The Recall

It is easiest to start this when the dog is a puppy and is quite willing to stay close to you. In most cases you only need to move away and call out anything at all to have the puppy come running to you. When the puppy arrives reward it with a "cookie" and lavish praise. However, they can learn at any age that returning to you is the most wonderful thing they would want to do. Indeed, this is what you would wish them to think!

It can begin with name recognition in the house. Call the pooch's name and a wonderful reward is waiting when it appears. Once this is understood the recall word, usually Come, can be added. When you can go anywhere in your house and have your dog appear when you call it is time to test this new behavior in other places. Begin in the back yard and work your way up to more distracting situations as the dog demonstrates reliability with what it has learned so far.

A fenced school yard is a wonderful place to work on distance recall training, it is my favorite place for any age of dog. For an older dog which may have already learned that exploring away from it's owner is lots of fun, a light line can be attached to their collar. If need be you can step on this trailing line to regain control of a little one who is out of control.

Don't call the dog to you only to have an unpleasant experience waiting for it. If the dog does not respond as you asked, go to the dog. If the dog turns and comes to you as you approach, reward! It did as you asked even if it was delayed. You can work on getting a better recall later. If you punish a dog for having come to you it has little reason to trust recalling to you again.