Training your dog to come back when called. 28/06/09
Having trouble getting your puppy to come back to you when off leash?
The dream scenario is letting your dog run free in the park. By coupling your dog coming back to you with the association of food this can be achieved pretty quickly.
In the house…
Start teaching the recall in the house. Call your puppy to you and give them a tasty treat every time they respond to their name. See teaching my puppy its name. If your dog is too slow to respond, do not treat your dog. This teaches them they need to respond quickly, which is going to be very important when you are out.
When feeding…
When feeding your puppy, place the food down and blow on a whistle twice. This will create an association between the whistle and food. Therefore when you go out your dog will hear the whistle and run over to you expecting food which is the point when you will give them a treat. This is a great way to get a good response.
When out…
Take advantage of your puppy being a little clingy at first, take him to the park and let him off the leash as soon as possible. Young puppies will naturally follow you around, every time the pup comes near you give him a treat to teach him that being around you and coming back is advantageous. Hide behind trees and call your puppy over and treat. This teaches your puppy to keep an eye on you. Alternate between using the whistle to recall them back and their name so if you get caught without a whistle you can still get them back!
If your puppy is in the habit of running away….
Buy a washing line and tie one end to you and one end to your pup’s collar. When your dog runs off call her/him, if she/he doesn’t respond pick up the line and reel them in. Still reward when they get back so you can teach them hearing their name means they get a treat. This will take a fair bit of repetition as with any behaviour modification but when your dog comes back consistently without you having to reel them in you can begin to assess if you can let your dog off leash.
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7 Responses to this article
This is great advice. We do have a few stubborn ones that do not come back when called. I will give these a try! Thank you.
This is really awesome advice. Thank you! I’ll definitley need this in the near-future.
How do you get a 6 month pup to come back when she is playing with other dogs??
I would put her on a long line like a washing line. Attach it to her collar and the other end to you, giving her the freedom to run and play with the other dogs. Then when you call her only say her name once (make sure you have properly taught the name and used the whistle whilst feeding as detailed in teaching the name article and feeding article). If she ignores you, you can reel her in gently, reward and praise. It should only take a few go’s for her to click that coming back to you is good. Also save the best treats for when you are with other dogs ie. sausage/cheese and show her it but don’t let her eat it before she greets the other dog; then she will really know what she is coming back for! On another note, don’t put her on the leash every time she returns, vary it, give her a treat and tell her to go play again and the next time leash her, otherwise she will learn coming back to you means no more playtime! Let me know how you get on!
Good post, I bookmarked your blog so I can visit again in the near future, Cheers, Keli Agle
Hi there,
I’m hoping you can give me some help/advice!
We are training our 1 year old dog the recall and loose lead walking, he loves other dogs and sniffing and its quite difficult to keep his attention but were trying slowly. He’s been used to in the past long walks off the lead and has been allowed to always play with other dogs and run around. He has lots of energy and my problem is that with the training hes not being let of the lead or training rope and were are only doing short stints 10-20 mins at a time and i feel that this is a bit cruel to him.
Do you have any advice of how i can tire him out but without letting him off the lead? If i let him off the training lead now he will still run off with other dogs so i can’t do this.
Any advice on how to tire him will be great!
Thanks
Hannah
Hi!
Have you looked at this post ? how to entertain your dog . Training your dog will tire him mentally which will drain a lot of his energy. You can also make sure you do this before you take him out or play with him and then your training sessions will also be more effective. Let me know if you need more ideas than are in the link as i am full of them