Praise doesn't work for her

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

Hello!
I'm sure most of you feel the way I do... But I have the worlds best dog! I absolutely love her and have been so lucky. She doesn't bite, shed, bark insensately, and has NEVER chewed or destroyed anything that was not hers before (even as a new puppy to our home.)
I have 2 problems... She doesn't recall well. I have taken her to training. I read a great post here about using a key word, 2 syllables and just called, treat, all treat etc. of course with enthusiasm and help. However, as soon as treats are gone she does not perform. She does not get excited at all with high pitch voices of praise and rubs/loves. She just would rather do what ever it is that she is more interested in. Now she doesn't ignore her recall word all the time. Just when she wants to.
The problem extends to house training. She is 7 months old and still has an accident from time to time. It's not often, she KNOWS the rules and always looks guilty! But she doesn't insist to go outside. I honestly feel it is because she cares nothing about the praise for doing it outside. As soon as she doesn't smell the treats she doesn't care. It like the excitement and words mean nothing to her.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

My goodness, it sounds like she might have some Siberian Husky in her!  All kidding aside, dogs who are so treat oriented can be less excited or not all excited by praise.  Tigger is a great deal like that and has a terrible recall, unless the treats come out andTigger was 4 years old in May.  The theory is to withdraw treats gradually on easy things like sit or things she likes to do anyway, maybe chase a ball, and substitute praise in moderation with treats appearing randomly.  With Tigger this has taken a very long time and works on everything now except his recall.  We are a long way from a decent recall without treats. 

To give you an alternative to a recall in emergency situations, work a lot on the down/stay with a sweeping downward hand and arm - a big motion and gradually increase the distance from her ( on a long leash of course). With any recall and with the long distance down stay, always be careful to take at least one step away or sometimes several continous steps away from your dog as you give the command.   With patience I taught Tigger and all of our huskies but one to do this if the got out.  The one, Storm, was just too darn smart.  The alternative I finally developed for her for emergency situations was for a someone other than my husband and I to call her.  She would willingly go to anyone and never caught on that they would hold her collar and fuss over her until we came up to get her.  

Good luck, a good recall takes a lot of work with the easiest of dogs and often will disappear around 12-18  months only to need to  be reenforced all over again and again.  

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

We recently worked with a private trainer on some issues we were having, one of them being recall.  One of the things that we were doing, and I'm willing to bet we aren't alone, is we were calling her to COME when we had no way to enforce it.  So we were being inconsistent.  We had to start the training on a long lead.  We were to never tell her to COME when we weren't able to then make her come if she didn't.  So, maybe get a training lead and some really yummy treats that she only gets when practicing the come and just start over on this practice.  We also have one very treat motivated dog and we recently (several months ago) cut out her treats almost completely because she was having CCL surgery and the Ortho felt she was too heavy.  I have noticed now that the treats are really valuable to her.  So, you might cut out the treats for other things and just use them for the recall practice.  Good Luck.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think that recall is probably the toughest of all the commands, and it has to be practiced all the time.  Here are a few things we do...

-Every time we take the Doods to a place where they will be off leash, we practice at a short distance first in an enclosed (or almost enclosed) area.  We used to work them on a long line for about 10 minutes, calling them and then rewarding (sometimes with praise and sometimes with treats).  We don't have to do this step anymore.  Now we heel them for about five minutes, then take their leashes off but still having them heel or walk right by our side, and then we give the "free command".  They're then in somewhat of an "obedience mindset".  Just having them jump out of the car and be free really doesn't set them up to do well with recall.  The excitement takes over their brain.  LOL

-I only use really, really high value treats for recall.   They don't get a treat every time I call them...usually every two or three times.

-We find distance to be really important with recall.  If they get too far away and it's difficult for them to see or hear us, that's not a good thing.  I recall when I start to see them getting to the point where it would be hard for them to hear us.

-I do use "come" for recall, and if they don't respond, I calmly walk toward them until I can "catch them".  I grab their collar and put them back in the spot where they were when I first called them and we do it again.  I never "let it go".  They always have to do it over until they "get it right".

-I do use an ecollar as my back-up for Murphy.  I've only had to use it once or twice for recall, but it always works.  It is my "emergency plan".

