Training Several things at Once: Issue?

[Chris Wild]

Originally Posted by Rerun

How do you work on a recall without also working on stay?

Restrained recalls.
Random recalls when the dog is wandering about and incorporating them into playing.
Just running away from the dog and calling.
Toss a treat to get the dog to leave the handler, then recall.
Use a place board or target to send the dog to in order to get the dog to leave the handler, then recall.
No stay required in any of those, and all do a good job of working on the come to handler portion of the recall.

Fronts are always the part of the recall that needs the most work, not the coming to the handler portion of the recall. Those don't require any sort of stay to accomplish as they should be worked from a close distance until the dog does a perfect front, then incorporated into other recalls (including any of the no stay required recalls listed above).

And when on occasion a stay is used to keep the dog in place for a recall, informalizing the stay and not setting it up as it would be in trial, and then turning to face the dog and *not* call, then walk away or move about again, several times before giving the recall command so the dog doesn't anticipate the recall command as soon as you stop and turn around.

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by Rerun

How do you work on a recall without also working on stay?

I throw a treat out, let the puppy take it, and then call him back to me for another. I do not teach "stay", I teach sit, down, and stand and once the puppy knows these I start building in that sit means sit until I say otherwise. Just this week (5 months) I've started training the down where I can walk away, walking around the dog, jump over the dog, etc. but he has been doing down and working recalls since 8 weeks old.