5 Tips for Teaching Your Dog to Come When Called

Living on a big piece of land is every dog owner's dream — but living on a big unfenced piece of land, next to a winding highway can be quite the dog owner's challenge. Having an independent, free-spirited, prey-driven husky-mix makes it even more challenging. Muchacho lacks the confidence to go far, and therefore has a nice comfortable radius. He doesn't generally go out of sight, and is pretty happy to come when called, so he is often allowed off leash on my grandma's property, where we are living.

Koa, on the other hand, loves to run. And it's beautiful to see; she's incredibly fast, and there is so much joy in her long, bounding gait. But she is also more prone to running right out of sight, and to becoming suddenly deaf when she catches a rustle or a scent in the distance. Because of this, Koa is generally on-leash, tethered to a 100 ft cable nearby, or confined to the house or camper unless we are down at the creek, where there is nowhere scary for her to disappear.

All those off-leash creek walks have also served as a prime opportunity to work on reinforcing better recall. Whenever we head down and let her off, I make sure I am stocked with something really high value, like cheese, hot dog, or meatballs. And you know what? It's paying off! Today, when let off her leash, instead of bounding all the way down to the creek ahead, she meandered at a distance, but stayed primarily within sight. She did a great job checking in unprompted several times, emerged from the bushes when called, and was even easy to leash up once we had to head home. It's far from perfect, and I won't be trusting her to go completely free-range any time soon, but it's a start and I am very proud of her!

For those of you that also have free spirited, selectively deaf, fast running dogs, here are a few tips for creating a solid recall: 

 

1. Reinforce often.
What does your dog love? Food, balls, playing tug? Use that! When your dog hears "come" they should have an immediate association with their favorite things. "Come" should mean "Mom has something good, I better go check it out!"


2. Make it a game.
One major mistake we often make when teaching our dogs to come when called is only calling them when playtime is over and they need to come indoors, when it's time to be put on leash, get in the car, etc. Play recall games where coming is rewarded with a treat and being released back to do whatever fun stuff they were up to previously. This is one reason working with recall at the creek is so successful — Koa knows that 9 times out of 10, coming when called means getting a snack and then going back to smell that interesting bush. The 1 time that coming means getting back on leash no longer dominates the whole experience.

Another way to make it a game is to run from your dog! Sometimes running away from your human is just a game in and of itself, so playing recall games shifts all that fun from running away from your person to running after your person. Add to the fun by hiding a tug toy behind your back, and when your dog catches up to it you can present the toy to reward the exhilarating chase!


3. Start small.
This is vital — it is unfair to take a dog that has little to no practice with coming when called and put them in a distracting or exciting environment and expect them to come immediately. Start practicing in your house and work to add distraction in slow increments. For example, start in a quiet, empty room. Then add some noise with a TV or radio. Then add some distraction, like perhaps other members of your household. You can work up to adding toys on the floor for them to come past!

Then you can try outdoors, perhaps in the back yard, working up to the front yard where there is more excitement and novel smells. You can work up to new environments like open parks or fields, but remember to amp up the value of your reinforcement when you're working somewhere new and novel. Biscuits may do the trick at home, but in a field full of pee smells, gopher holes, and distant noises, you may need to come prepared with some chicken! A long leash is also a great tool for outdoor recall training so you can get some distance safely. Just remember to put your dog in a comfy harness to avoid any stress on the neck!



4.  Avoid punishment.
A dog refusing to come, running away, or otherwise causing a ruckus is frustrating, believe me, I get it. But when the dog finally gives up on the fun game of run away and comes back to you, punishing them (whether physically or verbally), actually ends up punishing the act of coming back. Next time you call them to come they may think, "No way! Last time I came to you, you yelled at me!"


5. Reinforce for voluntary check-ins.

Koa voluntarily checks in while off-leash.

This has helped us immensely! You can go hoarse hollering at your dog to come when they are too distracted to hear you, but if you wait for them to get the sniffs out of the way and then come back and check in with you, you can build voluntary focus as a habit. It may take a while in certain environments, but remember to take it slow and start easy. Once they realize that paying attention to you pays off, it'll be much easier to call them to you, and your voice won't just be white noise.