Have you found yourself asking why your dog doesn’t come when called? It’s easy to get frustrated. Personally, when a dog clearly hears me call them, looks at me, AND THEN goes back to sniffing, is the ultimate slap in the face. This article will go over the reasons why dogs don’t come when they are called, and how to train your most important command: the recall.
Recall (and dog training in general) can be simplified, or over-complicated, depending on who’s doing the talking. Below are 6 simple components of the recall that you must get right if your dog is going to reliably come when called:
· The 2 Reasons Why Dogs Don’t Come When Called
· The Command; NAME or COME
· Expectations
· Long Line vs E-collar
· Training the COME
· Professional Training
Reasons Why Dogs Don’t Come When Called
At some point when people walk through the doors to our dog training academy, usually after a breakthrough with their dog, they suddenly exclaim “I think it’s US that need the training!”. I celebrate silently inside as the dog owner realizes that changes in their behaviour can change their dogs behaviour, which brings me to my first point. The number 1 reason that dogs don’t come when they are called is because their owners are one of 2 recallers: Panic recallers or Pushover recallers.
The number 1 reason that dogs don’t come when they are called is because their owners are one of 2 recallers: Panic recallers or Pushover recallers.
The panic recaller is a somewhat casual dog owner who for the most part lets the dogs do what they want (lets them off leash at the local park), until it’s an emergency (another dog approaches). On sight of the other dog, the panic recaller frantically screeches for their dog to come back and brings out all the tricks to bribe their dog into listening. Out come the liver treats, cheese chunks, tripe or on some occasions a whole rotisserie chicken!
While this tactic might work the first few times, the dogs quickly figure out that this panic-induced recall is a sign that there’s something exciting ahead. Soon, the dogs will hear the panic recalling, and begin looking ahead for the cause of the excitement, we call this ‘going shopping’. If there is anything out there that’s more interesting than a treat, you may as well save your breath, because your dog ain’t coming back! And after a few short walks the dogs are taking off in exploration in response to their recall command. In their mind, COME = EXPLORE. Frustration ensues.
Some people are Panic Recallers, other people are Pushover Recallers. But worst of all... a lot of people are both
The second type of recaller is The Pushover. This is the dog owner who lets their dog out for a pee at 10 pm in the back yard and commands them to COME from the back door after a few minutes. After repeating themselves 5 or 6 times, the owner says “fine then you can stay out there!’ and slams the door, only to complain to their spouse about how the dog doesn’t listen. The dog learns that if they resist the recall 5 or 6 times, they will be let off the hook, and are subsequently trained to be stubborn. Frustration ensues.
Some people are Panic Recallers, other people are Pushover Recallers. But worst of all, a lot of people are both. To break these suicidal habits, we first have to get clear about what we are communicating to the dogs, and that starts with a clear command.
Teaching The Command: NAME or COME
The recall is a command (not a request) and should be taken seriously as it can be life-saving for your dog. We must also take our communication seriously and be consistent with our commands. Typically, people either use their dogs name (e.g. FIDO) or a word (COME) and this comes down to personal preference. If you have multiple dogs, we recommend using your dogs NAME as their recall, so you can talk individually to each dog, although this comes with a hitch…
If your dog's NAME is their recall command, be careful about saying their name casually around the house, or you may deteriorate their recall. Many people use COME, which is fine, just be aware that if you have multiple dogs and tell them to COME, they are all expected to recall (making it harder to call just one dog to you at a time).
What Should You Expect While Training Your Dog
When calling your dog to you, results will be best if both dogs and owners have the same expectations. Is your dog required to sit at the end of a recall? Should the sit be in front of you, or beside you? Did you mean COME, or just move away from that dog/road/squirrel? Let’s start this section by saying that any dog is capable of simple obedience like recall. Whilst not every dog can retrieve ducks or take down criminals, every dog can be taught to come when called.
For argument's sake, we are going to continue with ‘COME’ being the command, and the idea that COME just means come within touching distance of me (2-3 feet), it doesn’t mean come and sit down. We are keeping it easy and achievable here, you can always add in the sit once your dog is recalling like a champ a few months from now.
