Nervous habit compels me to look out windows as I move around the house to grab a snack or whatever during my workday. My goal, always, is to find the dogs and make sure they are OK. One day last week, I finally spied Lilly sitting stock still in the upper corner of our upper pasture. When I stepped out the front door, she shot like a rocket straight to me. I was so proud. So, I tried to recreate that long-distance recall in the video below.
Full disclosure: After I placed her in position, it took 3 tries to get her to STAY as I walked back across the bridge and into the parking area out front of the house.
And, granted, there were no distractions … like dogs or people walking by … so this is hardly a proofed recall, but still.
I know she’s hard to see at a distance, but Lilly is sitting near the post, halfway between the gate and the fenced corner to your right. She skits around the pond, jumps the creek below that you cannot see, pops up the first incline and comes to me at the top of the second. It’s much steeper than it looks on screen. And, oh, how I wish I could get her to pop the top of the A-Frame the way she pops up out of the creek.
Oh, and P.S., notice the lovely reverse crop circles that Tom cut in the pasture grass.
She says, “Thank you very much.”
One way we trained a “faster” recall was through restrained recalls, where someone holds the dog and gets them amped up as you run away. Then, you call the dog, and usually … they race right to you. Then, you feed and praise the heck out of them for 20-30 seconds.
There are some dogs, who just go, “Hey, I’m loose! And, race around sniffing, or greeting other people, or trying to get other dogs to play with them,” but many learn the game easily.
If you ever need it, it’s also a good way to get your dog to come to you when they are inclined to run away from you if you approach them (like if they think they are in trouble). You run away from them, and some (if trained this way) will follow.
Way to go, Lilly! That was a beautiful recall–Crispin runs right to me (though not this fast) but Dinah sort of . . . hmm . . . moseys along at her own pace. Maybe I should have her watch Lilly on the video.