I have done loads of recall training with my Jack Russell Cross and 98% of the time she is excellent.  However, last week during agility she would not do as she was told and went sniffing around, refusing to come when called.  She had done this on another occasion but came back quite quickly.  I was told to do more recall training with her (as if I hadn't).  Every time I feed her I give her the recall command and she is excellent.  I just cannot get her 100% consistent.  She has such a strong will that once she's made up her mind... 

How old is she and how long have you had her???
Lea :)

Nearly 3 and I have had her since she was 4 months old.  She was a rescue.

Sorry I havnt a clue on training but someone will be along soon that should be able to advise you.
Lea :)

Darned squirrels are having an adverse affect on our recall at the moment.  Walking through woods yesterday I couldn't believe how many of the critters there were.  My OH said will you stop saying "they're everywhere, they're everywhere" :D

Sorry doesn't answer your question, but looking forward to other responses to your post.  I think practice is the only answer and the practice has to be in all situations.  I have started using a gundog whistle again with mine and she is responsive most of the time but not 100% as she turns deaf once she's picked up a scent and a scent is much more rewarding than me, the whistle or treats

98% of the time is excellent. You know firstly you have a JR cross, anyone with a JR will tell you you have a breed with a very strong personality and the will and stamina of an elephant. :-D So 98% is absolutely brilliant, well done!!!!

All dogs have off days, have you been to agility or show rings, the best trained dogs can do their best to show you up sometimes ;-) Continue with your training as you are, a slightly raised tone may have the effect to counter a wandering mind, but personally I think you are doing a grand job. :-)

Hi

I was about to say the same thing, having lived with Jack Russells for more years than I care to mention but over 20 lol I wold say 98% is great.

I get the ok I will be there in a min with mine. They do come but at there own pace lol. My present girl is great but she will finish sniffing before she comes running

I was having a bit of  a problem with my whippet and getting her on the lead. Recal was good but she wasnt comeing close enough to lead her. I started to give out treats and it has made a huge difference, even the russell comes running to get one.

Maybe try that for a while and see if it makes any difference but I still think 98% is fab

Wendy

My next door neighbour has a JR that she has had since 8 weeks and she can't let it off cos she just disappears off. THe last time she let her off was about thsi time last year (shes now 2) and she refused to be caught for 2 hours. She kept pupping her head up and then disappearing off after rabbits, but kept running back into view as if to say "i'm having a fantastic time mum!" Eventually her friend that they were walking with went and got her a hot drink and a book whist my neighbour waited for her to come back to her. It started snowing too! I used to walk 3 generations of jack russells (differnt ages but not related. ) THe owner always used to let them off but they had virtually no recall and just kept running off. THey would disappear for hours at a time but always came back to the house (which was right by the forest luckily.) Unfortunately one day they ran across a road and the eldest was hit by a car and had to be put down in the end, so i don't think he lets them off any more thank god!
Personally i think it sounds like you have very good recall for a JR  cross, given all the above! I can totally sympathise as i am having the same problem with my 2 1/2 year old springer. He came to me at 10 months with no recall, which has now improved a lot so that i can let him off. Unfortunately though, when he gets a scent his hearing is switched off and he will refuse to come back to me. Similarly if he flushes a pheasant he will run off into the distance ignoring my calls. Its very frustrating, i've taught him to recall to a whistle and have been trying to teach an emergency stop, but when he gets into that mood there is nothing in the world that will stop him ignoring me!

Thanks for all your help.  I'll keep on trying!  My friend said that I should make myself more interesting, but, it's difficult to be as interesting as the smell of a rat, squirrel or pheasant.  Thank you!!!

I don't think there's anything you can do to make yourself more tempting than a rabbit, squirrel, weasel or rat but I think you've done very well indeed to get such a high rate of recall from a JRT!

I've done more recall training than anything else with my JRT since the age of 8 weeks and certainly, in the majority of circumstances he behaves like an angel. However, when he gets the desire for a hunt on him there is absolutely nothing, and I mean nothing, that is more attractive than rabbitting around for up to 3 hours in the undergrowth. He's superbly, selectively deaf and absolutely wilful so far as returning to me is concerned and also does the popping into view in order to vanish again as fast as his legs can carry him when he catches my eye.

However, I know the triggers - it's only on certain walks in the fields behind our house and at certain times of day, the late afternoon, that he'll go hunting - and I just thwart his desire by walking him on a long lead. The little git knows full well why he's not off lead and, to give him his due, trots neatly along without pulling but he also makes sure I get the occasional sideways filthy look!!

HI

I have to say i am so lucky my present jr isnt interested in hunting. If she sees a squirrel or pheasant she will run and then decide sod it and turn around. So funny yesterday walking whippet and JR in a field and they put up a huge pheasant they both got such a shock they about turned and ran in the opposite direction towards me.

Dont know if makes any difference but I breed rabbits so my dogs have been taught from a very early age that they are not allowed to touch them.

Wendy

Breeding rabbits might well have an influence, Wendy. Unfortunately, out here in the wilds, rabbits are but one of the very many irresistible temptations since we've umpteen weasels, pheasants and foxes that Nips needs to hunt out. Oddly enough, out of the four siblings, his brother has never been interested in casual hunting and always sticks close to your side but one of his sisters is a complete nightmare and would disappear for 4 hours at a time if given the chance. The sister that lives in town has a rather different life and we don't think she'd know a rabbit if it walked down the garden path with a label saying "chase me" written on it. Trust me to get the hunting brother, mind. :rolleyes:

Don't let it get to you - my agility trainer is great - he wouldn't have said do more training - he would say relax - think positive.  All the dogs have played up at sometime - non of them are perfect. It is embarrasing when it is your dog playing up and everyone else is waiting for their go while you try to recall your dog.  Mine has been appalling some days completely ignoring me.  One of the others went through a phase of refusing to jump and running off.  Another suddenly decided to go in attack mode when loose (it thundered moments afterwards).  I knew that my dog was getting fed up because I wasn't showing her what to do fast enough.   Staying relaxed and concentrating on getting it right has worked wonders.  Mine hasn't got good recall when other dogs, squirrels, foxey smells etc are about - I am still working on it.  Your dog sounds really good - and your training of course.

