In an ideal world, your dog would come every time you call him and you would always pick the perfect situations for your practice – meaning scenarios in which your dog will be highly successful, challenged in a way that he progresses fast but not challenged to the point of making mistakes.
But we do not live in an ideal world and mistakes will happen.
This is why it is important to remember our very first rule:
Stop calling your dog!
As you progress your recall to more and more situations, you are likely to encounter some that are above your dog’s current skill level. Maybe this is because of unforeseen distractions: Sometimes our usually empty neighborhood park is bustling with a crowd. Or you simply misjudged your dog’s ability to recall in a new place.
This is ok.
What is very important is that you do not fall back into the old habit of calling, and calling, and calling … and your dog not listening.
Remember that as long as you are training, either one of the two happens:
Your dog learns to come when called (because he does it and gets rewarded by you)
Or
Your dog learns to not come when called (because he doesn’t come and gets rewarded by the environment).
This is why aborting a training session and going home is never a bad idea when you notice that your dog’s skill level does not match the distractions and environment you are in.
Never feel bad about leaving!Sometimes preventing your dog from unlearning is the best you can do.