Help with setter recall!

hunting1234

hi ive an 8 month old llwelyn setter dog. I spend a lot of time with this dog and have had him since a pup. have been giving him runs in the bog recently and its a disaster , he will not return on the whistle or when called? any help would be greatfully appreciated be cause this dog has a great nose and very fast and strong. I really want to ort this 100% so please let me know

Jimbob79

Hi hunting1234,

At 8 months the dog is still a baby. I'm sure u have bonded with him but he would be too young to be "trained".

People often ask me when do they start training there dog. And I always tell them u will know when the time is right. It sounds like that tome has come for u.

First thing I'd do is get back control. I would work on sitting/staying in confined area. Then introduce the recall. If out for exercise I'd keep dog on a long rope so that if he refuses to return u can catch rope and pull him in. The objective is to put urself in control. Don't be to hard on the dog. And always reward when he comes to u. U want the dog to associate u with positives eg food attention.

Hope this helps. Best of luck.

allan450

follow what jimbo said and you cant go wrong

irish setter

It all depends on what you want from a setter. You either want a robot that will obey your every command at a whim and will never develop the ability to be a great hunter. This is what you'll get if you start trying to control him at his age in areas like bogs where you want him to hunt.
Or you want a dog to develop his hunting desire and ability. Bond with him and teach recall in areas where there is no birds and temptations. Let him run in bogs. And this is not the time of year to be running in birdy ground. As he gets on in his training you can knit the two together. For me the most important thing to teach is the drop. You will drop a hunting dog easier than recall him. Once you drop him you can call him in

deeksofdoom

Don't blow the recall if you know the dog isn't going to come back to you. That's a sure way of teaching the dog that its okay to run on when it hears the recall being blown.

As Irish Setter said

Bond with him and teach recall in areas where there is no birds and temptations.

shoot to kill

Hate to be a spoil sport but lads plz keep dogs off bogs at the min. U never know where young grouse might be kicking about. Seen 6 young ones this time last year.
Try taking a step back with the training. Bit much expecting a 8 month old pup to return to the whistle. Try only blowing the whistle when u have the dogs attention.
Best of luck.