the Adventure Vizsla Life
Do you love getting out and adventuring with your dog but you just wish there was that one piece of gear to make it all easier? Perhaps your dog is slightly injured, has allergies, or keeps building up ice on their boots? Here’s a list…
Support me and Save $75 off with code WHISKEY When Oru kayaks first came out they were gamechangers. At only 30lbs you could fold them up and walk or hike them into previously unkayak-able places. They were easier to store in apartments and possible to…
Do you struggle with recalling your dog reliably when they’re off leash in a new area full of smells, people, dogs, and noises? Here’s a guide to what I found was helpful with my girls!
1. Start Recall Right Away
2. Puppy Recall
3. The Goal
4. How to Be Fun
5. How to Be Strategic
6. Stay Safe!
7. Distance Duration Distraction
8. Preemptive Games
9. Recall off Wild Animals
10. Treats as Rewards
11. Other Reward Options
12. Jackpot
13. Socialization prevents Runaways
14. High Prey Drive
15. Exercise
16. Challenges
16. Resources
Disclaimer
First off, here’s a reminder that I AM NOT A PROFFESIONAL TRAINER, but here’s what I do with my Vizslas in order for us to have them off leash in our area. I hope some of this would be helpful, but most importantly start early, be consistent about practicing, and be patient (with yourself and your dog). Find a support network and ask for help!
With both Bourbon and Whiskey we let them off leash from day one in safer low-distraction areas (they were 8 weeks old). In both cases we didn’t have access to a fenced yard or fenced area but they were still allowed to roam free and recalled as soon as they went about 6 feet away with lots of yummy treats, praise and attention. The main dangers and distractions to avoid were people, cars, dogs, and wildlife.
I found that when they were very young they didn’t “see” as far away as we did and so it was much easier to recall and leash up before a person or dog walked close enough to be a problem. Recalling and learning their names took about a week or so, so in the beginning high pitched sounds like “beep bep beep bep” to recall, along with their names and a continuous “YES!!” that got more excitable as they ran towards you worked well. Yes, you will sound like a crazy person but the more you are willing to be insane and do anything to get your puppy’s attention, the more successful you’ll be. Always follow up with yummy treats to hold their attention once they are close! Start offering the treats but then quickly move to only offering treats once you have eye contact. Ideally wait for eye contact before you even touch or move your hand towards the rewards.
Your goal with recall is that you must make yourself more interesting than everything else in the environment. Pair up the name+treat+fun as quickly as you can and practice in harder environments. You can be more patient with interesting distractions but if your puppy is totally ignoring you, grab your pup quickly instead of calling and calling, and if possible drop the leash and practice the recall when the distraction is a bit further away and you are closer to your pup. See every distraction as an opportunity to practice recall, you only need to learn what is within the edge of success and work within that. The more success you can get, even if they are easy successes the more confidence and predictability you’ll have. Recall 5-20 times on every walk, you’ll collect the wins so fast!
When your puppy just starts to turn their head towards you as you call, first acknowledging you, you must build on that attention. Call you YESS! and do what you can to be cooler than whatever the distraction was. Try different things and see what works with your dog. Squeal progressively louder, or higher pitched, run away in a weird zig zag catch-me-if-you-can, drop to the ground, hide behind a tree.
When your pup approaches, don’t just stand there and hand over a treat. Toss the treat one way and run the other so your dog needs to catch you for the next treat. Roll the treat between your legs so they need to find it, hold the treat and lure them around a little bit, dropping bits into their mouth as you go. Make it FUN! Keep your voice happy, keep your attitude light. Would you want to run as fast as you can to someone that’s angry, yanks you, puts you on a leash and screams at your face? You’d probably want to run towards someone that is smiling, giving you $100, telling you how beautiful you look, and that they missed you and would you like a bar of your favorite chocolate?
If you’re prone to scream or be super stressed when recalling in difficult situations (ie you’re scared your dog is going to run into traffic and you cannot control your voice), then train your dog to associate your load scary screaming with urgency but NOT punishment or fear. Finally, even though you’re working on being fun with your dog, you still want to stay in charge and hold a confident demeanor, it can be a little bit of a weird line to walk on while making weird noises and playing hide and seek, but when you praise or command, it needs to be with confidence.
