The Recall

The secret behind a dog that comes when his owner calls him is that the dog wants to come back to the owner.  The peo­ple inter­act­ing with the dog make the recall fun and reward­ing.  This means the peo­ple train­ing the dog never pun­ish the dog, under any cir­cum­stances, when the dog returns to them.  One of the most suc­cess­ful ways to train a dog to come when called is to train with pos­i­tive rein­force­ment.  Every time the dog comes back to the owner, the dog is rewarded with food, praise, lots of pet­ting and love, or a favorite toy.  This will set the dog up for suc­cess, and the dog will really enjoy com­ing back to the owner when called.  Before we dis­cuss some tips on a reli­able recall, let’s take a look at some “com­mon human mis­takes.”  These are listed only so we can be aware of them, and to help avoid these sit­u­a­tions.  These sit­u­a­tions will also help us keep in mind that the recall has to be fun from the dog’s point of view.

Com­mon human mis­take: The dog is get­ting into the trash, or chew­ing on the $90 pair of shoes.  The owner gets mad and calls the dog over to yell at him.

Dog’s reac­tion: “It’s not fun to come when called.  I’ll do it this time because I’m scared when you get mad.  I slink over to you, with what you mis­take as guilt, but what is really sub­mis­sion.  I don’t under­stand you are try­ing to pun­ish me for a behav­ior that hap­pened some­where else, and prob­a­bly about 2 min­utes before I got over to you.”

Real­ity: The dog will think he is being yelled at for com­ing when called.  This is in no way fun for the dog.  Next time the dog will avoid the recall to avoid the yelling.

How to avoid this sit­u­a­tion: Don’t let the dog have access to “no-no’s.”  Have a trash can with a lid, and put the shoes in a closet.  Teach the dog basic obe­di­ence like “leave it” and “drop it.”  Talk to a qual­i­fied trainer about house destruc­tion.  Never call the dog over to pun­ish him.

Com­mon human mis­take: A dog has run away from his owner out­side and takes his time com­ing back.  The owner becomes angry that first the dog got away, and sec­ond that the dog didn’t respond to the first “come” com­mand.  The owner begins to chase the dog.

Dog’s reac­tion: “Wow, it’s fun to run around out­side.  Is that a squir­rel?  I need exer­cise.  Look, there’s my owner.  Oh, fun, he wants to chase me!  I can out-run him!”

Real­ity: Chas­ing a dog only makes the dog run away faster.  Dogs usu­ally love the chase game, and this will teach the dog to run away.

How to avoid this sit­u­a­tion: Make sure the dog is reli­able with his obe­di­ence in a dis­tract­ing sit­u­a­tion, like the great out­doors.  If the dog has never prac­ticed his obe­di­ence around dis­trac­tions, it’s really not fair to think the dog should or would respond in this envi­ron­ment.  Also, instead of chas­ing the dog, some dogs will gladly chase their human.  Try and run in the other direc­tion.  The ideal solu­tion is to make sure the dog doesn’t have the oppor­tu­nity to get away out­side.  Teach the dog to wait at door­ways, and teach proper leash manners.

Com­mon human mis­take: While play­ing in the dog park the dog is called to “come.”  The dog does respond to the com­mand, but not with enthu­si­asm.  The owner then leaves the dog park, or crates the dog for the day.

Dog’s reac­tion: “I under­stand what ‘come’ means.  Some­times I even get treats.  Lately though, I seem to leave all my friends at the park, or have to be in the crate for a while.  Next time I may want to play more, or not go into the crate.  I won­der when I’ll get food again.”

Real­ity: Remem­ber the recall has to be fun in the dog’s point of view. Leav­ing dog­gie friends and crat­ing up for the day isn’t as much fun as food or play.

How to avoid this sit­u­a­tion: Don’t con­sis­tently call the dog to leave fun sit­u­a­tions.  Instead, call the dog, and send him back out for more fun.  If the dog is get­ting more praise and per­mis­sion to play almost every time he comes back, this will out weigh the final “come” when it is time to leave.  If this is a crate sit­u­a­tion, pick a word that means “get into your crate please” like “crate,” “ken­nel up,” etc.  Talk to a qual­i­fied trainer about crate train­ing if the dog is hav­ing trouble.

Now let’s dis­cuss how to train the dog to love being called to “come.”  Think for a minute what your dog really loves.  Most dogs love food, food, and more food.  Some dogs really like to play or have a spe­cial toy.  While other dogs love to be pet and have their belly or rump rubbed.  Other dogs love praise like “good boy” when the owner says it in a high pitched voice, like when you talk to a small human baby.  What­ever makes the dog happy is what you want to use to rein­force the behav­ior.  Mean­ing, if the dog likes food, give the dog food when the dog comes when called.  Keep in mind if the dog likes food, praise and pet­ting, use all three of these.  If the dog thinks he is bet­ter than sliced bread, the dog will race over to see what good­ies are in store for him.

Prac­tice and con­sis­tency are huge when teach­ing a reli­able recall. Own­ers should prac­tice ten recalls per day, every day, at dif­fer­ent times of the day.  The more you prac­tice and con­sis­tently reward the dog for the recall, the more the dog learns “good things are here for you,” and the behav­ior of return­ing to the owner will hap­pen.  Think for a minute if there are already cues in the dog’s life that the dog comes run­ning for.  Some may be sounds, like hear­ing the crin­kle of a treat bag, or the can opener.  Other cues may be say­ings like “Let’s go bye-bye in the car,” or “want a treat?”  Some­times the cue is visual, like see­ing the leash to go out for a walk.  How­ever, what do all these have in com­mon?  The dog asso­ciates these sounds, say­ings, or sights with fun things.  The dog wants these things to hap­pen.  There­fore, the dog runs over as fast as he can to eat the treat or go for a ride in the car.  Use these sit­u­a­tions to your advan­tage!  If you can guar­an­tee the dog runs to you when they see the leash, say “come.”  This way you are prac­tic­ing a reward­ing recall, and you can guar­an­tee suc­cess.  This will teach the dog “come” means you get din­ner, go for a car ride, go out for a walk, get to play ball, eats treats, get your belly rubbed, etc.  This will also help teach the dog food is not always involved.  Yes, food treats are a very pow­er­ful moti­va­tor.  They are used a lot dur­ing the learn­ing process of teach­ing the recall.  How­ever, after the dog has an under­stand­ing of what “come” means, if the recall is always prac­ticed with food, the dog will always expect food.  If the dog knows there is no food around, some­times the dog decides not to respond to the recall.  Also, if you own a spe­cific breed of dog and know the breed traits, use this to your advan­tage.  For exam­ple: Retriev­ers usu­ally love to play ball.  The owner throws the ball, the dog gets it and comes back to the owner, drops the ball, then waits for the owner to throw it again.