I've had Charlie for just over a week now and initially he didn't get it he just thought I was talking to him and that nothing was required of him. I switched to a whistle rather than voice as he ignored the word commands and armed myself with smoked mackerel and suddenly I'm his best friend and he knows what the whistle means (he will even come back randomly and sit on the spot so he can get a piece!). I discovered it was his must have smelly treat when I got a pack out of the fridge. A bag of very small pieces and only used for recall. Smelly, tasty, quick and according to Charlie much better than chicken

I always ask for come back and sit and then similarly to Sue vary the next step sometimes on to a lead, sometimes straight back to running round and sometimes a big fuss so he never knows what's coming next after the treat. I guess if you already have a pretty good recall a change to a whistle or new word and a change in rewards might work.

Charlie has learnt very quickly, however he's only 5 months so in a few more months when kevin arrives.............

What do you think he'd do with the sheep if he got them? Do you think he's looking for a chase game or food? Does he seem motivated by things that move?

If so, I'd think about training a 'chase recall' for emergency moments.

yes that's exactly what he wants to do, when they stop he stops, goes to their face and barks at them to run.

I'm aiming for a chase recall, but he's not fascinated with toys enough yet, that's where I'd like to get to.

Will try the smelly mackeral too, although I hate the stuff myself! We actually do hide and seek at home, marlster gets frustrated and barks on the landing if he can't find me, but he gets there in the end. I did in fact do this the other night when i took him out, will do some more of this tonight. I also try and run away from im not towards and this does work to some degree, just needs him to look up for a split second.

Thanks everyone, all these tips really help, lots of good ideas to work on.

Theres a good section on training recall in older dogs on the gun dog club website forum.. a friend of mine has tried it with her wayward cocker and has found it to be succesful.

ta, wil take a look.

Charlie won't do anything for food, and our recall only improved by moving his chasing obsession to a ball obsession, with which came the bark. But you know all that


I just wanted to jump in to say that we didn't try any of this til Charlie was at least 18 months and you've done tons more work with the Marls than we had, so I'm sure when it clicks, it'll be successful, I don't think you need to worry about his age.