[Adina P]

Great advice above! Another thing with treats is they must be used as a reward--not bribe. The dog shouldn't know you have treats...it should be surprised to get one and hopeful for the next time. Bribery would be wiggling a treat in front of the dog to show it what you've got. To be a useful reward the dog shouldn't be shown the treat in advance. And YES definitely use a loooong line at first. Restart with her in a sit stay 6 feet in front of you on a short leash.

But here's the thing, in my opinion, it is harder to just work on one obedience thing and ignore the rest. Good obedience happens because the dog has learned to trust you, your judgment and that he/she is happiest when fully obeying all commands. If her sit stay, down stay, heel, etc is not as good as the ideal recall...it is tougher to get a perfect recall. It is a package deal that comes with overall dedication to obedience training. And a perfect recall includes sitting straight in front of you when she arrives and waiting until the next command. So practice all the parts, show her exactly what you want, make her do it several times in a row, daily, expect precision, then move farther away, call from different angles, call from behind, etc. Good luck!

[Vivian & Mojo]

Whenever I call Mojo and he comes his reward is a massage and belly rub, he has excellent recall and comes and sits or lays down for the massage. Even when at the dog park when hes distracted he responds to my call and will come. Now to work on the sock stealing, potty training and the nipping at my pant legs that's not so good as the recall.

[Pat and Traveler]

I have a special tone of voice for the recall command--a two-tone, sort of sing-song voice that I use at no other time.  I'm not really sure if this helps as (don't hate me!) Trav has always had a good recall.  Believe me, this wasn't due to my training expertise--it just happened.  However, I do always use this particular voice, and that might be a major factor in getting his attention.

[Heather Martinez]

Teddy still does not know come from a long distance or in distracting situations. However, like others have mentioned, he does know down from a distance and stay. I use down and stay and then I just walk over to him and get him. He is able to do this even in distracting situations, but it took a long time to get there. I use an e-collar and so I have a way to enforce down if I have to, but I do not need to correct him anymore, as he has learned it. Like your puppy, Teddy does not respond well to treats and praise in distracting situations. A few things I tried with some success were bringing his absolute favorite treat with me (a bully stick). He would always come for that. Bringing a new squeaky toy also worked pretty well. 

Regarding the potty training, Teddy still had the occasional accidents in the house until 6 months old, but it was always when he had a lot of water and just couldn't hold it anymore. Eventually she will have the control to hold it, even if it's urgent and will find a way to let you know she needs to go out. Now Teddy will bark very quietly if he needs to go out but when he was younger I just took him out frequently if I knew he had a lot of water.

[BG and Gavin]

I find recall is a bit dependent of comfort zone for Gavin.  His best recall is when we are in a strange place and/or I am out of his sight.  If we are in the yard and he has a squirrel treed, he is much less likely to come than if he is in the park and has a squirrel treed and I am hiding behind something.  If he knows I am there and not going anywhere he is more likely to take liberties.  In situation 1 I do not call him and set myself up to fail, instead I just go get him.  Luckliy I somehow was consistent enough over time to teach Gavin a "stop" command.  He is super reliable with it.  If we are on the trail and he is running full speed toward a squirrel I know his come command is not good enough for him to make a sweeping turn and run back to me, however "stop" makes him stop on a dime.  All of my blathering here is just really support for what Adina and others have said, you have to be consistent.  I blew it with training come and am trying to claw my way back.  I was consistent with stop and it works.

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

I use a special word that is reserved for emergency recall situations, only.   It's a word that comes with a promise of a piece of meat.  You can pick something like "right now," "pronto," or "quickly."  Say your dog's name first, followed by that special word.  When I call my dogs in those emergency situations, it's followed by an immediate LOUD ballpark-style whistle.  Whenever we go out and my dogs are off leash, I bring pieces of meat with me.  I keep cut-up hotdogs in a bag in the freezer, so that there's always something available.  It's important to practice this even after you are sure that it's reliable.  For more informal recalls, I use another word and reward with praise or a lesser-value treat.  Good luck.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

My word is "NOW" and she does not get anything, she does however only respond reliably when we are away from home, if we are home she sometimes ignores me, much like Gavin above. I would use a special treat but she is NOT treat motivated at all, even hi value treats. She will however "STOP" when I yell stop, don't know why, maybe it's the fright in my voice because I use it if she is headed for some sort of trouble like the street.