I notice one of the problems that Max had in the recent newsletter was not returning to his owner, [B]under any circumstances[/B] when asked. Can anyone please advise how this was rectified?
normally problems like this are fixed by re-conditioning the "come" command. First you will need to establish why the dog avoids the come command. 1. Does it only happen outside? 2. Does it happen all the time?
If it only happens outside then there is a good chance that the dog simply doesn't see you as the alpha dog and therefore find the distractions outside way more interesting than you. You will then have to become the "Resource Manager". The dog will need to learn that all good things happen through and because of you. Access to food and water, access to smells outside, access to toys, basically all the resources that the dog values. If the only way to these resources is through you , he/she will pay much more attention to you and therefore also be more likely to listen to the "come" command.
2. If it happens all the time than there might have been a bad experience. No matter what your dog does, even if he/she has been very naughty, if you call you dog, you and he/she listens you will need to give plenty of praise. If the "come" command has been used in a wrong way the best thing to do might be to use a new command and practice it at home for weeks and weeks (re-conditioning = "back to me" means dog comes back to owner and get's treat/praise - therefore it's a good thing and worth doing).
