We would all love to master this wonderful moment when the dog returns to us even under distraction from other sources! The truth is to achieve this there is absolutely more to it than just calling the dog and throwing him a biscuit when he comes. The dog must want to work for you, so the first step is to work on the bond between Owner and Dog
Lets Get Started
This begins in the privacy of our home where we can work with the dog without distraction and the dog can concentrate on you. long before we begin direct re-call training we must concentrate on the build up to creating the bond. Beginning with play, find the dogs favourite toys and play with them
Recall Games
Play chase with the dog, by running away and calling the dog creating a chase (all dogs love to chase)when they catch you turn and run backwards extending the chase scenario. Hide and seek is great fun for you and the dog, they will love seeking you out, when he finds you Jackpot reward with a treat shower Ask the dog for a sit and take 1 step back wait 20 seconds then call the dog, repeat the exercise but this time go for two steps gradually increasing the distance each time until we can achieve 20m. Before we know it we have created that re-call without screaming commands and the dog enjoyed it BONUS!.
Why should A dog Dislike Re-call
Try to remember that dog’s perceive re-call as a punishment, After all the dog is having fun getting into natural behaviours the dog finds enriching like sniffing, scavenging, scent marking, meeting other dogs so along comes the human and spoils the fun. Why would they want to come us when life is so great over there?, so we need to make re-call a fun event
Be careful of poisoning your recall Cue if we give the Cue without having the dogs attention then we are teaching the dog to ignore our call and the Cue will be extinct. we need a way of getting the dogs attention, a whistle, a high pitched verbal noise, anything that will take the dogs attention. Once we have the attention then we can give the re-call cue, for example Come or here, when the dog complies with our request then we must reinforce the behaviour with a high value reward. Remember Reinforced behaviour will be more likely to be repeated
Two Stage Re-call
As the title suggest we re-call in two stages, the first stage is getting the attention, getting the eye contact. To achieve this we need to classically condition the dog to a “check in recall” usually with a whistle or high pitched voice. Once we achieve the first stage we can cue the actual re-call by Cueing COME! and then compliment with the chase me re-call to add to the chance of success
Lets put it to the Test
Ok so now its time to proof the behaviour by venturing to the great outdoors with distractions. Using a long line between 5 and 10 metres to begin we practice all the same techniques as above. If the dog will not respond to your call then don’t despair-( just go get) calmly walk over to the dog and take him by the collar and lead him away from the stimuli, NEVER punish, remember the rule – Ignore the negative- reward the desired behaviour with high value treats. The dog should never be off lead until we are confident of total recall.
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