Training recall is tough with any dog – some breeds more than others – and, well, I think the Northern/Spitz-type breeds probably take the cake on this one. Ask most owners of a Shiba Inu what happens when they call their dog and they’ll tell you they get one of two looks from the little darling… either “F you. Try and catch me!” or “Why? What’s in it for me???”
This topic has come up 3 times in the past week. Once on a Shiba mailing list, once on the NYC Shiba Meetup message boards, and just now by email from a new reader of this blog. Since it is such a hot topic, I decided to post here about it also. Snick’s recall is fairly good – exceptional for a Shiba really. Here are a few things that helped get it that way.
How I Trained Snickers to Come on Command
- I have a life or death recall (“Snickers, COME!) and a common recall (“Come here Snick”). He knows the common recall is optional but the other is definitely not. This keeps me from “wearing out” his recall.
- He always, always gets yummy treats and happy praise when he responds to “Snickers, COME!” and I practice at random times so it isn’t just pattern trained.
- You should never give them the opportunity to fail when you train recall. Although I despise Flexi leads in the city, I started teaching him on a Flexi. I would let him get way ahead and then call him. If he didn’t turn back immediately, I would reel him in and then treat and praise. Be cautious in expanding their range. When I started doing it off leash, I started from about 3 feet away! First we did it at home and then at the dog run, but only when it was empty. I expanded the distance very gradually and waited until I was VERY confident before trying it with distractions. Add the distractions in slowly and always give big rewards.
- Don’t get in the habit of always using the life or death recall to make him leave fun things (like the dog run). Often, I will call Snick, treat and praise him, and let him go back to what he was doing. I want him to always feel like the reward for coming is greater than the potential for loss of freedom.
- Never, ever, EVER call them to you to punish or admonish them (even if they didn’t come the first time you called and you’re mad). If you need to correct your dog, go to him. The last thing you want is to teach your dog that he’s going to get in trouble when he responds to you!
That’s it. What are your experiences with training recall?
So glad you posted this! The “f you” i’ll come when i want to attitude i’ve always accepted. keep thinking i need to work on the life or death.
guess i now know what i’ll be starting up.
Nikko gets bits of turkey hot dog when we are “working” and oh boy does he love those!
thanks, jenna!
LOL and what if you can’t catch the little stinker to correct him??!
Thanks for the excellent post. We’re working on training our Shiba, Roux, and this info is very helpful!
Thank you for posting this! So many people accept that their shibas won’t be trainable on this one and they really can be. It’s just always about “what’s in it for me” when it comes to shibas lol. Your post is such a great help!!
LOL Bear is really great at recall but lily I am sure was the one left behind when the spaceship took off. She stares at things only she can see and comes back only when we have a laser pointer she can chase I guess I should retrain her.
Yeah, we call the shiba, Scout, our “F You” dog and Max, the little mutt, our “Joy,JOY; Oh, Mommy I LOVE you; Daddy, I LOVE you” dog.
Yet, when Scout wants something – he’ll deign to be all Mr. Suck Up.
I have taken to tricking them when it comes to recall – “Want to go for a walk? Want to go for a ride?” That gets them to come running so fast from down the street. They’re little escape artist if they find a way. Then I usually have to take them for a ride around the block to reward them. Or the suburb if there was something especially tempting they left behind.
It’s critical that I do this, b/c our city has coyotes and deers.
NikkosOkasan – My guys love hot dog too. They are also VERY responsive for Mozzarella cheese!
Janet – Tips on how to catch your Shiba coming soon.
Mari – You just have to be willing to work WITH the “what’s in it for me” attitude! 🙂
Ginger – I’m glad it is helpful!
bibby – Maybe you can teach Bear to retrieve Lily for you.
Kristine – Tricking is good. Tricking a Shiba isn’t always easy. 😉
The car works for my male –but when that’s not available, then, there has to be more… so I bought on eBay a whistle that police use in Europe. It is a very unique sound and doesn’t change in pitch– unlike your voice when you get stressed… Trink used to have the best recall, but it’s fallen a few rungs, so I need to get out there and redo recalls!! 🙂
I have 2 recalls as well. “Come” is optional & used frequently. “Clean up” is our life & death one.
You see at home if we accidentally drop human food on the floor and it is okay for a dog to eat, then we tell Loki to “Clean up”. We keep this command as always being a very positive experience. It has worked well outdoors as our life & death recall.
Sometimes we have to use “come” when we cannot catch him and he is being bad. So “come” sometimes has a negative associations.
I started with Stella by teaching her to go where I point—so I would place a treat in plain sight with her in the other room, bring her into the room and then point in the direction of the treat. She quickly learned to look in the direction I was pointing to find where I set her snack. After a while of doing that, I would hold two treats, have her sit (give her 1 treat), then move to a new place while she was still sitting and then point to the ground in front of me—she would go to where I was pointing and then I gave her the second treat. I played with that for a while by pointing to different places and saying, “You go there [or here]” and when she went there, she’d get the treat. So, now when I want her to come to me, I just point to the ground in front of me and say “You go here” and about 90% of the time, she now comes from wherever she is, sits in front of me and looks up at me while waiting for a treat.
Jason, that’s a nifty strategy! I think I’ll teach Snick that, just for fun. He sort of knew “go touch” years ago when we dabbled in Agility classes, but that didn’t involve stopping in place. I like this!
Oh god. Space just stares at me when I call his name.
My shiba Kyoshi is so smart. She already has perfected sit and lie down and that’s pretty impressive for an 11 month old! I am still wondering how to get her to stop nipping they are starting to really hurt…I am told that shiba’s are hard to train and all those posts say they are hard to train but we found that she is more than willing to learn a new trick…Sometimes I wonder if I even have a shiba with that “Shibatude” She has not done anything that these people are saying they do..Is this normal to have such an obedient shiba?
Hi Cassandra,
That’s kind of the point of my post about How To Train a Shiba Inu. They aren’t really “hard to train” so much as just different from what people expect a lot of the time. Training the independent, primitive breed dog is about communicating – forming a bond – and making it challenging, fun and worth the dog’s while. It’s sounds like you’ve accomplished that with your Kyoshi. The nipping will subside if you keep working with her. Snickers was one of the mouthiest puppies imaginable, but he grew up into a dog with probably the best bite inhibition I have ever seen. Did you read “Dealing with Puppy Biting and Chewing” and “The Importance of Teaching Bite Inhibition“? Those may help you as well.
Jenna
Thanks so much and I will read that article its bound to help with her hyper active self. I really have bonded wit her and if I’ away from her I feel somethings missing. I have a question though…Does the runt of the litter always get the biggest because Kyoshi is growing too fast!
Cassandra, I am so sorry. For some reason, I didn’t see your second question when you wrote it. I think no, the runt doesn’t usually end up being the largest. I hope everything is going really well with Kyoshi!
Hi thanks the tips are really useful. Im wondering if I should start with the optional or life and death recall? Thanks
Derek, I would definitely train the life or death recall first. You have to train them that it must always be obeyed. After that’s ingrained, you can implement a more casual, optional, recall.