What is the distraction? See if you can figure out what has your dog’s attention and reward them with the same thing but better. If your dog is busy sniffing out something exciting, then recall them and scatter some treats here and there and ask them to use their nose to find it. If your puppy is old enough, teach them to do a sit/stay and then search for treats in a larger area on command. If your dog is distracted by chasing another dog, let them chase you a little bit, put a tree between you and make it hard for them to catch you, when they do, squeal and play and give them a treat. If your dog is distracted by a toy, bring a toy with you and recall straight to a tug or a ball or stick. If your dog is off chasing things that move, recall and throw treats further, make them run back and forth, maybe getting them to catch them in the air. Certain breeds of dogs will have better drive to recall for different things. Puppies tend to take food easier but as they grow up, work on increasing a drive that you can control (a drive to tug, a drive to fetch, a drive to do tricks, a drive to sniff). This will build your value to your dog that you are the only thing in the world that can provide the magical ball and will help not only your recall but your ability to hold their concentration over distractions.
Recall practice looks so different depending on where you live. If you’re in a rural area with loads of forest, but dangerous animals, or if you’re in the city with cars everywhere and only tiny busy parks, you can find a way to practice recall safely. A long line is a super long leash (20+ feet) that you can let your dog drag along (or you can hold it and unravel as needed) and just step on the line if your dog isn’t recalling. You can also use natural and man made barriers that control and slow down your dog. Baseball diamonds in the offseason, islands, mountains, or streams will keep most puppies in line (it really depends on breeds but my dogs will never cross water so I use that frequently as a natural barrier). Learn your dog and predict what their range will be in open land, or crowded forest. You can just do recall in the city with a 6 foot leash, walking around downtown and recalling off discarded food on the ground, other dogs, or interesting events. We used to find geese in the city parks and practice heeling and recall with our regular leash.
See if you can put these distractions in order for your dogs (from least to most distracting) and proactively find these distractions to recall from. Start from the furthest distance you can and work your way up to your dog interacting with the distraction and calling them back (ie mid squirrel stalk). Work on longer durations that you expect their concentration, and adjust depending on their moods, the environment and other factors.
Hide and seek- in a quiet safe area worked really well for us when they were young (not so effective with a teenager!). Vizslas and puppies especially want to be with their human so we would take just Bourbon or Whiskey out for a walk around a forest with big trees but no people. We would then hide as soon as she wandered far enough away and wait for her to notice we were missing. As soon as we could see her looking for us, we would call out and let her find us. It would become a game for her to make sure we were always close so we couldn’t go hide on her. We would also give her lots of treats and love when she did find us! You can also play this game with two people, one hiding, and when ready, ask your puppy to “find mommy”. Not only will your dog learn your “name”, but they’ll be learning to sniff you out to receive a big welcome, treat and love.
If you are going for a walk off leash and your dog or puppy checks in with you, always give praise and treats.
Practice holding onto your dog’s collar and leashing and unleashing with treats. Some dogs understand that a recall means they must lose their freedom and go on leash and will play keep-away. Try walking on and off leash periodically and leash up calmly with a treat before and after touching or tugging the collar. It’s better if your dog does not shy away from you quickly grabbing and tugging on their collar incase of emergency so practice this without warning and give praises and treats . Always notice if your dog is tense or anxious and work within their boundaries. I like to tell my girls “leash up” so they know what’s happening and expect them to stand and wait for me to struggle for 30seconds.
If possible, find out the gamut of animals you may encounter and see if you can figure out which ones capture your dog’s attention the most to least. Find and work with the animal that is least interesting (ie crows are less interesting than pigeons, than ducks, than grouse). Practice calm sits, paw, lie downs around a crow from a distance.
Find out what is the closest distance you can practice training your dog and keep their attention with the animal around. It’s ok for them to notice the animal, just not run towards it. You want to practice a sit/stay/down before you practice recall. Recall with a long line or leash drag once you gain your own confidence. Slowly work your way closer to the animal, then work on a harder animal. Sometimes you may just need to have your dog beside you on leash, feeding them treats for half an hour until they are ready to train. Be patient, it’s worth it! Repeat daily and you’ll see improvement quickly!
