If you want to teach your dog to come quickly when called (also called teaching your dog recall), it is important to ask yourself, “How can I make that choice the most awesome choice for my dog in that moment?” Remember, from your dog’s perspective, it’s all about consequences. Below I share some dog training tips to help you with the process.
Just as with teaching any other behavior, having dog and puppy training success in training recall involves choosing the right learning environment and the right reinforcers for your pet, good timing in the delivery of marking the wanted behavior and reinforcing it, and progression in small or large enough steps that make the lesson plan engaging for your student and easy enough for success.
Recall is a skill that can be practiced every day. There are so many opportunities for building value for that choice to come. It is important that you give your dog great positive feedback that coming is worth every ounce of effort on his part. Puppies especially naturally already want to be by your side. What a fabulous time to reinforce them with valued food, play and/or attention!
There are so many strategies for teaching recall. In using any of them, these are some things to keep in mind:
- Always focus on setting you and your pet up for success. Do not try to call your dog when you know he will not come. Remember that every time you call him and he does anything but coming, you are weakening that cue and actually even teaching him a different meaning for the word come than what you had intended. ONLY call your dog when you can guarantee that at that moment, he will come when called.
- Just as in teaching any behavior, begin lessons in environments with minimum distractions and difficulty and only increase that as your dog can continue to succeed.
- Especially when you are first teaching this, always only call your dog to come when you can guarantee your dog a positive outcome. If you need your dog to come so that you can lock him in a room, give him a shot or something else unpleasant, this is NOT the time to be using your cue.
- If you have already weakened your recall cue, you may want to consider starting fresh with a new word or hand signal, and teaching that with absolute consistency.
- Have a good knowledge of your dog’s Awesome List and use high value items as consequences during training as you add to the level of difficulty. Remember, your dog is going to make decisions based upon choices. Stack the scale in favor of the choice you want him to make and mix up reinforcers so that you are unpredictable. It sure makes things fun.
- Practice. This is a behavior that you can work on throughout the day in short amounts of time.
- In addition to teaching your dog to come to you when you call, it is also a good idea to teach your dog that coming to you and having his collar touched and leash attached is a positive experience. If you are calling your escaped dog from a dangerous situation, that very well may be an important thing for your dog to know. Also practice teaching your dog to come and then asking for a stationary behavior like sit or drop (lay down). And follow that behavior with something your dog enjoys.
A beginner strategy game for teaching recall.
I have taught recall using a variety of different games. They are all about teaching your dog that when he hears your certain recall cue, that the cue means “When I come (and then come and do something) to the person calling me, that something awesome will happen.” That something awesome could be a super treat, it could be a super treat tossed away, it could mean an opportunity to start another game or do another behavior that has been taught with positive reinforcement. (Later, you can also teach your dog to come and have a leash attached, sit at your side or in front of you, or lay down as examples.)
Here is one game idea.
Tell your dog to ‘Get It’, and then toss a treat on the ground a foot or so away. Mark your dog for getting the treat (with a click or verbal word such as YES!). As your dog is finishing and beginning to raise his head, make some sort of noise to get your dog’s attention. Again, mark your dog the instant his head turns to you and then give him five treats, one at a time (from your hand to his mouth). Practice this 10 to 15 times, several times a day.
You will find that your dog will begin to turn his attention to you as soon as he finishes the treat. Now it is time to add your actual recall cue. You do this as soon as the treat is finished and you are anticipating that your dog will be turning his head toward you. Then mark your dog when he turns to you, and treat from your hand again. Repeat this 10 to 15 times several times a day.
Next, toss your treat a little farther away (about 4 to 5 feet), and repeat step one; then step two.
With success, continue to increase criteria. Some examples – tossing the treat farther away, marking your dog for turning to you and cheering your dog on until he gets to your hand; asking your dog for a sit or drop when he gets to you before giving your treats; touching your dog’s collar and then attaching a leash before giving your dog treats (if your dog backs away from you or show other calming signals when you reach for the collar, please take time to desensitize your dog to collar touches first); practicing in different environments. (Remember that if you have gotten to a far distance in a distraction-free environment, you should go back to teaching this from the beginning with more distractions.)
Always remember to have fun!
