[yorkietalkjilly]

Tibbe got slow to react to his recall when he was about 18-20 months old and beginning to test his boundaries or boredom and I started re-training him on the recall by calling him and automatically praising/treating every time he quickly reacted and came running so as to establish a pattern of ALWAYS quickly reacting to every recall, which one day might just save him from some catastrophe.

At first, he ALWAYS came running right away but soon even the fore-sure treats and praise stopped working quite as effectively as it was routine and not always as exciting as that current scent, dog, foraged find, he'd fixated on and was very busy inspecting or playing with. I remembered some noted trainer's question that why should your dog leave his exciting, scent-heavy, intensely interesting outdoor activity he too rarely got to come inside to same-old you, even for a routine reward he always got, as there was no mystery or fun there anymore. Said you've got to know when to make yourself more interesting, intriguing or mysterious - or irritating - than his current outdoor activity.

So sometimes I'd put my coat on or hold my purse, keys jangling, before recalling him in. Other times just grabbing a cap or bike helmet, any interesting headgear, to change my outline to a different one. Sometimes I'd hide from his view when I called, jangling his treat bowl or squeaking a toy, unseen. Other times I'd be pretending to be talking on the phone(Tibbe was jealous of my phone activity!), or dancing, whooping, clapping, acting like a party was going on in here or just turned around with my back facing him - or just sitting down on the floor. Other times I'd be looking through my pockets or purse and he was intrigued. Anything to change the routine, make him curious.

I quickly learned in training dogs not to treat every single time once they'd learned the wanted behavior, had it down pat. This way they always live in expectation, eager to find out whether they get their treat/toy in addition to their always-earned praise & smiles. Seems dogs are more responsive to expectation than certainty when it comes to treats or toy rewards.

Very rarely but occasionally, he was unresponsive to whatever I did that time, as he was so involved in whatever he'd fixated on or was enjoying or was just bored with routine. I quickly just walked right out to him and hurried, herded him inside, cutting off his attempts to outrun me with outstretched arms and always catching up to him, herding him in, walking into him and steering him toward the door, always staying upbeat, chanting "Go, go, go, go, go, go in" over and over in a sing-song voice; irritatingly determined to rush him, crowd him, herd Tibbe, which he always detested. He'd snort and snort when he got crowded or rushed, hurried, herded and do just about anything to keep me from winning that contest, even to quickly learning that running inside ended his misery sooner than keeping on trying to avoid getting the bum-rush.

I'd always let him know by running inside to escape me, he'd outfoxed me, won the game. I'd call out "You WON, you cute little monster! Tibbe BEAT Mommie! Tibbe wins! You are So smart!!!" I swear that dog knew those words or my attitude or whatever and saw that as a big, big win, even though he came inside as I wanted to avoid my herding or hurrying him.

As long as your dog sees quickly responding to your recall or whatever request/command as a big win for him, you are the real winner. He eventually learns a Pavlov's dog type response, just to always do what you request without conscious thought. It becomes a muscle memory, routine, a rote reflex, quite sweet and very fulfilling and you both feel like winners if you make yourself interesting or enthusiastic enough a trainer/handler and are more determined than your terrier.