25/11/2025
Kendrick, the saluki springer spaniel mix, stole my heart at a recent session.
With boundless energy and a joy for life that I am envious of, Kendrick is the epitome of a dog that just adores being involved in everything you do!
Recently Kendrick's family wanted to work on building solid recall. Given how Kendrick LOVES other people and dogs it is incredibly important to them that they have some level of influence over this beautiful boy when it might be necessary to extricate him from a situation.
Recall, like most trainings and behaviours, starts with trust, evolves into engagement as we shape the end behaviour and eventually, through repetition and practise and changing up our rewards, becomes the behaviour we need.
But like other trainings it is very easy to over use our recall, putting an end to what a dog feels is the best self directed reinforcement. Consistently overusing recall with no payoff can risk poisoning your recall and it therefore becomes less effective. It is vital therefore that 1) there is always a payoff for our pups and 2) that payoff needs to be superior to whatever they are already engaged with.
Kendrick's desire to get things right really shone through during our session, while throwing out behaviours can seem like a dog just trying anything to get the treat I particularly enjoy seeing this as it shows we have a dog willing to try and tray and try again until he gets it. Kendrick has this desire in spades and with his family's dedication we're sure to smash the goals set for him.
Give it up for TEAM KENDRICK!!