Train “leave it” and increase self control which will help with everything involving recall, especially wild animals. Start “leave it” with low value treats or food, and slowly increase the duration, the food value, and the distance you are from your dog and treat. Depending on your dog and your goals, you can either release your dog to eat the food/meal/treat or you can provide a higher value reward and take away the treat. This can be practiced with leaving food found on the ground in a city, a pigeon on the sidewalk, or even good smelling coffee cup.
I use a variety of treats and I pay attention to which ones my dog values more. I use lower value treats for easier recalls, and give them a handful if they do something amazing. When I’m first introducing something new I use only high value treats. I always have a mix so my pup doesn’t get bored and so that I can reach in and try something different if needed. Because my training can use up a bag of treats quickly I like to use freeze dried raw food as a meal replacement. Sometimes people use kibble but I really think these are more highly valued (it only takes a quick test to find out!).
Notice what your dog likes as praise, not what you think your dog “should” like. Some dogs don’t like to be petted on their heads, or hugged. Vizslas tend to love attention and vocal praise as well as butt scratches but your dog might love a chin scratch and hate eye contact. Over time, if you can train your dog to like something more than treats (like a tug toy or a ball) you’ll have an easier time of training and a much cheaper time too! (also see the “Be Strategic” section.
Working dogs tend to have a drive for some type of “work”, you’ll just need to try different things along with treats and praises to see what may stick. Whiskey LOVES sticks and balls even more than treats as she loves to “work” and fetch is her work. The more options you have, the better when recalling. It’s likely your dog will not want to recall from chasing a goose unless she thinks you may have something even better for her like a squeaky bouncy ball that she can play with over and over. Lastly, sometimes “COME!” may not have been trained enough and have enough of a reward than another command like “FETCH” or “SIT”, if that’s the case, you can either recall with whatever command is working, and then work your recall command to be stronger, or include another command with your recall (ie sometimes it will help if I recall Whiskey and go immediately into a trick or two to get her mind fully off the distraction and onto me so my recall is stronger if I use a COME paired with a STUMP or PAW).
Once inawhile, pack something AMAZING like an entire beef patty or bacon, or roasted chicken in an airtight container and pull it out for a really good recall. This gets your dog just hoping to hit jackpot and addicted to the recall. You can also teach an emergency recall to a different command on top of your regular recall and train for extremely snappy returns that are always paired with jackpots.
Some dogs can run because they see or hear something frightening and they are essentially deaf to your voice at this point. It’s so important that you socialize your dog to all sorts of sounds, animals, people, and events all with positive reinforcements. Introduce new things well within your dog’s anxiety limits and be conservative with their reactions. If it doesn’t feel right, or you feel you are pushing it, then just take it slower. Some dogs will be totally fine with a busy city center, noises, cars backfiring, and motorcycles right next to them, but some other dogs may need a very very slow introduction to a bus beep. All the work you do when they are young will pay off, you just may not see it, because it won’t become a problem.
There are lots of dogs that may become deaf/blind to your calls when they start chasing prey and there may be very little you can do once your dog starts the chase. Start as early as you can to work on recall but there may be limits to recall from voice with certain dogs. There are many options and tools out there but please do research and train with a professional. If you can recognize the signals before your dog does run and can interrupt the sequence, that’s always great, but it may not be reasonable to expect perfect recall, ever with just your voice.
Lastly, having a puppy or dog that has many outlets for exercise, chase, play, and mental simulation will reduce their need and drive to run off. Changing up your park, meeting other dogs for playtime, and training sessions that mentally tire out your dog will reduce the amount of times they may not want to recall.
Recall like any training is not easy, nor is it a linear progression. There might be setbacks, and breakthroughs and ruts in the road. If you start when your dog is a puppy and continually reinforce throughout their lifetime, you’ll probably have an easier time than starting later and doing a big 6 months and then relaxing.
So much depends on the dog’s personality and breed. Herding dogs stay closer to the herd (you!), whereas hunting dogs are bred to find a scent and chase it for as long as it takes. Sled dogs are bred to survive and be independent, and protection dogs will naturally stay close. Unneutered males and females in heat will range, and teenager dogs 7months-1 year or so will challenge your status and commands. Keep all this in mind and remember that even if your dog is perfectly well trained, you will need to reinforce recall over their lifetimes and keep practicing what works for both of you.
