Why the recall fails
A lot of dog owners struggle with this particular obedience command. There’s not much information on how to proof this behavior unless you know where to look.
Pet owners get a puppy or an adult dog and they free feed them, give them a bunch of toys, and don’t really manage as much as they should. They decide to let their dog off in a field and the dog doesn’t come back. You’re yelling and they finally come back but they fly right by you. You opt to give them a treat, to which they snatch it quickly and then take off again. Sigh. Isn’t owning a dog fun? Lol
How to be successful with the recall
The biggest problem with this command is that it’s too much too soon! If the recall isn’t solid in the house, or your backyard, it’s not going to change when you’re in a field; especially if that field is a dog park! There’s a lot of stimulation happening with your pup and it’s far more interesting than you. So how do you make yourself more interesting than everything else around you? Engagement and motivation, my friend.
These are so overlooked in pet dog training. A lot of owners will use the same food even if the dog doesn’t care for it much. If I’m using a certain reward and the dog is trotting towards me, I opt for something higher value, which is 9/10 times hot dog chunks. When that dog blows at me in the next rep, I know I made the right decision.
I used to use kibble religiously but unless your dog is VERY food motivated, this won’t always work in those high distraction settings. Kibble is especially hard to hold if your dog is pushing into your hands constantly. It’s a good way to get the tips of your fingers bit. Some dogs will take longer than others with this command, but it’s important to remember if your dog is still not coming back in low distraction settings, go back to the drawing board and build your engagement up.
Motivation
When it comes to motivation, figure out what motivates your dog the most, and reward them with that. This could be hot dog chunks like I stated above, a ball, a tug, or a treat roll. Whatever has them firing at you with vigor, use that! The goal is to have a drivey and happy dog coming at you like you’re the best thing on earth! With pet dogs, it’s hard to switch them to a toy as a reward because they haven’t been played with much, or because they’ve always had toys handed to them so it doesn’t get them amped enough. With working dogs it is much easier to do the toy switch (German Shepherds, Rotties, and Malinois) but if you tried playing with your dog and you don’t get much of a reaction, that’s totally fine, some dogs don’t have the motivation to play, stick with food.
Engagement
When it comes to engagement, you need to make yourself interesting to the dog. Move around a lot if your dog seems to respond better, make noises, just do anything to grab his attention EXCEPT using your recall command (come, here, etc) Another mistake dog owners make is repeating the command over and over. It becomes white noise to your dog and makes it less likely for them to respond to you. When you’re teaching this only say the command when you know they’re going to come back. So like I was saying above, do ANYTHING to get their attention on you, say the command, and then mark it with your marker word (yes) and then reward. If you say here or come while they’re doing something else, they most likely won’t come back and this will teach them that blowing you off is acceptable.
I hope this somewhat helped with this tricky command. If you need more help don’t hesitate to book a consult or take a look at my programs!
