Do you want your dog to be able to have freedom to exercise and play off leash?! We’ll tell you how!
This is the single most important command that you will ever teach your dog.
This is a life saving command, and you need it to be reliable! For pet dogs, one recall command is absolutely fine, Petunia and Myrtle being future sport dogs have many recall commands.
Before we get started I’ll explain all of their recalls and why we use more than one.
- Come- We use “come” only during training, this means “immediately come here and sit directly in front of me, nice and straight and look up”. We use this for Rally obedience, and if we decide someday to put our dogs in obedience, it’ll be used for that as well.
- Here- We use “here” often, this means “come here and touch my hand with your nose”, this is perfect as a check in, they don’t need to stay long, they don’t need to sit, just quick contact with us and they can go play again.
- Let’s go- We use “let’s go” during off leash walks, this just means come in my general direction but no need to come all the way.
Come! 
Here! 
Let’s go!
We have also taught them to come check in naturally when off leash, they are expected to check in with us often, we fed them for their automatic check ins every single time until they were about 8 months old, and now being 10 months (Myrtle) and 13 months (Petunia) we still feed them about 50% of the time for checking in, the other 50% we praise them for checking in but don’t feed. Once they are older it’s important to continue rewarding them for their automatic check ins, but not nearly as often! This is how you create a perfect off leash dog!
There are many techniques to teach a recall, and we recommend using more than one! We’ve used so many techniques to teach a solid recall, it keeps it fun and exciting for the dog. We’ll explain 2 of our favourite ways down below. Teaching the recall should be the most fun your dog ever has, you want to know that your dog is going to come every single time you call. You need to learn to be more exciting than anything else to your dog, this will keep your dog interested.
Method #1
It will take so much practice to get your dog reliable off leash, but it is worth it! Start by having your dog on a leash, say “come” and back up a few steps as you lure them with a treat, as they catch up to you lift the treat up to your belly and they should naturally sit; Then say “yes” and feed. Repeat this about 1000 times, and they’ll come running and sit in front of you when you say “come”. They’ll get it after a few tries, but this is something that you can never practice enough! Eventually you can have them on a long line and wait for them to get distracted and say “come” and they should come running and sit in front of you. If they won’t get distracted (this is awesome if your dog is this attentive ) simply throw some treats away to get them to leave, then call them back to you after they are finished eating the treats!
Method #2
Another great method works best with toys, but if your dog is not toy motivated, it can also be done with treats. You’ll need 2 people for this one, a long line, and a toy on a string.
So get your helper to hold the dog on a long line but by the collar so they can’t get far, you’ll take the toy and tease the dog with it a little bit, make them really want that toy! Then you’ll leave and stop about half the length of the long line, turn to look at your dog and say “come” or whatever word you’d like to use and get your helper to release the dog, once they start coming drop the toy (while holding onto the string) and run away while dragging the toy and get the dog to catch the toy.
If you’re using treats simply tease them with the treat, then go then call them, run away then reward with the treat when they catch you.
IMPORTANT
The most important thing about teaching a good recall is, never let your dog off leash fully until they are reliably coming back every single time. Keep your dog on a long line so you can grab them if needed. Taking them off the long line too early can cause them to make the wrong decision and not come when called. If they learn to do that, it’ll set you back in your training and they can start playing “catch me if you can”. The goal is to never let it get to that point, but if that’s where you and your dog already are, then the above methods with the long line can help fix your recall as well!
Tell us which method is your favourite!