How to Train Recall – PROTECTION DOGS WORLDWIDE

Recall training is the process of teaching a dog to return to its handler on demand, generally using its name or commands such as close and come. Recall is one of the most important commands any dog should know, especially if it is a working animal. Bulletproof recall is also vital for a dog’s safety, allowing it to be removed from potentially dangerous situations with a simple command. Recall can have a reputation for being difficult to train, but this does not need to be the case.

Before training Dogs even begins, you should ensure that you and your dog have begun bonding and share a positive relationship. Unless your dog wants to come to you and spend time with you, then recall will be almost impossible to train. Once you have achieved this foundation, we recommend starting in a low distraction and controlled environment. A large room in your home or fenced garden are both perfect.

Begin by calling your dog’s name, and as soon as it comes to you ensure that you effusively reward it with verbal praise, affection, or access to high value treats such as a favourite snack or toy. At the simplest level, you are showing your dog that if it comes to you when called, good things happen and that deciding to do so is very much in its interests. This should be repeated many times, up to and beyond the point that a dog reliably returns on command.

Once you have achieved this, look to add further complexity in the form of new environments and increasing distance. When we train recall, we begin in one small room before moving around the house, outside, round corners, and ultimately parks or other similarly distraction rich spaces. We also like using a long leash in many of these environments as this allows us to always remain in control of the dog we are working with.

Little and often is most effective, and many owners are surprised by just how many micro training sessions they can fit into a single day. Dogs do have a finite attention span, and once you sense that a training session has stopped becoming productive it is best to end it on a positive note with an “easy win” you can reward your dog for. Never punish a dog that returns to you. Doing so can build negative associations with your presence, and ultimately undo  your hard work. Strong recall is a very achievable training objective, and one all owners should work towards. To book an online or in-person consultation with our training team, please email info@protectiondogs.co.uk.