I have now had Rusty the future Hearing Dog for over a year now so we have gone through lots of training together.
It is something that really interests me and I love doing. It is so lovely to find a field in the middle of the country park where it is peaceful, away from the household noises and do some training with him.
Rusty loves his training which is great to watch.
When it comes to dog training I believe recall is one of the most important things to teach your dog, even if it is a pet dog.
There is so many reasons why you must teach them recall
- To call them back when you come across people/children are frightened of dogs
- When you come across an unfriendly dog
- If there was an unsafe path
- When you come across farm animals or wildlife
- When you come across private property
- But most of all to keep them safe
What if your dog was running towards a road and your dog ignored you? It would run straight out into the road and possibly get knocked over and hurt.
It could cause a car accident and other people then could get hurt.
This is an important reason to have pet insurance for public liability cover in case the above does happen and to cover your expensive vet bills!
Recall isn’t something that you can perfect overnight, it something that must be an ongoing training practice.
I must say I am not a qualified dog trainer, this is all the things I have been learning throughout our dog training classes over the past year.
My top tips to help with dog recall
Whistle Training – Blow a dog whistle
A strong bond – you and your dog must love you and WANT to stay with you. When you’re at home you must work with your dog, training, games, cuddles and talk to them. Interact with them to show them you love them.
Play games – Play games together on walks, don’t let the dog do what it wants on 100% of the walk. Play games, do some basic training and interact with the dog so their focus is on you and not on his surroundings.
Name – Only call the dog’s name when you want it to come back to you properly. If you want it to follow your path or direction choose a word that means look where I’m going and follow me. I have chosen ‘this way’, so when Rusty thinks about going down a path I’m not going to go down I say ‘this way’ and he does an about turn to see’s where I’m going!
Treats – Bring out some very smelly and very tasty treats, only bring these out on your walk, these treats are like gold to your dog. When you call the dog back and he comes to you reward with lots of praise and tasty treat. Mix it up with various treats on different walks and see which one your dog likes the most.
Toy treats – If your dog isn’t fussed by food you can reward with a toy.
Treat bags – I do suggest if you are taking smelly treats out with you purchase a decent dog treat bag
Here are some tasty dog treats ideas
I use tuna cake (which Rusty loves so much!)
Cocktail sausages
Left over meat from your dinners
Ham
Cheese
Pilchard cake
I would love to hear if you have any other ideas for tasty dog treats.
Fun – Be super fun, when you call your dog back don’t just stand there and call. Run in the other way, run to the side, wave your arms around and be the most fun thing around! If you are not interesting enough and boring why would your dog want to come back to you? He could just carry on doing what he wants and have fun but you want him to have fun with you instead! Show him that!
Distractions – Build up your distractions and difficultly levels. You can start recall training in your house and garden, this teaches them this is what you want them to do when you say ‘come’. Now don’t think that now they know what to do they are going to do this when your out on walks! You have to be more important and fun then anything else on your walks, other dogs are a big distraction. It is hard to match up to their own species but you can do it! This is where all your other training and tricks will come into it, food, toys and being fun. Just step it up a gear and big rewards when your dog does come back!
Lead – Dogs are not silly, they can read our body language and things we do before something else. If you only call your dog back to you when you are going to put their lead on and go home they know not to come back as they don’t want the walk to end! Call your dog back and pop them on the lead, get them to sit and let them go again! You can do this a few times on your walk to teach them that the lead doesn’t always mean home time.
Long line lead – Use a 10 metre long line lead
Practice – this isn’t going to come easy or quickly, like everything you have to be consistent and positive. You will get there!
No shouting or anger – There is just no point, your dog won’t want to come to you if you are angry or shouting at it. Even if it has ignored you it doesn’t think ‘oh they are angry with me because I didn’t come back’ they think ‘I am not going anywhere near them they are grumpy!’ or if they do come back and you shout at them because it didn’t come back when you said they just think ‘oh they are angry at me because I came back to them’ it won’t help the recall training and it won’t help you! Keep calm and hold in any frustration!
Run in the opposite direction – I always remember taking Rusty out for a walk in a field next to a sheep field, he was perfectly happy going along with me, playing with me and sniffing around. Suddenly he just ran through the fence into the sheep field. Oh my goodness I went into panic mode, I called, I whistled I tried to reach through when he came closer but nothing worked I couldn’t get him out. So I ran away!!! Sounds silly but I ran away from him, calling his name, whistle blowing and waving my arms all around! He came running after me as fast as his little legs could take him! We worked on our recall and lead walks around sheep after that!
I hope that has given you some ideas to work on, have fun with your dog!