For anyone that has followed Banba's story from the start you will realise the meaning of this video clip..
After 2 and a half months I worked out a way to get Banba to come to me.
I know that sounds crazy but up until a few days ago she had no concept of coming to a human and no reason to do anything but run.
To Banba coming towards a human meant being caught, dragged, pulled and being brought places she didn't want to go. Food was never going to be enough of a reward.
How do you train a recall for a dog that has no reason or want to do anything but go in the opposite direction?
She isn't a puppy, she has a traumatic past, she has learnt only to fear coming to humans and she's a border collie so it's in her nature to be flighty and sensitive.
It was easy to train her to 'woah and wait', easy to ask her to 'go and follow' she would wait all day but to get her to CHOOSE to come to me was a whole different story.
No matter what tasty treat or how often she watched my 2 other dogs come to me she would not follow.
I have learnt with my horses it's about trust, once trust is established everything becomes easier, so I started thinking about the training techniques I used with my horses and how I got one of my horses to self load on the horsebox when he had such an issue with it.
I wondered if I could use the same technique of pressure and release with Banba..
I tried her extendable lead, I knelt down, I called and put slight pressure on her to come towards me. She resisted at first but as soon as she even moved an inch I rewarded her by releasing the pressure and using my voice to praise.
By 2 goes she realised what I wanted and she crawled on her belly into my arms.
I'm not gonna lie I thought it may have been a fluke until she did it again and this time she came confidently and was so delighted with how happy I was with her.
I can now call her from one end of the big field and she will literally run from the other end into my arms tail wagging 🥰
The hardest paths can lead to the most wonderful places
*She looks a bit wary only as she was conscious of the boys standing watching and taking the video*
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