Reinforcing Recall. Dog completely blanking commands.

[JAG1985]

For the past four years, I've had my Irish Setter. He is brilliantly behaved in many respects, I can pretty much take him anywhere and trust him to behave.
However, just lately (the past month - six weeks) he has started to completely ignore my recall commands. Until six weeks ago he would come back and be very attentive.
The issue I am having is not only is it annoying for me when he refuses to come back but also, he will run up to other dogs and owners and be a real pest. Despite being socialised as a puppy and throughout his life as an adult, he seems to be unable to read other dogs body language and will get in their face until some are snapping and rowling at him purely because he is insistent that he wants to be 'friends'.

I have tried recall in the garden and rewarding with high-value treats the second he comes back (dog chocolate drops which he adores) and I've also done it in our park. He will come back straight away and sit and wait unless there is another dog or human around. At that point he may as well be deaf and I may as well not be there.

He is an entire (I'm wondering if this could be the problem considering the time of year?!) Irish Setter dog. Four years old.

There has been no change in handling, rules, surroundings or any disturbances to his routine so I am genuinely at a loss as to what to do next.

When he runs off, people think he is a badly trained dog and I am a lazy owner and that couldn't be further from the truth. In every other respect, he is fab and really a good boy. It's just this recent habit of 'I'm deaf, I can't hear you!' habit with recall that is causing issues. To such an extent I am now reluctant to let him off the lead which is obviously a bad thing as he needs to stretch his legs and run.

He is taken out daily for at least an hour so it isn't lack of exercise either

Thanks in advance for any help or advice .

[JudyN]

Probably a silly question, but could there be a problem with his hearing? Or can he still hear other commands, the sound of his food bowl, and so on?

Also, you say he wants to run up to other dogs. Is this also a new thing, or normal for him? The question is whether there seems to be a significant, qualitative change or whether he's just feeling full of the joys of spring at the moment.

You say it's not lack of exercise but many dogs do need more than one hour a day, split over two (or more) walks, if they're not going to have excessive energy. They also need mental stimulation - do you do much training and mental work with him?

If you could give us a detailed run-down of his normal daily routine, including all exercise, training, play, etc, and also what he is fed on, the experts should be able to help.

Also... is there anywhere you would be able to take him where you won't meet (many) other dogs? This would allow you to work on recall with less distraction and prevent running up to other dogs becoming more of a habit. This might just be a case of taking him out at more unsociable times of the day.

[doggiedad]

keep him leashed and start training and socializing again.

[emmabeth]

Doggiedad - that wasn't hugely constructive or helpful was it?

To expand on what Doggiedad said there - my first action would be to use a long line - 30ft or longer, fixed to a secure harness (NOT the type that stops a dog pulling by tightening anywhere!) - so he still gets some freedom, but you still retain ultimate control.

Let us know the answers to the questions JudyN asks, and we can probably offer more advice, in the meantime, the above will stop him getting any worse!