My 6 month old boxer has never been 100 percent with the recall command - He sees another dog and he's off! Now however, he ignores me every single time I call him back, other dogs or not. This is making walkies a misery, because most of the time I daren't let him off the lead, which is a real shame. So what I was thinking was to go back to basics, and try using a whistle and something very tasty as a reward. He's not really a foodie kind of dog though, so the only thing I can come up with that may have a chance of getting him to come to me is crab sticks. God I'm going to stink! Anyway, we're going to start off practising this around the house, then move onto a fenced in dog run area in the local park, and then progress to other situations. My question is... What should I do if he ignores me during this training? The scenario most likely to happen is this: I blow the whistle, smelly crab sticks at the ready, and stand there, and stand there, and then end up eating the crab sticks myself :) Should I go and find him? Should I give up and try again next time? Hope someone can give me some suggestions...

Thanks!
:)

Boxers normally are great food adicts :D well the 3 I've owned have been
and the others I've handled have been too.
Have you tried liver cake? edam cheese? or just baking liver (lambs or pigs)
till it's hard and then using this as the 'bribery'?
I've been recall training my Boxer youngster (2yrs) and she's getting much
better using this.
Buy a bum-bag, put the food treats in one part and a fav squeaky toy in another, plus you
can store your poo-bags in another section. This way it's just the bum-bag that gets smelly not your pockets :)
Always reward him for coming back to you even if you aren't doing 'recall'
at that time. Also the dog will associate the bum-bag with nice things.

I used to end up going to get my girl, but am not sure if that's the right thing to do?

My naughty little saint used to be a horror at recall.....she's getting better
and I do believe it's also down to taking her back to basics and starting back
to obedience classes again. She's always come back if you sound very happy and hold your
arms open like you are welcoming her to give her a hug. It's also helpful as it's a visual
signal that you want them back.

We've just recently passed our bronze good citizens
test and have now started training for our silver.
So it can be done :)

Been there, starred in the video and bought the Tshirt! Lots of young dogs are less than 100% reliable as the world is so big and exciting.Good idea to practice in these controlled locations first and work up. Get a line attached to his collar - plastic washing line will do - and if he tries to disobey step on it or reel him in keeping your voice happy. The trick is not to allow a failure and reward the fastest response with the biggest jackpot - if hes nota foodie maybe he has a toy or game he likes that you could only play on walks. Before you go outside with the whistle get him to associate it with something he really likes first as this encourages a good response. If he sees you eating his crabsticks I bet he'll be there on the double!:)

Thanks everyone! Just been for a nice walk up to the pet shop, and got a whistle, some choc drops, and a new frisbee toy thingy. Came home, blew whistle and rewarded with choccy drop and a game with the toy. He's scared of the whistle :) But he likes the new toy, so I am going to keep it for special occasions. We had a play, and then I took it away. He's a bit puzzled, cos I don't normally take his toys away from him. He has his own toy box that he empties all over the garden regularly :) Just need to work on him not being scared of the whistle, and then we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you updated! Just one thing I still need to know - if he doesn't come when I call him or blow whistle, should I go and get him or ignore him or perservere? Not sure what to do on this one...

Thanks!

Hi,
A good way to get your pup responsive to the whistle is, for a week or so, only use it at home when you're calling him for something nice. Start off by blowing it when you give him his dinner, and when you give him a really special treat (for no other reason than you want to give him a treat!) and he'll soon learn that good things happen when he hears the whistle, and will hopefully come at a gallop to see what super-dooper treat you have for him! Good luck!
:)