How to teach a dog recall

Recall is one of the toughest things for both dogs to learn and people to train – often because it can be difficult to compete with all the sights, smells and sounds that the environment has to offer.

And even when we start getting a good recall from our dogs, we can end up making mistakes that weaken the cue and lead to them ignoring it.

So here are some of my top tips for how to teach a dog recall.

1. Choose your dog recall cue wisely

You don’t want to overuse it so try to pick a word or phrase that you don’t say to your dog multiple times a day outside of a true recall scenario. “Come” and “here” are popular but you can easily end up using these repeatedly if you’re trying to get your dog in from the garden, for example.

So it might be an idea to get really creative and pick something fun like “Avengers Assemble” – it’s great if you have multiple dogs and you’re unlikely to use it in everyday conversation with your dog unless you’re the world’s biggest Marvel fan.

2. Make your reward last longer

Whether it’s food or a toy, if your reward can last for 15 to 30 seconds, it can help stop your dog from dashing away as soon as they get it. That then makes it easier to practise the likes of putting their lead back on.

3. Think about what your recall cue means to your dog

If you only use it at the end of a walk, your dog may start to associate the cue with the end of their fun and may learn to ignore it. So change up when you call them back and what happens when you do.

For example, you can call them back in the middle of a walk and let them go back to whatever they were doing. You can also practise clipping a lead on then taking it straight off to help stop your dog forming any negative associations.

4. Manage your dog

The more they practise not responding to you and being rewarded by things in the environment, the more difficult recall training can be.

So keep them on a longline while you’re training – you can trail it on the floor if it’s safe to do so. And only take them off lead if you’re confident they can come back around any distraction you may face on your walk.

Remember that some dogs may need to be kept on some form of lead for life in certain areas and there’s nothing wrong with that. The safety of your dog and the people and animals around them is the priority.

5. Always reward your dog for coming back

No matter how long it takes. Although a speedy recall is what we all dream of and can try to work towards, it’s not always realistic.

My dog sometimes stops along the way to sniff a patch of grass. But seeing as he had zero recall for the first few years of his life, the fact he chooses to come back to me is amazing in my eyes. And the last thing I want to do is make coming back not worth his while.

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