Cockapoo recall and lead training

Your Cockapoo is the cleverest dog you've ever owned, right up until the moment they catch a scent or spot another dog. Then you don't exist. On the lead they pull, spin, whine and lunge at every dog in Hylands Park. Off the lead you spend the walk calling a dog who has gone deaf.

Cockapoos are probably the breed I see most of in Essex, from Southend to Chelmsford, and these two problems come up in almost every call. Here's why the breed does it and what actually fixes it.

What you've actually got

A Cockapoo is a Cocker Spaniel crossed with a Poodle. From the spaniel side: a working gundog's nose and a drive to follow it, plus a lot of energy. From the poodle side: a very quick brain and a strong wish to be with people. Mixed together you get a dog that learns in minutes, loves you to bits, notices every smell within fifty metres and gets extremely excited about other dogs.

That combination is why the recall collapses. It's not disobedience. The spaniel nose has engaged, and the poodle brain has worked out that you'll still be there when it's finished.

Recall: why it fails and how to fix it

The problem

Most Cockapoo owners teach recall in the kitchen with a biscuit and think it's done. Then in the park the dog gets a nose full of rabbit and the biscuit loses. Every time the dog ignores you and gets to carry on sniffing, the recall gets weaker. By a year old some Cockapoos have learned that "come" means "carry on, she'll follow eventually".

The fix

Pay like you mean it. Cockapoos are food-driven and most are toy-driven too. Recall gets the best thing you've got: chicken, cheese, a tug game, a thrown ball. The reward has to beat the rabbit. For months, not weeks.

Use the nose. Instead of fighting the spaniel, use it. Scatter food in the grass when the dog comes to you, so recall becomes the start of a sniffing game rather than the end of one. Hide treats and send them to find. A Cockapoo that gets to use its nose with you is far less desperate to use it without you.

Long line, every walk. Ten metres of light line on a harness, trailing. If the dog doesn't come, you step on the line and bring them in, reward, and try again easier. The dog never gets to practise ignoring you. Not an extending lead; those teach pulling.

Never call for bad news. Don't call to put the lead on and go home. Call, reward, release to play. Many times. When you do need to leave, the dog comes because it's been worth it fifty times before.

Proof it in stages. Quiet field, then a field with a dog in the distance, then a busier park, then the woods. The line comes off in each place only when the recall is reliable there. My secure, fully enclosed field at Roxwell is where I do most of this work with clients' Cockapoos, because the dog can be around real distractions with no risk.

I've written a full guide to puppy recall foundations that applies to any age.

Lead walking: pulling and lunging

Pulling

Cockapoos pull because they want to get to the next smell and because pulling has always worked: the owner follows. The fix is simple and boring. The lead goes loose, you walk. The lead goes tight, you stop. The dog learns that pulling makes the walk stop and a loose lead makes it go. Reward the dog for walking next to you, often, with food at the start.

Do the first sessions somewhere dull, like your street, not the park. Keep them short. A Cockapoo picks this up in days if you're consistent and never in months if you let them pull "just this once" to get to the park.

Lunging and whining at other dogs

This is the one that embarrasses owners, and in Cockapoos it's nearly always frustration. The dog loves other dogs, can't get to them on the lead, and the excitement comes out as pulling, spinning and whining. It looks like aggression from the outside; it isn't, usually.

The fix is teaching the dog that calm gets them what they want and excitement doesn't. At a distance where the dog can still think, reward looking at the other dog and then looking at you. Close the distance over sessions. Skip on-lead greetings altogether while you're training; they teach the dog that lunging works.

If the lunging comes with stiffness, hackles and a hard bark, it may be fear rather than frustration, and I'd want to see the dog. Read my guide on reactive dogs on walks if that sounds like yours.

The clingy side

Cockapoos attach hard to their people. The flip side of a dog that loves you that much is a dog that can struggle when you leave. If your Cockapoo cries, chews or toilets when alone, that's worth addressing alongside the walk training, and early. See my guide on separation anxiety.

Questions owners ask

Related

• Cockapoo
• Puppy recall training
• How to stop a dog pulling on the lead

Last updated 7 November 2026. This post is general advice, not a diagnosis. If your dog may be unwell or in pain, please see your vet.