same thing You can have a dog with v.high prey drive and a good recall. trainability is an essential quality of a good lurcher and a lack of it indicates either a poor owner or a badly bred hound.(poor early life circumstances as in this case doesn't help either) That is why random crosses with any old sighthound rarely produce a quality all round lurcher.

rm1 said:

some very good advice on recall here from fee fee I will only add recall training is all about timing initially time your call to coincide with when the dog is not occupied with something else. I know this doesn't help the op but prey drive and recall are not the same thing You can have a dog with v.high prey drive and a good recall. trainability is an essential quality of a good lurcher and a lack of it indicates either a poor owner or a badly bred hound.(poor early life circumstances as in this case doesn't help either) That is why random crosses with any old sighthound rarely produce a quality all round lurcher.

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Hi, thank you for your words and I doubt my fella would be classed as a 'good lurcher' and this would be the reason he was dumped in the first place. He is bonnie to look at in every way and most of the problems he had when he first came to me have been resolved...I am happy to say as he was very destuctive and there was a problem with him 'mouthing'...powerful jaws on him meant many bruises. He is great being walked on an extended leash, but when let off to run, bolts...not prey drive, just running mad and usually heads for the nearest road, which isn't good.

I am now starting over and back to basics and time and patience will do the rest and this is a problem that he has developed in recent weeks....I am wondering if his running off has anything to do with the recent death of my old girl who he loved and she him........

Thanks again.

rm1 said:

some very good advice on recall here from fee fee I will only add recall training is all about timing initially time your call to coincide with when the dog is not occupied with something else. I know this doesn't help the op but prey drive and recall are not the same thing You can have a dog with v.high prey drive and a good recall. trainability is an essential quality of a good lurcher and a lack of it indicates either a poor owner or a badly bred hound.(poor early life circumstances as in this case doesn't help either) That is why random crosses with any old sighthound rarely produce a quality all round lurcher.

Click to expand...

Hi, thank you for your words and I doubt my fella would be classed as a 'good lurcher' and this would be the reason he was dumped in the first place. He is bonnie to look at in every way and most of the problems he had when he first came to me have been resolved...I am happy to say as he was very destuctive and there was a problem with him 'mouthing'...powerful jaws on him meant many bruises. He is great being walked on an extended leash, but when let off to run, bolts...not prey drive, just running mad and usually heads for the nearest road, which isn't good.

I am now starting over and back to basics and time and patience will do the rest and this is a problem that he has developed in recent weeks....I am wondering if his running off has anything to do with the recent death of my old girl who he loved and she him........

Thanks again.

rm1 said:

some very good advice on recall here from fee fee I will only add recall training is all about timing initially time your call to coincide with when the dog is not occupied with something else. I know this doesn't help the op but prey drive and recall are not the same thing You can have a dog with v.high prey drive and a good recall. trainability is an essential quality of a good lurcher and a lack of it indicates either a poor owner or a badly bred hound.(poor early life circumstances as in this case doesn't help either) That is why random crosses with any old sighthound rarely produce a quality all round lurcher.

Click to expand...

Hi, thank you for your words and I doubt my fella would be classed as a 'good lurcher' and this would be the reason he was dumped in the first place. He is bonnie to look at in every way and most of the problems he had when he first came to me have been resolved...I am happy to say as he was very destuctive and there was a problem with him 'mouthing'...powerful jaws on him meant many bruises. He is great being walked on an extended leash, but when let off to run, bolts...not prey drive, just running mad and usually heads for the nearest road, which isn't good.

I am now starting over and back to basics and time and patience will do the rest and this is a problem that he has developed in recent weeks....I am wondering if his running off has anything to do with the recent death of my old girl who he loved and she him........

Thanks again.

I doubt my fella would be classed as a 'good lurcher' quote

maybe not but you will never have another the same, so enjoy, learn from him and persevere as you have already shown big problems can be overcome with time. Good luck and remeber anyone(well almost anyone) can train an easy dog it takes ability and tenacity to train a difficult one

rm1 said:

I doubt my fella would be classed as a 'good lurcher' quote maybe not but you will never have another the same, so enjoy, learn from him and persevere as you have already shown big problems can be overcome with time. Good luck and remeber anyone(well almost anyone) can train an easy dog it takes ability and tenacity to train a difficult one

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Thanks, he is one in a million and we will work together to overcome his bolting off......we have all his life to get it together. :clown: