Does your entire neighborhood know your dog’s name?
Yup, mine too. It’s extremely frustrating when you call your dog, and she completely ignores you. It’s even more frustrating when, the closer you get, the farther away she runs.
All dogs would rather play outside and sniff than go back to their owners. Being outside unleashes the wild beast inside them. Even so, you can teach a very reliable recall with lots of practice.
You really can get your dog to be truly happy to come to you, even if she’s in the middle of a good sniff.
I’ve complied my very best recall training knowledge into 10 easy tips. Follow these steps, and your dog will become better at recall – if not near-perfect.
1. Practice using a recall word.
Begin recall training indoors. When your dog is already coming to you, say, “Come!” or your recall word. Be consistent, using the same, single word each time. Treat your dog, even if they’re coming from a foot away.
Practice getting farther and farther away from your dog when you call her. Sometimes, practice “come” with “stay,” but not always. Get your dog really good at coming to you indoors, then start practicing outdoors.
2. Don’t let your dog loose just yet.
Until your dog is very reliable at recall, don’t let her loose in public places, or unenclosed areas. Letting your dog loose too soon is dangerous, and sets her up for failure.
You can get a really long, 30-foot leash to use in wide, open areas to give your dog freedom without losing control. The leash eliminates the possibility of error. If your dog does not come, shorten the leash, and praise her when she comes near.
3. Have smelly pockets.
If you’re practicing recall with your dog, always make sure you have lots of tasty treats. Don’t skimp, dry biscuits or kibble are not exciting enough to reinforce recall. Use meat, hot dogs, eggs, freeze dried duck treats from Stella & Chewy’s – something really yummy.
4. Don’t wear it out.
The more you repeat yourself, the more your dog will learn to tune you out. If you call her ten times before she comes back, she’ll notice that she doesn’t really have to come the first time you call her.
Don’t give her the option to ignore you. Only call her when you think there’s a good chance she’ll come back. Don’t call her if she’s sniffing, or running after a bird. But, do call her if she’s about to dash into the road.
If your dog won’t come, just go get her. Or, wait until she finishes sniffing or running after birds. Just don’t let yourself become a broken record.
5. Keep your tone happy.
Avoid panicking or getting angry when your dog refuses to come to you. This is very easy to detect in your voice, and no dog wants to go near an angry person. Keep calm, and use the same tone every time you call your dog. Call your dog in a way that makes them want to come to you.
This is even easier with a recall whistle. A recall whistle never sounds angry, and it always sounds the same. It also makes it easier to call your dog without disturbing other people.
6. Reward your dog with more freedom.
If you only call your dog when it’s time to inside, she’ll realize that coming to you means playtime is over. She might not come if she thinks you’re a buzz-kill. That’s why it’s important to teach them to check-in with you every few minutes.
Call your dog, and praise and treat them. Then, say a release word, and let her go back to playing or sniffing.
If your dog checks in with you of their own accord, reward them and release them. Checking in with you is always a good thing, and it does not mean the fun is done.
7. Stop making so many friends.
A huge myth about puppy training: the idea that your dog needs lots and lots of socialization. Or else they’ll be anti-social and totally awkward at parties.
Not true.
During leashed walks, don’t allow your dog to just run up to every stranger, dog or human, who passes you.
I made this mistake when Matilda was a pup. She was so tiny, and I didn’t want her to be afraid of anyone. I wanted her to grow up to be a strong, independent woman-dog who ain’t afraid of nobody. So I used to let her say hello to everyone who came near us.
Now, she assumes any person or dog she sees is a new best friend. Socializing makes her very happy, and takes all of her attention. If she were loose and saw another dog, or a new human friend, she probably won’t come back at my first call.
You can safely socialize your dog, but you should be total control of every encounter. Don’t let the leash slack so your dog can approach on her own. Only let your dog socialize after you’ve given her permission. That way, she’ll be less likely to be impulsively friendly with strangers, and may be more reliable if you’re trying to call her away from someone.
Keep socialization brief on walks, and continue on. Get your dog’s attention back ASAP. Socializing is fun, but it’s not more important than you. Once your dog realizes this, they’ll be less likely to dash off when they see a new friend across the road.
8. Never, ever, ever scold her for getting back to you.
Scolding just doesn’t work well with dogs. It just scares and confuses them. Don’t hit her. Don’t tell her “no.”
Praise your dog, even if you have to catch her and pick her up. Even if she didn’t look up once. Even if she just embarrassed the hell out of you.
When your dog is safe in your arms, tell her she’s good, fuss over her, tell her how worried you were about her.
