Re-Call Practice With Distractions

Hey Tribe,

In case you missed the three video clips I shared the other day in my story on Instagram (are you not following me there?), I decided to put them together for your viewing pleasure here on the blog.

Fly and I stepped out the back door so she could do her morning routine (go potty) and she was immediately on the alert – sniffing and running to the back fence, barking fearsome barks and letting me know her spidy senses were tingling.  Groggily, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes (it had been a late night) and blinked about for the danger Fly adamantly foretold was about to murder me.  Sure enough, in the woods behind our house, a cow moose and her not-so-small calf were sharing a twiggy breakfast and trying to not look irritated at the yapping black and white angry fur who was disrupting their morning serenity.

“Excellent!” I thought, as I shuffled my slippered feet back into the house to retrieve a collar and long leash for Fly: she could get some moose exposure and we could practice re-call.  The leash would ensure that she didn’t chase the two ungulates, as well as bring her to me if she became selectively deaf to my “come” commands.

Impatiently, she waited for me to open the back gate and invite her to step out into the back lane, but her training in this area held firm (yay) and she waited for me to check that the moose hadn’t moved from their woody buffet before I gave the “OK” for her to leave the yard.  The barking resumed then, and I let her genetically ingrained hunting drive work for a bit, since both moose seemed unfazed by all the racket and merely paused between bites to roll their large brown eyes in our direction before continuing their ruminations.

Then, the magic happened.  I said, “Come” and she came: simple, easy, and e-collar free.  It was a thing of beauty.  She was then allowed to range out again for a few minutes before I called her again, mostly to prove to myself that the first re-call wasn’t a fluke, and she listened.  Sweet, sweet success!

Here is the video I took of those two re-calls.  The footage is with my cell phone, so not terrific quality, but I wasn’t planning to share them with anyone – it was just another training practice session for us: one of many (remember I said practice, practice, practice, in my previous blog post?).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy our small success with us, and experience re-call success with your pup as well.  It is a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?