Achieving Total Recall

Drive in a gundog is a thing to be admired but all dogs should return to their handler when the command is given, says Ellena Swift

- Ellena Swift

It is common for me to talk about how important the basics are. Heel and sit are two things I cover frequently. However, it is sometimes the case that basic recall gets overlooked. With any young dog, despite wanting a solid recall, it is vital you do not flatten their drive to hunt and either retrieve or flush.

Too much recall and stop whistle will often cause a young or inexperienced dog to become sticky and continually look for commands, inhibiting any natural talent it has for game finding. To avoid this, it is important that when training youngsters they have a guaranteed success each time they are cast.

For example, if you send a young or novice dog for a retrieve, ensure it is achievable. When hunting a young dog, ensure there is something to find. As it grows and advances in its career, it will be so certain that it can find something, it will have a lot more drive to do so.

Slowly increase the difficulty of each task so the dog is working for it but achieving each time. Following this, the only problem that can occur is that the dog has so much confidence that it will find something that its recall can begin to lapse in that situation. Particularly on game.

It is a common thing to hear a picker-up state, “He is so good, he won’t come back until he has found the bird.” Now whilst that is a great attribute to have in terms of drive, it is not so good when said bird is not actually there. In that scenario, whilst we admire the drive, it is not much use if you cannot get the dog back. When in the beating line, it is imperative that when the keeper requests that dogs are pulled back in to heel, they recall. A dog that cannot complete that simple task could easily ruin a drive.

Sensible balance