I know that’s the last thing you want to do when your dog has been so naughty, running away from you and ignoring your call. But if your dog picks up on your anger or annoyance, or even gets a spanking when they return to your arms, they’re not going to come back next time.
9. Be the Chasee, Not The Chaser
Some dogs think it’s hilarious when you chase them down the street. It’s probably because they know they’re faster than us. Dogs have seen us run. They’re not impressed.
Avoid chasing your dog whenever possible. Don’t even chase after her around the house. If you never chase your dog, she’ll never notice how bad you are at it!
Always make sure you’re the chasee when you play games with your dog. Run around the house, and reward your dog when they catch you. That way, when your dog is refusing your recall, you can just stop, turn around, and start running – hopefully, your dog will chase you.
10. Play hide and seek.
One way to be the chasee is to play Hide and Seek.
Dogs love to play hide and seek. It’s amazing to watch from your hiding spot as she looks for you. You can almost see the gears turning in her head. And it’s hilarious when she can’t find you, and walks right past you – and then she finally finds you yayyyy!!!!
Start playing in your house. Have your dog stay, hide, and then call her using your recall word. When she finds you, lavish her with praise and treats. The game is highly rewarding in itself, and makes your dog realize that finding you is awesome.
Once you get the hang of Hide and Seek indoors, try it outside. Make sure you don’t lose your dog while you’re hiding. Have a friend hold your dog back while you hide if she can’t be trusted yet.
You can also randomly hide and see how long it takes your dog to notice you’re gone. Praise her lavishly when she finds you – you should always be on her mind when she’s off-leash, and she should find it really fun to check in with you.
No dog has perfect recall!
No matter how much you train, no matter how tasty your treats, there’s a chance that your dog will not come. Dogs are not perfect, and their acute hearing and sense of smell makes distractions very hard to ignore. Some dogs can never be trusted off-leash.
It’s up to you to keep your dog safe. It’s up to you to know when it’s okay to let her off the leash, and when you need to keep her close. One mistake, and your dog is gone forever. When in doubt, leash your dog!
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She also uses her pet copywriting business to make sure the best pet products and services get found online through catchy copy and fun, informative blog posts. She also provides product description writing services for ecommerce companies.
As a dog mom to Matilda and Cow, she spends most of her days taking long walks and practicing new tricks, and most nights trying to make the best of a very modest portion of her bed.
You'll also find her baking bread and making homemade pizza, laughing, painting and shopping.
Great article! Great training tips! Thank you! #8 is so very important when training recall!
Oh yes, if I’d pick one tip it’d be 8. I feel like such a pushover when I do it, but it really works.
Lots of great advice. My daughter is desperate for a dog, so if we ever decided to give in, I’ll be back for help! Thank you!
That’s just how I was with my parents – and it worked! Now I can’t imagine life without one. I’m just going to say, get her a dog!!! 😛 I’ll be happy to help.
Ha! Maybe one day I’ll relent, I do kind of like the idea! 😉
I wish I had read this post when I got my first dog. He was horrible at listening (to ANY command!), but I also realize that’s because I had no clue what I was doing. Hopefully the next time around I can be better. Thanks for the tips!
Great tips. Do they work with a two year old? I don’t have a dog… 🙂 Totally kidding. 🙂
Seriously Kelly, yes, I really think they do work with 2-year olds, absolutely! lol.
I think dogs and kids learn in pretty much the same way. They’re both small, and don’t always understand what you’re saying to them, and they get scared and frustrated when scolded – I don’t have any kids, but if I ever do, I’ll probably use the same basic methods – positivity, rewards, and playtime! 😛
Great tips! If only I got these tips 3 years ago, it would have saved some stress. However, my niece will find this very helpful. Thanks for the book!
I just used your ideas while sitting here at the computer- the dogs were barking at a dog walking by and I called them in. The first few times, they eventually came in, but the last few times- after they realized they were going to get a treat- they came racing in as fast as their little legs could go. This is the best comentathon post I have read today- exactly what I needed to see! I am going to sign up for your updates and read through every post you have here- we have doggy issues in our household! I just wish you lived in Idaho, I would definitely hire you to come spend a few hours with us.
I’m so pleased I could help Margo! Thank you so much. If you’d like, shoot me an email through the contact form, and tell me about any other doggy issues you’ve got – I’m always looking for new post ideas!
Well written. Steps 4 and 5 really do work with kids too!
This is one of the hardest commands for my mom’s dog to respond to. I’ll share these recommendations with her.
