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08/05/2026 12:46 pm
Otto has a solid recall in the yard. "Hier" and he is on me within seconds, every time. But take him to the park, or near other dogs, or honestly anywhere with real distraction, and that reliability drops significantly. He is not ignoring me completely — there is a pause, a look, sometimes a slow drift back. But the sharpness is gone.
I know the textbook answer: proof it in more environments, increase value of reward, build up gradually. I have been doing this for months. It feels like we have hit a ceiling rather than a ladder.
Working line dogs have a lot of drive pulling them outward. I wonder sometimes if the recall needs to compete with that differently than it would for a softer dog.
For those who have broken through a plateau like this — what actually moved the needle for you?
11/05/2026 12:16 pm
Not sure if this applies to Otto specifically but from what I've read, one thing that sometimes gets overlooked is whether the recall cue itself has been 'poisoned' a little over time, even unintentionally. Like if it's ever been used to end fun, the dog starts doing that drift-back thing you're describing. Some trainers suggest retiring the cue entirely and rebuilding on a fresh word with zero history. There's also work by Premack-based trainers suggesting that using access to the distraction *as* the reward (rather than competing against it) can shift the dynamic. Mochi isn't a working-line dog so I hedge heavily here, but it might be worth considering.