Now that we know what COME means, we need to be clear when we are using it. Far too many people say COME to their dog and they have no intention of wanting their dog to come back to them, they just want them to keep moving. For example, many people notice their dog getting interested in something gross, it could be garbage, animal poop or something else. The dog owner says ‘Fido COME’, when in fact all they want is for their dog to stop sniffing the gross thing. The dog hears COME, then moves on sniffing something else, and is then praised (‘good boy’) by the owner. What are we telling our dog in this situation? This dog is being told that COME means… keep walking and sniffing? Who knows? With lazy communication like this, no wonder Fido doesn’t come when he’s called!
To summarize briefly, we should only use the recall command when we want the dogs to do a proper recall. This sounds obvious, but we see it every day at our training academy. In the example above with the animal poop, a simple NO or LEAVE IT would have been more appropriate. So, our avid reader, from now on if you command your dog to COME, you must insist that the recall is completed by your dog returning to you within a few feet (grabbing distance). If you want your dog to be focused and reliable in their behaviour, we must be focused and reliable with our communication.
Should You Use A Long Line or E-collar?
Whilst rewards play a part in training our dog to recall, they aren’t the key factor for developing a reliable recall. A reliable recall will be honed by pressure, and in this case, leash pressure. Rewards develop enthusiasm, leash pressure develops reliability.
Rewards develop enthusiasm, leash pressure develops reliability.
There are generally two approaches to training reliable recalls… using a long line (25-30 ft) or an E-collar. Both are excellent options. Whilst we use E-collars regularly at our training academy, this article will walk you through the steps to train a recall using a long line. When using an E-collar, consult with a professional; a couple of hours of coaching will not only rid you of any rookie mistakes but it will cut your learning curve from years to weeks. Your dog will thank you for it.
Every approach has it’s limitations, here are some pros and cons to the long-line approach:
Pros
· Cost effective – long leashes can be found at most pet stores (even a long rope is fine)
· Safe – there is little risk of a dog bolting from a long leash
· Timeless – this technique has been used for hundreds of years and is still a good option
Cons
· Range – the range of a long line is limited to it’s length
· Slower – generally this is a slow and steady approach (compared to the E-collar method) and some people may lack the patience to keep at it for a couple of months
· Rope burn – Everyone gets it once, some people go back for more
Generally the E-collar balances out the pros and cons of a long line (at our training academy we use them in combination) but this article will proceed with the long line approach.
Training The Recall
Now we have talked all of the boring theory, let's get to work, shall we? We are going to use both positive and negative reinforcement to train (or condition) our dogs to recall. And here’s how:
This is a training session that can be run for about 10-20 minutes. Fastening a long line on our dog's collar (never use a harness for obedience), we find an open space and allow our dog to explore the full range of our long line (around 30 feet). We have treats hidden out of sight in our pockets or pouches that we will produce as rewards, without bribing. Allowing our dog to sniff and explore the environment we will recall our dog to us about once per minute, or less for dogs that are reluctant to leave our side.
Every time we call our dog we are going to start pulsing (tugging) on his collar with the leash
Every time we call our dog we are going to start pulsing (tugging) on his collar with the leash, this is to discourage our dog from shopping. We are not going to give him an option here, the moment we say ‘Fido COME’ we are pulsing/tugging away on the leash immediately, we want to harass him at this point. We are going to keep pulsing on the leash and calling our dog until he acknowledges us and begins moving towards us. As soon as our dog begins moving towards us, we are going to stop pulsing on the leash and stop harassing him to recall, because he is now doing the recall (coming to us).
This is extremely important. We are using negative reinforcement (leash pressure) to harass our dog into recalling quickly, every time. I want Fido to feel these pulses on his collar every time he hears ‘Fido COME’. This develops very strong reliability in our recall, which is crucial around distractions. Once your dog completes the recall, we are going to reward them with a tasty treat, every time. This develops enthusiasm in our recall.
Once your dog completes the recall, we are going to reward them with a tasty treat, every time
This is the meat and potatoes of training a solid recall and if there is one thing that you remember from this article, it’s that we are going to harass/poke/prod our dog into doing this recall quickly by using our leash pulses every time we call our dog. Below are a couple of tips to strengthen this command even more; Praise and Movement.
