Labrador recall issue.

GuantanamoBaye

Hi all,

I have a 5 month old male lab and, generally speaking, am very happy with his training. He stays near to me when off leash and will come back when called in all but one circumstanc - when he sees a kid. This is the only time he flat out refuses to come back and will happily run full pelt for 100 yards and then pounce.

It's becoming a real problem. He's a bit of a unit (28kg when weighed last week) and easily knocks over small kids, not to mention the muddy paws and fear factor of an unknown dog barreling into them, regardless of friendly intentions.

I had a retriever years ago and I think she just grew out of this so I'm torn between not wanting to make a meal of it in case it's something he'll grow out of (and therefore just requires me to go for later walks/otherwise manage the environment) and the reality that he's a big pup and the problems seem to be happening more regularly.

Anyone got any tips on dealing with this recall blindspot? Would a training course be beneficial? Should I just change our walking routine to avoid areas he's likely to see kids and hope he grows out of it? Any input much appreciated as he's a great dog, I love our walks and don't want them to turn into a source of stress.

tk123

If you can’t recall him you need to keep him on lead until you can work on it. I’m sorry but this is the kind of thing that gets all dogs tarred with the same brush. He could cause an injury or put a child and their parents off dogs for life. Also if he knocks down the wrong child you could have a court case and massive claim to pay out.. that could have been prevented by a lead.

A long line and work on getting his attention at a safe distance eg close enough to see the playground in the park but without him being over threshold.

He’s still quite young so you’ll be refining his training for a while yet as he goes through different stages.

deadlybuzzman

Do you know anyone with teenagers and younger kids? If younger kids are what makes him break his recall, bulletproof his recall in the presence of older kids and then do the same with younger kids.
Also presumably it's the reaction off younger kids that's giving him the reward and reinforcement to do it again and again so if you knew a kid that could play statue for you around the dog and give him no reward that might help

DBB

It is reeeeally important that you prevent any further rehearsals of the unwanted behaviour op, which means making absolutely certain, for now, that pup is on-lead if there's any possibility of encountering kids. Unless you prevent rehearsal, he is very unlikely to simply grow out of it.
But, he does need to gain experience of children, so avoiding them isn't an option either.
So, as well as keeping him on-lead around kids for now, I'd suggest heading to the park (or wherever), and finding a spot where he can see kids, but not be so close to them that he loses all focus on you. I would sit quietly with him, and let him watch them. And every time he pops his ears up in interest at them, I'd shove a very delicious treat into his gob. Every time. For a number of days, with NO rehearsals allowed to happen in between.
This will set up a dynamic in his head that kids = treats from you, which will be followed by kids = look at you (in expectation of treat)... and once that attention has become more reliably focused on you, you can start to add to it. Now, you can start to move a little closer to where the kids are, or walking past them (at a distance at first). When you're making things more complicated, make sure to keep the delicious treats coming.
The important thing here is that the children themselves become a prompt for pup to refocus onto you, and that is your starting point to build on the very good training you've already done with him up to this point. It also preserves pup's happy disposition towards children, but you are managing this in a way that works towards him showing some self-control around them.
Once you're happy that he is showing good refocus towards you with kids around, you could start to get him to approach (on-lead) quieter, somewhat older, calm, dog-savvy kids, and he must sit, or at least stay on all 4s, whilst he greets them... Any jumping up and the kids departs whilst you stopped from following them... no histrionics or drama, just keep it all calm and focused on prevention of rehearsals of behaviour you don't want.

jimf

do you have a friend with a rock steady dog who is very good on recall

this also will be a big help as dogs do learn from each other

i have a rock steady springer at the moment and he is in the process of helping me with a total nut head of a springer which i got at 5 months old no recall but starting now to react and is slowly getting there

dont get frustrated yourself just act as calm as possible in the situation dont give out to him when he eventually comes back

i find the trick of the long lead even a clothes line is especially helpful usually ears up means im leaving you asap