Dog Training Basics: The Recall - teaching your dog to come when called

Posted by Clare Bristow | Leave a Comment

dog-recall-command One of the most important things you can teach your dog to do is to come to you when you ask him to.

Understanding and obeying this recall command could make the difference between life and death for your dog. It's a non-negotiable command; however, it's one we seem to have trouble teaching our dogs to do on a consistent basis.

I think the main reason for this is because we are inconsistent with our dog training . If we want our dogs to come to us 100% of the time, we have to make sure that every time we tell them to come, they do.

So how do we do that? First, start teaching the command when your dog is a puppy and, secondly, when you start training him, only ever ask your dog to come when you know you can enforce it - it's easier to pull your dog towards you if he's on his lead than it is to try and make him come to you when he's running around the dog park having a good time.

Trying to teach your dog the recall when you are in a dog park is unfair on both of you. Your dog will be too distracted by new smells and other dogs to focus, and as a result you will end up calling your dog with an angry/frustrated voice, which will hardly encourage him to come to you!

Here is a short dog training video showing you fun ways to teach your dog the recall command - it's good for both puppies and older dogs who need some retraining!