One of my puppy owners has rung up and I am hoping for some advice.  The dog is excellent natured no problems with anything else but it refuses to come back when called as it loves other dogs sooo much it wants to play.  She has tried food and gives him praise when he does eventually come but needs some help.  She has tried hiding which he doesnt like but when she walks him in the field they are in the open.  I have had the same problem with my eldest but because we live is a area where there are no distractions we dont get the problem.  The dog is 7 months.

I've found the best way to break this cycle is to actually send the dog to play with other dogs (the other owner must be willing, of course!), rather than try to call the dog away, until it looks like it's ready to stop the game anyway. The more dogs he gets to play with the less interesting they'll become.

Also, don't call the pup back yet - at this age he won't be excellent at recall.
Pup needs to be set up for success.

I'd wait until the pup is tired from playing (If he happens to be with other dogs) and then call him at that stage; he will almost certainly run to the owner and she can reward this with top value food rewards (ie chicken, liver).

Also tell the owner to interact with him on walks, do training, make it fun, use toys etc and never just "let" him go to other dogs, try to get him to wait for permission first... lots more but try searching out recall on here too ;)

Lindsay
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The trouble is Lindsay is sooner or later he is going to run up to a dog that doesnt want to play then bang end of a good natured dog.  The owner has him very well trained indoors but a dalmatian in full flight ignoring you is a bit scary to a normal person.  I have told her not to feed him before she goes out in the hope food is more motivated and to keep calling him back regardless whether she wants him back or not!  I know its a age thing but want to help her before this problem gets out of hand.

I think this sometimes happens when all a dog ever does around other dogs is play.  The dog thinks that is exactly what is required: I see another dog and I go and have a lovely razzock around with it - hey hey, isn't this great?

Has this pup been to any kind of class?  I know sometimes they can do more harm than good but at a good, small class perhaps the pup could learn that he still has to do what he is told (within reason) even when there is another dog around?  Combined with the suggestions already made, of course.

From experience and being at the doggy park consecutively for 20 years of my life i'd have to conclude that puppys will be puppys. I would allow them to play with other dogs , once they are tired take advantage. They are no longer excited , they want a drink , a snack they're tired!

Even my dogs have blank recall for the first 10-20 minutes of dog park-i-n-g.

Im no expert with training so i am only going to tell you of my own experience with recall. We use meat to treat merlin, either chicken or beef, as if you use dog treats he doesnt respond, it is as if a dog biscuit is not worth it. As we let him off lead we give him a piece so that he knows what we have and he is doing really well. it is usually leftovers from someones dinner as generally we all grill our meat. My mum cut up some beef from her roast and today he left his bestest friend whilst playing to come back for a piece. We also dont feed him before a walk.

Long-line the pup???

I understand about the unfriendly dog appearing at some stage,and generally it's not a good idea to let any pup/dog just run up to others... it's hard to cover everything in just one post :P ... I'd either keep to a park or area where i knew all the other owners and their dogs, or keep the pup under control - my advice really is for times when the pup has run off and the owner hasn't spotted the other potential playmates, which can happen quite a lot. Later you can get to the stage where you can almost sense other dogs are around and can read their body language.

There's a really good booklet by John Rogerson on how to get a great recall. I agree long line and harness can be good for short periods of training :)

Lindsay
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