There are loads of resources online for recall, specific issues, and for so many things I just touched upon. Work with a trainer, or read, listen, and watch what you can to learn. Here are a couple quick resources I threw together. Most of my learning comes from talking to friends, trainers, watching videos I don’t keep track of, and loads of trial and error. Don’t just follow one trainer or blog, read lots and make up your own mind what makes sense to you and your dog.
Sexier than a Squirrel Challenge
Bourbon: what to expect from a high energy Vizsla puppy Here’s a diary of our first 5 months with Bourbon at home. It covers the flight home to our current situation. I’ve mentioned training, eating, chewing, hikes, dogs, distances, crates, and everything in-between. Vaccinations: Bourbon…
Reaching Assiniboine’s epic views involves some logistics, and planning but it isn’t very difficult. Getting there with dogs is a whole different experience! For all the right reasons, dogs are not encouraged in the park and there are loads of limitations that can take quite…
Berg Lake is one of the world’s most beautiful lakes situated in Mount Robson Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada. The trail takes you past Kinney Lake, Emperor Falls and is heavily trafficked with an elevation gain of 1509m. There are several campsites along the way to Berg Lake as well as 2 campsites at Berg Lake itself, however dogs are not allowed overnight at any campsite on the route. I have since found that you can hike yourself out of Mt Robson Park and into Jasper National Park and camp at Adolphus Lake with your dog but it would be a good 28km+ day with your pack and the lake is nothing special compared to Berg. Either option is NOT for the unexperienced and involve long distances with incline and you must be able to exit the park yourself with your dog without assistance. Both you AND your dog need to be conditioned to hiking exceptionally long distances, work as a team, and be on leash throughout. The trail is mostly narrow and graded as well as busy, mostly follows a clean water source, and would be extremely hard to get lost on.
My good friend Erica has always wanted to do this hike with her ridgeback Bodhi and I happily agreed to the 40+km day. We have been hiking together for a couple years and have a similar pace and goals (of taking photos, completing the hike, and dealing with dogs). The trail is long but not technically hard at all with only one section of major incline. We packed as light as possible, and with many water sources along the way were not concerned about carrying much water. We used harnesses on the dogs because even though they’re trained not to pull, it’s an extremely long day and it’s best to reduce the tension on their necks. Leashes were attached to our daypacks around our waist (except for photo breaks) so we were hands free for hiking poles (another helpful piece of gear!).
Getting the earliest start possible is key in order have some wiggle room should anything unforeseen happen so we hit the trail at sunrise and got to Kinney Lake easily and quickly (about 7km). You can also bike this section but you must lock up your bike at the campground and hike the rest of the trail (we didn’t have space in our car for two bikes and the speed difference for us wasn’t’ worth it). We spent at least an hour trying to find a place to take photos of the lake before moving on. There seemed to be tent pads set up at the south end of Kinney Lake but they were all flooded and not in use.
After Kinney Lake Campground at the North area of Kinney Lake, there’s an option on our map to take the Kinney Flats Trail or the Forest trail, although during our hike we found the Kinney Flat trail wasn’t an option as the water was too high and the area was flooded. After that there’s a couple small bridges and flat sections that connect to the large suspension bridge over Robson River. This suspension bridge was the only obstacle that could have derailed the day if Bodhi refused to cross. Whiskey pranced across before I could even take photo but Bodhi took quite a bit of convincing and cheering to cross. To safely cross we let the dogs off leash so that there was only one person or dog on the bridge at a time to reduce swaying and to reduce any tangles. For Bodhi I was on one side while Erica was on the other so we could cheer him on from either side (Whiskey had already crossed to show him). Bodhi crawled his was across to safety and had a little prance to celebrate!
After the bridge we passed Whitehorn Campground and continued onto White Falls. Stupidly we didn’t rewater before the incline (about 500m) and being a hot day, we both ran out of water pretty fast. We knew (and could see on our maps) that the waterfall was coming up quickly so we just kept going towards Emperor falls instead of heading back down to refill. Once we got to Emperor Falls, it provided the perfect air conditioning mist so all thoughts of needing water disappeared. We took photos for another 45mins before heading on to refill water at Emperor Falls Camp and onto our first glimpse of Berg Lake.
