30/09/2025
This 100% 👍
Mistakes sometimes happen when dogs are learning but use that as information on where you need to further your training and stop it happening again.
Practice make permanent.
If your dog practices ignoring you they'll get better at it.
If your dog practices great recall and is rewarded for that instead, that's what you'll see more of.
Recall from other dogs - especially for Adolescent Dogs
There are two main things we should be considering: how your actions affect your dog's behaviour going forward, and how your dog's actions affect the public.
Dogs do what works for them. When dog trainers use the term "reinforcement" that's basically all we mean. Did the dog's action work for them? Was the consequence of the action good, from their perspective? Because if so, you can guarantee it'll be repeated next time the same situation arises.
Adolescent dogs are predisposed to finding interaction with their own species attractive. At this age they often want to run up to every dog they see. It's intrinsically rewarding, especially for gundog breeds.
It is a terrible idea to allow your dog to do this, because 99% of the time they're going to get the desired outcome: interaction with their own species. Which means they're going to do it again, and again, and again. The behaviour works so the dog will repeat it. It really is that simple.
Some of the time the bombarded dog might give a proportionate warning, or worse. "Great", you think "that'll teach him not to do it".
But let me shout this bit: IT IS NOT OTHER PEOPLE'S DOGS' JOB TO EDUCATE YOUR DOG (unless it's Riddle or another stooge dog under controlled circumstances!).
That person may have spent weeks & months working at a safe distance to build their dogs confidence and your dog has just undone it all by approaching uninvited and with poor social skills (being "friendly" is NOT the same as having good social skills*). Even if they aren't in training for anything in particular, people have a right to walk their dog without having an unknown dog run full pelt at them.
So what to do if your dog is like this?!
Firstly, get yourself a long line to prevent the habit continuing any more. Every additional time your dog does it is making it more and more difficult to train out of them so prevention is the first step.
Secondly, PLAY WITH YOUR DOG. Toy drive can be built in almost any dog (some livestock guardian breeds, foreign rescues and traumatised dogs will struggle more). So even if your dog doesn't looooove to play with you now, you can built this love. Remember your toy is faux prey. Prey doesn't waggle itself in front of a dogs nose, it skitters along the ground in jerky movements*.
Once your dog loves the game, blow your whistle just before you present the toy. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Soon your dog will bomb at you when they hear the whistle. Now you have a whistle recall.
THIRDLY build value for a verbal recall cue by pairing your magic word with food x 1000000. Say the word, feed the dog over and over in different situations, adding in novel food randomly now and then, until your dog runs back when they hear it. Now you have a verbal recall.
FOURTHLY (is that a word?) get your dogs some regular mates! Playing and socialising with other known dogs is a key part of being a dog. Running up to random dogs uninvited is not.
LASTLY go and practice all the above on your long line in as many different locations as you can, ideally making the distractions harder and harder each time. Keep doing this until you are 99% sure both your recall cues work. Now start taking the line off for 30 seconds here, 1 minute there, putting it back on if you see a dog you think your dog might run up to. Build up the time of the line being off until you are confident your dog is under full control off the line.
Voila! Problem solved!
*I will do separate posts on both these points to dive deeper into them :)
