# adult testing limits? suggestions please



## Sookster (Apr 11, 2011)

What are you using as a reward and to keep her motivated?


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## JE-UK (Mar 10, 2010)

Dogs are individuals, with their own likes, dislikes, temperaments, moods. And they do go through phases.

It helps sometimes to shift perspective from "the dog blew me off" to "why is x more interesting to the dog than me?".

Tortoise has a great, pithy phrase for it: Be more interesting than dirt. :smile: 

Toys, treats, and games can help refocus her on you. I use walks as a way to engage with my dog, to entertain both of us. Sometimes, if the dog feels your focus isn't on her, she may not feel obliged to keep her focus on you.

All that said, sometimes there is just something that is just TOO INTERESTING TO RESIST. Which is why recall training never really stops.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Ummm - a rib bone and a possibly haunted/dog infested/super exciting house. Sounds pretty understandable to me! Let's remember dogs are living, thinking, sentient animals, not machines - I was thrilled when I was able to call my two back from chasing a rabbit, and not particularly surprised when I failed to call them off a hare that shot up right under our feet - they were gone before I got over my shock, and then they were "in the zone". 

After the hare episode I did lots of recalls on walks for really good treats and back to sniff and play again, several extra games of look-how-much-fun-I-can-be-if-you-come-when-I-call, and I avoid areas where hares might lurk unless the field is very well fenced, with no sheep. If in doubt, I keep them on the lead. I find it fairly easy to be livelier than dirt, but hares have got me beat, and I freely admit it!

And congratulations on doing the sensible thing of going to fetch her, rather than wrecking the recall by shoulting Come! ever more loudly while being ignored!


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## Indiana (Sep 11, 2011)

I love this thread! So true, training for recall never really stops, and it shouldn't because it's the single most important learned behaviour in a dog's life! But they are just dogs; they're lively, curious and interested in all kinds of things, so we can't expect them to be robots. It's not like people grow up and never make another mistake either! It's just a process


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## Searcher (Aug 7, 2009)

Thanks for the comments. We have a variety of treats from low value (kibble) to high value (chicken, cheese, liver, etc). She is very treat motivated usually. I readily admit that some things are just going to be more interesting than I am. I think it is unrealistic & a lot of pressure to be the most interesting thing in their world all of the time. We also have never called her to do something like go home or anything she may think is of as a negative. We have done a lot of comes when I look at what she has found & then give it back to her. We do play lots of recall games too. Recall seems to be the most important command due to roads & traffic so I want it to be really reliable. I'd like to be able to trust her & take long hikes with her again. Thanks for all comments.


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