Praise is a powerful motivator and strong communication tool. Any time your dog is doing the recall and coming towards you, I want you to be showering him with praise. “Atta boy”, “whoo, good boy”, I don’t care what you say, but be enthusiastic. You should be a beacon of positivity! Many times dogs are on the fence about this whole recall training stuff and just me hooting and hollering enthusiastically is enough to tip the scales in my favor and get the dogs to want to do the recalls. When they get to you, be sure to reward them with a treat.
We are now adding contrast to our communication during recalls. To recap, the moment we are calling our dog (Fido COME) we begin pulsing on the leash rhythmically and hurrying our dog to listen to the command. As soon as Fido looks up and starts coming to us, we stop the pulses and immediately start praising him profusely. It’s this contrast from pulsing to praising that tells him what an excellent decision he has just made, which leads to a tasty treat from our pocket. Can you see what we are doing here? We are using our leash to force Fido to come, (without being forceful) and then rewarding him as if it was his idea! This is creating a reliable habit of coming to the command, and it’s all because of how we are using our leash.
But there’s more… Movement. I want you to use movement to develop real urgency in your dog's recall. Here’s how; any time you are praising your dog for coming back to you, I want you to be shuffling backwards at the same time. You are causing your dog to chase you down for his reward. Let’s think about all of this from Fido's perspective.
Fido is doing his thing and sniffing around some bushes, when he hears ‘Fido COME’ and feels you immediately start tugging on his collar. The tugging isn’t super strong but after a while it gets annoying, he can only ignore it for so long (hehe). When it’s got annoying enough, Fido stops sniffing and starts coming back to you. Interestingly, as soon as Fido begins coming towards you, the annoying tugging on his collar stops… you are also telling him how awesome/smart/handsome he is when he is coming back to you (pretty motivating). Not only that, but you have treats in your pocket that you’re reaching for, AND you are moving away by shuffling backwards. Fido is thinking ‘I can’t let this treat get away!’ and is literally chasing you for his reward. We are now developing a recall that is fast and enthusiastic. This training session has worked for thousands of dogs in the past and will work for your dog too.
This training session has worked for thousands of dogs in the past and will work for your dog too
What you need to do is get in the repetitions to make this a reliable habit. I would suggest running this training session for 10-20 minutes per day, for 2 months. This is where most people fail. They get bored and give up after 2 days. I can guarantee that if you do this for 2 months, your dog will run you down like something possessed in response to ‘COME’. At which point you won't need a long line any longer. Two months of training in exchange for a lifetime of off-leash freedom. A good investment in my book.
Should You Get Professional Training
Above is the exact training session I run with dogs at our training academy in Stratford, Ontario. I haven’t held any secrets back or added any fluff. I have personally used this training session with my own dogs, including my superstar and award-winning springer spaniel Rebel.
To reiterate, many people don’t have the patience to persist with the same training session for 2 months, either because they are easily bored or not confident in their own skills. At our training academy, we are not only intensely motivated to work with dogs, but we have unshakeable confidence in our skills, because we have had success with so many thousands of dogs in the past.
If you lack the time to guide your dog through these training progressions yourself, consider a Board & Train program. A Board & Train program is where the dogs stay at our academy where we work our magic, do the hard work for you, and show you how to maintain your dogs training for years to come.
During the dogs stay they’ll receive expert training and:
· Learn how to walk so well that you’ll actually look forward to daily walks
· Be trained to come when called, every time, even around dogs or squirrels
· You’ll never have to worry about jumping/acting crazy at the front door again
The best part is, you don’t have to be a control freak or give up the things you love (like snuggles on the couch). All you have to do is maintain the training, it’s actually pretty easy.
We have developed the most comprehensive and rigorous training programs in the country and left no stone unturned. We pride ourselves not only on the training we give to our dogs, but to the support we give to our people. Currently, we only accept 3 dogs maximum at a time to ensure we can give individual attention to each student and we have scheduled intakes throughout the year. If you would like to enroll your dog in the programs that are raising the standards of the dog training industry, please apply on our website.
Wishing you the best of luck in your recall training!
- Morgan Phillips
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