Hi
98% is great, but it is the other 2% that could make the difference between life or death for your dog.  3 years ago I posted on here about my young GSP that whilst walking down a track had scented a fresh roadkill on the nearby road and legged it to investigate.  He ignored my recall and if it hadn't been for a passing jogger holding up the traffic he would have been history.  :-( I think it was Tohme in her reply at the time who made me realise just how much you have to train, how many different circumstances you have to train in  and not to accept anything less than 100%.  You can probably still find the thread if you look on here.

There are ways and means of making yourself more exciting than bunnies.....it's hard work and takes effort - believe me, I've been there.  Don't settle for less than 100%......your dog's life may depend on it.

Trouble is, how many people can say, hand on heart, that they have 100% recall ?? In the words of the great Donald Rumsfeldt - there are circumstances that we know we have 100% recall - there are circumstances that we know we don't have 100% recall - and there are circumstances that we don't know, that we ***** don't have a clue whether we have 100% recall or not :D :D :D

Daisy

Yeh, I know and I'm not saying that my dog is perfect - fndeed, far from it! :-) However, that is no excuse not to keep trying to improve ...... I for one would be mortified and would crucify myself if my dog was killed on the road and I thought it was because I hadn't put in enough effort to teach him to recall or to respond to a stop whistle.  Yes, there will always be the one situation you could never predict, but most of us tend to work/exercise our dogs in environments where we know what the distractions are LIKELY to be.  For me, bunnies and pheasants are public enemy number one!  Therefore, I hire rabbit pens and pheasant pens whenever possible;  sad though it sounds I also scrape up roadkill and train around the carcass as a distraction; I use the bolting rabbit  and make sure that my dog knows that I lead the hunt:  it is a team effort and we have fun hunting together for the roadkill or dummies or whatever.  He has learnt that if I recall him or stop him it will not be the end of the fun......rather that the chances of a 'find' are going to be enhanced as although he has the nose, Mum has better eyesight and can see where the pesky critters run to better than him!  :-)

I guess the point I wanted to make to the OP was not to give up or accept 2nd best IF she thought that it might be a problem for her dog.  If she doesn't regularly encounter bunnies etc, then  no issue.  Afraid you've got me on one of my soapboxes.......it's a subject very close to my heart, not only because of the near miss with my own dog but also because his mother was killed in a similar fashion.  She worked with goshawks and was encouraged to follow the bird in order to deter eagle attack;  sadly, the stop was not strong enough to be failsafe in such circumstances and the inevitable happened..........on a track that saw maybe four vehicles a week.  :-(

OK...now stepping off soap box and going for a coffee!!  :-)  :-)

:) Totally agree with what you say :) I just always find it a bit worrying when people say that they have 100% :( The time when the dog doesn't come back, is the time that you find out that you haven't got it :D :D :D Unfortunately, neither of my dogs have 100% recall - but we are still trying to improve it and I am very aware of the circumstances when it isn't perfect :) :) My older dog is becoming deafer as he gets older :D - but his hearing does seem to improve when a good recall is imperative, fortunately - although it could be just down to the tone of my voice :D

Daisy

I don't know if JR s are as demented about food as Labs but when Jet did this it was because other people doing agility training in the same ring had dropped food tidbits all over.   Our trainer asked everyone, once again, to be more careful.  Getting Jet really excited about the obstacles and rewarding after, outside the ring, with an extra special treat and allowing her NO unworking time in the ring solved it for us.

Sadly, my experience of JRTs is that they are rarely tremendously food orientated compared to some breeds. They like a treat for sure but they won't sell their little hunting souls for one. On the other hand, since they were bred to hunt it's kind of naive hoping they'll buck their breed characteristics entirely so I expected a deal of hard work in this respect and haven't been disappointed!! I wouldn't live without one of the wicked little so and so's mind! ;)

However, last week during agility she would not do as she was told and went sniffing around, refusing to come when called.  She had done this on another occasion but came back quite quickly.  I was told to do more recall training with her (as if I hadn't). 

Just a thought but sniffing aorund could be a displacement activity ie, the dog being a little unsure/uncomfortable/not quite happy, possibly feeling some stress. This could be due to all sorts, the training, the environment, the other dogs, not being quite certain of you, etc.  I take it being a rescue she is spayed, otherwise another thing could be that hormones are getting her to behave like this, as happened to my dog at agility! :P

I'm not saying this is a displacement activity at all, but just pointing out another possibility from a different perspective :)

Lindsay
x

Terriers are notorious sniffers! I have a little terrierX (Tilly) & sometimes I could murder her, but I wouldn't be without her really! Luckily she is very food orientated, I have cut her breakfast nearly out & she gets treats for coming back to me. She isn't actually that blood thirsty, she tried barking a rabbit to death that had Mxy (sorry can't spell it!). She also defied me once & travelled back over 2 fields to get a flat stinking dead rat that I had previously removed from her jaws. I have started agility with her, but unlike my GSD she just has to run off at times & be very defiant when she wants to sniff round. I call her in a very high pitched excited voice & praise her like mad & give her treats when she returns. I have also found that it helps to raise my voice as she runs off, so that she does actually know she is doing wrong. Most terriers just don't take no for an answer, that's why they are such characters.

You can say that again.  Maisie is a little madam!