My Border Terrier bitch is getting a mind of her own at 14 months and whilst we have worked hard on recall in the house, garden and other enclosed areas she is now a little devil about coming back. She feels the need to chase every bird she sees and this involves hiding in bushes. I am obviously going to continue to work on recall with her going back to the start but my question is if I physically have to go and fetch her back should I be telling her off or praising her with a treat?

many thanks

Congratulations, you have a typical terrier with all of her working instincts intact :-)

Never scold or punish a dog for failing to come on recall. Neither should you reward her if you have to go fetch her as this would just be reinforcing the wrong behaviour.

I would continue to work her outside, but use a long lead - like a long washline -- rather than leaving her free until she gets better at coming back when called. As soon as you see her diverting her attention after you call her back, immediately reel her back into you, praising her all the time. You should get to the point when you can tell she is not going to come back, even before she actually starts heading in the wrong direction. When you get to that point and you immediately reel her back to you, she will begin to think it was her idea. (This is basically the same idea as teaching a dog a long stay, where you release the dog or reinforce the stay command as soon as see its muscles tense and before it breaks. )

Good luck. Most terriers are never ever 100 percent perfect at obedience in the face of quarry, but some can get really close!

Stacey

thanks so much, will follow your advise

Hi, and see my post about my aggressive border terrier. I'm keeping mine away from other dogs at present but he does run off after rabbits/squirrells/birds etc. I've found (even although only had him for 4 weeks) that if I give a sharp aggressive call for him myself, he will stop in his tracks and look round. He still does run off when there is a distraction but another sharp call usually does the trick for him and he comes running back to me. I once hid behind a tree (yeah I know, cruel!) and he got most upset because he couldn't see me. Finding me suddenly became priority over hunting the squirrells! Everyone's dog is different, but after reading all the posts on here I intend to persevere. Borders are just the loveliest dogs, they just have a bit of attitude.

Welcome to the world of terriers, Moo! Unfortunately they can all be selectively deaf throughout thei lives.