Wonderful training tips for dog lovers. We too had dogs at our home during my younger ages. Now also I love to have dogs. But due to space and time limitations, I am not able to do it. I really appreciate 8 & 10 particularly. Thanks for this post.
These are wonderful tips! I had dogs who had good recall, but the ones I have right now aren’t as well trained (my fault, of course.)
#6 is a good tip. When I first adopted Gretel, we went to a basic obedience class. We played the hide-and-seek game and she learned “come” pretty well. Both her and I have slipped since then though. I do what you describe – mostly only call her to come when it’s time to come inside – so maybe she has learned that “I don’t wanna” because that means fun time is over. I also kind of stopped practicing it with her. I suck at sticking with any kind of training but I know this is a very important one for safety reasons so I am going to start working with her again on it.
I remember when my sons wanted a dog when they were younger, we never got one. I am more of a cat person and we never go one either…we did have fish – lol
Great article … we play “find it”, now I’m going to switch it out at times for “find me”! Definitely going to use these tips to make help make Sparkle more reliable if she is ever off leash.
These are some great tips, I can’t wait to try them! My dog is overall very well behaved but this is the one behavior we just can’t seem to get right. Thanks for sharing!
These are great tips. Have been practising them but Kilo the Pug is still a challenge. Not sure he’ll ever get off leash. XS
Fantastic tips!! Wish I would have had them with my last dog! He was a training nightmare!
Great tips! I really like the one about calling your dog just to check in rather than always to come inside. You definitely don’t want recall to seem like it is some kind of punishment.
Great tips. We’re always working on recall as it’s an ongoing process.
That’s so true, it really is ongoing – when we don’t practice, Matilda sometimes gets a little rusty on her recall.
Excellent tips! I follow most of these, but will add having smelly pockets & being more mindful of my tone of voice every time. I don’t let my dog off leash unless we’re in an enclosed area though; she’s a Husky and they’re just too hard wired to RUN!
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Thanks Cathy! Oh my goodness, huskies – where I live, there’s always huskies getting lost and found. I wouldn’t trust a husky as far as I could throw ’em – though they’re otherwise way too cute to throw, lol.
These are great tips! I think being the chasee and not wearing out the recall word are the hardest for humans to follow. It is a natural reaction for many to chase dogs and we always want to repeat ourselves in hopes that something will happen the second time.
great tips and all so true! We is using lots of deep right now wif our newest fuzzy member of da family! Thx for da write up!
Our current dog is the best behaved we’ve ever had and comes immediately when called. Our last 2 dogs would take off running and not look back if they got out. I wish we’d had your tips with them.
I love coming across something informative AND humorous. These doggie training tips are awesome and I loved the one about having smelly pockets and the point you made about dogs not being impressed by our running. Got a great chuckle out of me!
Awesome tips! Too bad they don’t work for my Great Pyrenees : )
She’s getting better, but I’ll never trust her off leash. My GSD has/had almost perfect recall, but he’s become hard of hearing, so I have to get his attention before trying recall. Clapping helps!
Great tips thank you for sharing…
We can’t have dogs due to my kids allergies, but these are tips for me to keep in mind should I decide to get one after they leave home!
All right on the money points. We are very independent scent hounds. Our recall is great except when critters are on scene, therefore, unless an area is fenced we are on leash. Yes, Mom could really work and work and work with us to get us to come in any situation, but we are fine with it the way it is and most GBGV owners never let their dogs off leash because we are simply stubborn when something better comes along.
These really are great tips. Our dog is very good to come when called, but we were lucky that she already knew that when we got her! Some of these tips are things I would not have thought about, but make so much sense!
Fantastic tips! I needed these like 3 years ago when we got our youngest dog. I guess it’s never too late to teach an older dog some new tricks. Thank you!
I’ve got the calling down…but I don’t have the staying down. 🙂 They follow me pretty much everywhere, but won’t stay for nothing. Hahaha…great post.
Great tips! Our lab comes every time she calls; our Olde English Bulldogge comes when he wants. My husband will call and call and call. I will call once and go get him if he doesn’t come to me because I want him to know that he doesn’t get to ignore me (guess who the bulldogge sits for when we get ready to go out the door? I hate it when he tries to knock me over to get out the door first so I’ve worked with him to sit and wait until he is called. He still bowls the husband over).
these are some great tips!!! i’m going to send this over to my furparents friends now!
you think these will work for kids? ha!
Oh boy is it hard not to get upset when they come back after running away. I’ve learned to plaster a big fake smile across my face. It’s hard to scold when you are smiling. Good tips!
