You are probably asking yourself right now, “WHY would I want to destroy my dog’s recall?” And of course, the answer is that you don’t! However, our intentions in dog training aren’t enough. See, we never intend to destroy it, but unfortunately, we usually do destroy it as quickly as we train it.
Teaching a recall is actually very simple. Keeping it is the hard part. So before I teach you how to get your dog recalling, I want to make sure that all that work doesn’t disappear by falling into these four common recall killing traps.
When recalling, your dog is always asking the question, “Why should I?”
Step 1: Call your dog when you are mad or frustrated
Well, I don’t know about you, but when someone is angry at me, I am not in a big hurry to face them. If given the chance, I will avoid them as long as possible! Dogs do the same thing when we call them, and we are angry. “Nope. Not going to that scary human.” Hopefully, we will eventually catch them, but in the meantime, they can play a mean game of keep away trying to prolong our human wrath. While they are doing that, there is a good chance that they could be putting themselves in danger.
Even though it can be very frustrating and often scary when your dog won’t come to you, calling in a happy positive tone is the best way to make sure your dog is excited to return to you as soon as you call them. Otherwise, you will be using fear and intimidation to train your dog. That might work for a bit, but if my boss called me in for work using those tactics, I am pretty sure I would be looking for a new job!
Step 2: Don’t pay them when they come to you
Asking your dog to recall is a very expensive behavior. They are free, and you want to take away that freedom.
Imagine that it is the weekend, and you are enjoying some free time with your family and friends. Your boss calls and tells you to come into work. But the worst part is, he isn’t going to pay you any extra to come in. Do you go? Maybe you do the first time. Fast forward to the next weekend when he calls again! Do you go in again? I am guessing that this time, you didn’t even take his call. Leaving the fun you are having to go somewhere not fun and for no money isn’t something you will keep doing.
Your dog is no different. If you don’t pay… and pay well… your dog will stop taking your “calls”. The good news is you don’t have to pay them actual money. They will work for a high value treat or toy.
Step 3: Call them when you know they aren’t going to listen
Let’s set the scene… You are at the park, and your pup sees a squirrel. Without hesitation, he/she dashes after it. Even though you have just started recall training, you decide to give it a try even though you know it most likely won’t work.
There are a few things wrong with this scenario.
First, your dog has now learned that ignoring your recall is an option. That recall word or sound that you have worked so hard on is now “poisoned”, and you get to start again.
Second, calling a dog off of a squirrel is a master’s level recall… Your dog is still in elementary school. When training a dog, it is important to move up the levels just like a child does. We can’t expect a child that has just learned their letters and sounds to move right on to reading college level text, can we? Then why do we expect that of our canine companions?
Step 4: Call them only when the fun is over
Once we have installed a strong recall on our dogs, we have a tendency to only use it when we are done with whatever fun the dog is having.
Time to come in from the yard.
Time to leave the dog park… or the beach… or the open field…
Whatever it is, freedom is being taken away.
Our dogs learn that the only time that word or sound comes out of our mouths is when the fun is done! Even though we are paying our dog well for the recall, the loss of the fun can be a reason our dogs stop coming to us.
How do we fix this? Easy. Call them all the time, pay them well, and send them back out to play. If you do this repeatedly while your dog is enjoying themselves, it will be no different the final time you call to end the play.
If you want your dog to have a reliable recall, the answer to his/her question, “Why should I?” must be better than the alternative.
Stay tuned for our next blog where we will uncover the secret of teaching a rock solid recall!
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