Case Study (Recall) - Tony & Lottie
Recall training that really works!
I had the pleasure of meeting Tony a few weeks after he had adopted Lottie, a young and beautiful English Setter girl.
Lottie was brought into the country via a rescue that brings street dogs in from abroad and Tony adopted her a few weeks after he lost Daisy with whom he shared five wonderful years of adventures, walks and trips.
Not wanting to be without a dog, especially on a forthcoming adventure to Scotland, Tony and Lottie's own adventure began with walks and exercise around Tony's home and village.
It soon became apparent that the young Lottie was quite a different character to Daisy who had never strayed too far from her man.
Let off the lead, Lottie would disappear and come back eventually but only on her terms and Tony quickly realised that this could put her in severe danger if she strayed near the local roads.
Never having had to do any 'training' as such with good girl Daisy, Tony recognised that he needed a bit of help with Lottie and decided to invest in a private consultation.
Without really being aware of it at the time, Tony's approach to helping Lottie learn to come back to him when he called was spot on.
- He felt he didn't know enough to go it alone and quickly decided to seek professional help.
- He selected a positive reinforcement trainer.
- His concern for his dog's safety and well being was first and foremost.
-
He was and remains committed to helping his dog learn so
they can both get the most enjoyment out of their
relationship.
-
He had a clear, achievable and measurable goal and had set a time frame within which to achieve this.
-
He listened and bought
the right equipment. A long line, a harness and a working dog whistle.
-
He bought another whistle and a spare when
Lottie found and chewed the first whistle to bits!
-
He was open to talking about other aspects of Lottie's daily routine and life rewards and prepared to work on
other relationship building exercises that supported his main recall goal
-
He followed the advice and practiced every
day.
Tony achieved his goal and enjoyed a super trip to Scotland with Lottie, the first of many more I hope!
Well done Tony & Lottie!
"Hi Nicki, just a quick note to say how much I appreciated your visits and advice. With your help I was able to spend much of our recent trip to Scotland with Lottie off lead AND coming back to the whistle! Brilliant, what a delight! Still more work to do of course so will certainly be calling you for some follow up visits. Many thanks again from both of us! Tony"