We approached Berg from the SW corner with gigantic glaciers framing the lake. At Marmot Campground, we debated if we should finish the hike a bit further on the NW side (Berg Lake Campground) or just call it done but we finally decided another 2kms (4 km total) wasn’t going to add much anyways so we went for it! I’m thankful we did because the beach at Berg Lake Campground was so much nicer and we threw off our shoes and took a little summer nap on the beach overlooking a turquoise lake with glaciers. We had a lovely section of the beach all to ourselves and the dogs promptly took a well deserved nap. I think we took a 1.5 hour break there with photos, food, and a dip.
Keeping a close eye on the time, it was soon getting late and we had to put our shoes back on and head back. This time we stopped only for bathroom breaks and water refills and a long break at the bridge convincing Bodhi to cross again. It’s amazing how much faster the way back can seem without photo breaks and inclines.
Something interesting on the return, we noticed that the trail didn’t look familiar on the section as we got back to Kinney Lake. It was dark at that point so we just assumed we had remembered wrong but we would find out later there had been an avalanche during the day which had erased part of the trail and flooded other sections. Since we had maps and knew where we were aiming, we didn’t have any navigational issues but were confused at the time about the status of the trail (some sections were fully flooded!). The last 7kms were the longest of the day as they normally are, but we were soon back to the car, feeling good, and ready to sleep and get ready for our next adventure!
With this distance being non-technical, I found both dogs were tired (Bodhi especially) but no one had any impact aches and pains. Erica had some worsening foot injuries from unrelated events but overall I really did find the 40km+ hike wasn’t anywhere near as hard on our bodies as some 10km days in serious backcountry mountains or a 25km day carrying weight. I’d love to be back in the future with Bourbon and maybe even with a pack on my back!
These items should be on your hiking checklist! Optional gear is in GREEN, Seasonal gear is in BLUE. This is assuming something like an 8 hour alpine hike in the backcountry with no reception and a dog. 10 essentials for any hike1. Navigation2. Headlamp3. Sun…
I’ve been backcountry camping with Whiskey since I’ve had her and we’ve tried so many different forms and types of gear. While I’ve gotten used to carrying a significant amount of weight, every piece that I bring needs to be purposeful, tough, and lightweight (in…
I’ve been hiking for a couple decades, try a ton of different gear, in all weathers and am REALLY TOUGH with my gear. With dogs, little balance, bad knees, and a good amount of tolerance to rain and snow, I can safely say this is gear I use and trust my life on. I’ll write another post on my camping gear, so this is aimed at day hikes in all weathers, mostly in rainy or potentially rainy weather where conditions change quickly.
Tough Gear > Lightweight Gear
With dog nails, my own clumsiness, and the tendency here to always be climbing hard rock, lightweight gear just does not last.
Layers > Heavy single solution
Because my hikes can take me through sunshine, to pouring rain, to hail, then snow, then sun again, perhaps with a couple mountains, layers are all important. I can go from shorts and tshirt to jacket weather really quickly passing by an exposed section of alpine, or a lunch stop while the rain rolls in. Merino wool is key with a waterproof shell can be key for not only your chest, but legs, feet, and head.
Expensive Brands with reliable Warranty > Cheaper No Name Brands
Over the years I’ve worn down or bought expensive clothing that hasn’t stood up to what I expected. As I’m getting more conscious of environmental impact of cheap clothing, I find that the price per clothing PER USE is what I try to keep in mind. A cheaper jacket may only last a year but an expensive one can last 5 (that’s a miracle for hiking gear for me) and when that jacket stops working after 5 years sometimes a good brand may fix it for you. It may not the an option for everyone but please keep in mind the cost PER USE of an item vs the upfront cost and if you can, support brands that try and fix their clothing.
Over the first 7 months, Vizsla puppies can be very mouthy. They first go through a sharky stage at 3months and then start teething soon after so it’s really good to have multiple options for them to chew on outside of your skin, clothing, furniture,…