Bit late here but really wanted to reply as recall discussions are something that really interest me.
I don't post a lot now a days but I have to say you have such a handsome boy there and also so jealous of the green! I believe you said you are in Malaysia? Fascinating view of your home too.
Its happening more often now that he will waste abit of time sniffing or peeing before he decides to come and i am unsure how to correct that. He will still come to me eventually but he is taking his own sweet time. I have that caught on camera on the same day and this is what i meant (on the 2nd recall attempt). I dont repeat my command as i know he knows to come to me, but 'eventually'. Any advice?
There are a lot of things, I personally, would change but I'll try to keep this simple. So firstly I looked back and see that your dog is about 16 months in this video.
The whole video is 1 minute and 12 seconds long. Between the time you released him from the first recall and when you called him back to you, barely 20 seconds had passed.
I don't know where you are, but it looks like a beautiful park with lots of smells, potentially other dogs, places to mark, run, etc. This is a young dog and to me I think you are expecting too much from him. In that setting and with that timing you are not setting him up for success. In the future, watch his body language; every time he is off lead and you think he will not recall right away, don't call him- because you cannot reinforce it.
When you release him to go play or amble around or whatever then give him the chance to do that. I think that allowing him that opportunity and leaving more time before asking for another recall will give you a greater chance for success at this stage. I don't blame him for dilly-dally-ing and taking his time.
I do know that you never use the “come” command until you KNOW that he will come--don’t give him a chance to fail. So never try calling him in with things he wants to chase unless you can reel him in if he fails to obey (leashed or long line). If he never learns that he can ignore your command, you’re better off. I think that kind of thing fails because folks think their dog really knows the command too early and expect too much from their pup because he does such a good recall when there are no distractions.
Exactly. Not giving him the chance to fail. And this applies to the scenario in your video as well as higher distractions and prey drive. Make your foundation stronger first, even if that means you have to go back to using a long line and at times just reeling him in
instead of using the formal recall, then that is what you do. Because otherwise you are just weakening the command.
Will it be ever possible i can achieve a good recall in the presence of a cat and squirrel? I have NEVER been successful and i want to be realistic here.
I think it is possible but you've got to set a stronger foundation and remember that recall can take a long time to build and a lot of practice. Again he is still mentally maturing and as long as prey and other things remain more important you will be there when he is done with whatever he is doing.
Might also want to consider switching up the value of the treats and not requiring the 'sit' command. That often is a good thing for competition but can kill the enthusiasm for a 'lifestyle recall.'
My 5 cents.
Best of luck!