This is great! We just got our new 7 month old puppy on Saturday. We’ve already taught her “sit” and are working on crate training and ringing a bell to go outside to potty now. Hopefully when we have these and a few other basic commands down, we can move on to “come!” I’ll be back when we’re ready and I’ll snoop around some more now!
I enjoyed reading your post and love all the suggestions. Positive training is so important and really the way to train. Thanks for your insight!
This was such a fun post, and a first one regarding dogs and pets! Mine used to come a lot as a pup, now she kinda takes her time, but she does know when to get back. Loved all teh tips and I can vouch for the fact that they all just work great!
I just got a puppy last week and this post is just what I needed! She’s still being trained but her man, her listening skills suck! ha ha! Thanks for the advice!
Great tips! We have two dogs, a 6 year old husky and a 5 month old texas heeler. We love them to pieces and they are fantastic pets. We used the hide n seek game to teach both of them to come. It worked so well with our husky that we used it on our new pup and works great!!!
Good practical tips, will have to try these with our dog.
Lindsay, this is an absolutely FANTASTIC article on recall training!!! You are right on the ball with this, and I’m going to share it on my Facebook page. Mommy did a lot of the very things you discussed in training me over the years…or was it me training her? She always makes training positive and ALWAYS makes recall and my ever important command of “WAIT” a positive thing. Wait, for me, means, “stop whatever it is you are doing Pixel, stand still and let Mommy pick you up”, whether I’m running, about to jump off a bed, or about to eat something bad. It took me two years to master the WAIT command, but she never gave up, always stayed consistent, positive, and now I’ll stop on a dime when she says it.
Thanks for writing such a great article my friend!!
Love, Pixel
This is my favourite “Some dogs think it’s hilarious when you chase them down the street. It’s probably because they know they’re faster than us. Dogs have seen us run. They’re not impressed.”
I was taught if my Harley (taught to me when I had my Sabre a husky) gets off leash to get on the ground and pretend I’m hurt. They will come back to check on you instantly.
This is a great post! Right now we are working on exactly this with Rooney. We are using a long 30 foot leash for practice 🙂
Good tips for me…I’m working with an 18-month very trainable dog that I just got as a foster. As a young Golden Retriever, he’s smart and high energy and these tips are perfect for me and Blue. Thanks, Lindsay!
Terrific tips. I hate when my dog is acting all deaf to me and selectively hearing my “COME!” command. I definitely started seeing a difference is “Come!” is always an exciting reward and NOT the end of outdoor playtime.
I’ve been using an enthusiastic “Come!” followed by reward INSIDE and seeing much better response outside. Also, if it doesn’t work the first time, I don’t repeat myself anymore. This is true for all commands. A “Down” that doesn’t happened should not be repeated.
It’s really helping my training to be in group classes with a seasoned trainer.
Thanks for excellent advice that supplements my training classes.
These step by step methods are really amazing. Hope that it’ll help me in a great extent to train my dog. Thanks a ton for the post. 🙂
I am having the most difficult time with this! Charlie has been so great at learning so many other obedience things, but his major weakness is coming when called. He is approximately 12-13 months old. Give or take a month or so.
I really want to sign him up for a beginner class at Petsmart or something, but I just don’t have the extra money right now d/t having to move unexpectedly. So, I’d really like some ideas on how to help train him for this at home. I have a decent sized fenced in back-yard to work in, plus an average sized one-story home. Well, except for the two bedrooms that are my roommates’.
Okay… so here’s what I have been trying to do but is not working.
1) I NEVER call Charlie to me to scold him. I only do it in a happy sing-song voice and I always say “Charlie – Here!” and pat my legs a few times.
2) If he happens to come when called – which is very random and not often, I praise him like crazy and give him lots of affection. If I happen to have treats on me, I will give him a treat.
3) I also try to coerce him with treats and this typically works but ONLY if we’re in the house; however, if I DON’T have a treat that he can visibly see, or we’re ANYWHERE where there is distraction (such as outside, birds, butterflys, grass to sniff, trees to pee on, other dogs to play with, etc ad nauseum), he “goes deaf” and I might as well be talking to myself.
Please help me… I know this is SOO important to his safety, and I have had him for 4 months now and I am so worried that I’ve done all the wrong things (like calling him over and over which I KNOW I shouldn’t do, but seem to can’t help myself). Will I ever be able to reverse this problem??
You really have to be more fun than a butterfly or a bird, which does take time. This newer post might help too: https://littledogtips.com/get-dog-pay-attention-outside/
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