Recall Tips

When you first start teaching your dog to come when called, begin your practice inside in a familiar environment. With your dog only a few feet away from you, happily say “(dog’s name), come!” We are trying to entice your dog into coming to you, so avoid falling into an angry or frustrated tone.

The moment your dog turns to face you, or reorients towards you, use your marker (this could be a word like “yes!” or “good!” or a clicker) to let your dog know that is the behavior you like, and then feed them right by your body.

We are specifically marking the moment they turn towards you because turning around is the hardest part of a recall! If we waited until our dog was right by our side to mark and say “good” we’d likely lose our dogs before they get to us.

By using our marker early, we are letting our dogs know that yes- treats are coming! In the video, you’ll notice I am praising Randall the entire way. I am reassuring him that each step towards me is a behavior I like and treats are on the way!

We feed our dogs right by our body because where you feed them will be where they learn to come to. Avoid reaching an arm’s length out to feed them, because then you’ll have a dog who will only come to an arm’s length away from you!

If your dog does not immediately turn and reorient towards you, wait a moment. They might just need a second to process what you asked. Avoid repeating the cue (“Randall, come! Come here, Randall! Randall, come on!”), as this can lead to your dog either tuning all those words out, or learning that the cue is “come, come, come here, come” instead of simply “come.”

If after a few seconds your dog has not turned to face you, try making some rapid, repeated noises. Studies have shown these kinds of noises motivate our dogs to move, so instead of repeating “come,” try making some kissy or clicking noises, clapping, or you could even try a squeaker from a squeaky toy. Once you get their attention, use your marker and then feed by your body.

If your dog is actively engaged in an activity, don’t call them to come until they disengage. Part of training a recall is choosing your moment wisely. Eventually, yes, we would like our dog to be able to come when called mid-chase after a critter, but when we are first training this cue that is an unrealistic expectation for your pup.

By waiting until your dog disengages from whatever they are doing, we are setting our dogs up for a successful recall rather than one they blow off and ignore. The more times your dog ignores you when you call them, the more they learn “‘come’ means nothing to me, I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.” We want our successful recalls to FAR outweigh our failed ones. I want my dogs to learn “‘Come’ means a super awesome treat party is going to happen every single time!”

This is why I will always keep a dog who does not have a solid recall yet on a leash or long line every time we are outside of a fenced area (& sometimes in a fenced yard, if you are having lots of trouble catching your dog to come inside!). A 20-30 foot leash allows lots of exploring, without the risk of them getting away and not recalling.

Another tip to motivate your dog to come to you is to turn around and run away from them once they are 5-10 feet away from you. Our dogs love to chase, we can use that to our advantage by having them chase us!

Finally, make sure that your dog finds the treats you are using reinforcing. Because a recall is a matter of safety for me and I want my dogs to come flying at me every time, I use high value treats every time I call them to me.

There is a lot of nuance that goes into training your dog to come when called. Much more than I can fit in this post! So, if you are finding these tips aren’t working for you, don’t abandon hope! Book a session so we can carefully examine what is going on and train your dog to recall with joy.

• Video Transcript:

  Here’s a video of my dog, Randall, recalling from over 300 feet away from me. Want to know how we got here? There is a lot of careful work that goes into training your dog to come when called, but the basics are:

  Start by practicing indoors so you can get a solid foundation for the behavior away from all the distractions that come with being outside.

  Make sure it is always reinforcing to come to you. I pay my dogs highly for every single recall because this behavior is really important to me, so I am always going to reinforce it.

  Finally, start small. When we first began training a recall, Randall was only 3 feet away from me. We slowly and systematically increased the distance between us before we got to this point.

  To learn more tips about how to train a reliable recall using positive reinforcement, read the post linked on my website. But because every dog is different, book a session if you need some help!