RECALL - COMING WHEN CALLED (OR NOT!!)

• When he’s doing something he shouldn’t be i.e. digging, chewing...
• To bring him in from the garden...
• To give him a pill or a bath...
• To take something away from him...
• When he’s playing with other dogs...
• To put his lead back on at the end of a walk...

Remember: Anything rewarding is likely to be repeated. Anything unrewarding will be ignored and anything unpleasant will be avoided.

Let’s look at things from the dog’s point of view:-

Fido is in the garden chasing birds, sniffing, generally having a good time. He hears you calling him. He comes in and the door is shut behind him. You leave the house and go to work.

He’s in the garden having his good doggy time again. He hears you calling him but remembering what happened about this time yesterday is understandably reluctant to come in. You go out and try to catch him to bring him in and treat him to a wonderful game of chase!

Now when you call him in from the garden he can choose to come in for no reward, not come in and hang it out for the chase game and of course you could always give him a third option. A clip around the ear when you catch him will ensure that the game lasts much, much longer!

If you are at the park with your dog and the only time you call him to you is to put the lead back on and take him home then it won’t take him very long to learn that coming when called is unrewarding.

So how do you get a reliable recall from your dog? You ALWAYS reward your dog for coming to you when you call him. You call him in from the garden, give him a food treat, his dinner (or part of), a game, a toy, some fuss and attention and nine times out of ten you let him go back out again.

At the park play with him, not just leaving him to make his own entertainment, coming to you and being with you must be FUN! Frequently put on and take off his lead with an accompanying food treat so that the sight of the lead does not become a negative reinforcement. Try not to always end his free run at the same place every day for obvious reasons.

Teaching the word ‘come’

There is no point constantly asking a dog to come when it has no idea what the word means or it has no intention of coming because you’ve already taught him what it means!

To start with train him where there are no distractions so that getting his attention will be relatively easy. Lure him with a food treat into a sit in front of you and say the word ‘come’ as you give him a small piece of food. Keep his attention and keep feeding him all the time that he remains sitting in front. Say OK and stop feeding. He will learn from this to stay there until he hears a release word (OK)

When you are certain that he associates the word ‘come’ with sitting in front of you and being rewarded then and only then should you ask him to do it. If it works in the house then try it in the garden. Introduce distractions gradually. Don’t expect your dog to come when he’s playing with another dog at the park if he’s only ever obeyed the command in the kitchen on her own with you.

Always give him more than one food treat for a recall thus teaching him to remain sat in front of you until you tell him otherwise. Beware of teaching him to come, grab the treat and run.

To get a reliable recall from your dog whatever the situation remember these golden rules.

1. Teach your dog the meaning of the word ‘come’
2. Never call your dog to you to punish/reprimand him or to take something away from him unless you are going to give her something better in exchange!
3. Always reward your dog for coming to you. A reward can be anything from a 12oz fillet steak to a verbal ‘good boy’ from you.
4. When at the park, get into the habit of playing with your dog and doing things together rather than assuming that he will have more fun doing his own thing. Especially important if you have more than one dog. Try to find time occasionally to give each dog time with you on their own so that they bond with you and not with the other dog(s).

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