One of the most important commands to teach your dog is coming to you when called or “recall” training. Not only does this give you more control over your dog on walks but it is also a safety tool and an absolute must-have. It gives your dog a better life when you can let them loose for an off lead run in an enclosed space and trust them to return to you when you need them to. It also means they won’t run off and get lost or approach people or dogs they shouldn’t. By law, your dog must be under control at all times so it’s important to note that you only let you dog off lead in safe, enclosed, permitted areas when you have confidence in their recall. So, let’s get to it!
It’s important to know that recall training should always be a positive and fun part of your dog’s training. Ultimately, you are making coming to you a consistently, really positive and exciting experience for your dog. They should never experience a time when recalling to you resulted in a negative, for example them taking too long to come back to you and you scolding them when they do. This would discourage your dog wanting to come back to you in the future. Recalling to you is asking your dog to turn away from exciting things like food or fun scents, other dogs or interesting things and coming back to you so you have to make yourself the most exciting thing to come to. You do this by having really high value treats or toys and praise in excitable, high pitched tones.
To start recall training, be sure to begin at home in the house or garden. The idea is to introduce recall in a low distraction environment. Start simple by having a toy or a treat and praising them and reaffirming the action with a command like “come” each time they come over or give you attention. Using repetition, patience and praising them every time they come to you or pay any attention to you, start doing this a few times a day as training sessions or keep it as part of the daily routine with your dog. An important part of teaching recall is to make training a game for your dog. You want your dog to think that coming and being near you is the best thing imaginable, full of fantastic treats and rewards.
You can slowly up the ante by asking your dog to come before showing them the treat. But, be sure to reward with a high-value treat like chicken, cheese, or beef liver, when they get to you. Also, try slowly adding distance within your low-distraction environment. Once you are confident in your dog’s recall, you can start bringing it out on walks or in places with more distraction and temptations. While walking your dog on-leash, get their attention, then turn around and run a few steps. As your pup moves with you, say “come!” or whichever verbal recall cue you’re using. After a few steps, stop and reward with a treat or a toy. Make sure your dog is paying attention before you run, to ensure they don’t get yanked by the leash.
Fun games like “find me” or “hot potato” is a fun way to teach your dog recall training:
Find Me: Once your dog has gotten the hang of recall, a fun game to play to build speed is to call them from another room. When your dog finds you, offer lots of praise and rewards. This hide-and-seek-like game is a lot of fun for both pups and people!
Hot Potato: Take two or more family members or friends and give them high-value treats. Next, stand apart and take turns calling your dog between you. Reward your dog each time they come to the person who called them.
One training mistake people have when recall training is to get confident in their recall, then just putting the leash on and going home. This will give your dog doubts about recalling in the future especially if you started training as a puppy and then they start maturing and pushing boundaries. While walking, always keep it fun, ask for a recall throughout the walk and always, always, always reward with praise and high value treats.
Remember to keep recall training as part of the daily routine. Never rush it, the key is repetition and having patience with it. It’s the one training command that is a must have to keep fun and positive and never boring so you can trust your dog to recall again to you in the future.
