Making Recall Training a Happy and Memorable Experience

Owning a dog requires investing a lot of time and effort into training them to do and learn about many things. It may necessitate so much from you, but you know in the long run it will be worth it – for your dog will become happier, healthier, safer and a lot more pleasant to deal with.

This doesn’t mean training your dog should always be a strict and rigorous process. On the contrary, whatever it is that you want your dog to learn should be taught in as fun and as loving a way as possible for the best possible results.

After all, don’t you learn best when you are happy and motivated by your teacher? If adults are better able to absorb learning in this manner, then we can certainly expect the same from our dogs!

This is especially true when it comes to recall training – something so essential in keeping your dog safe, especially when you are in a public place. Because recall training is very important, many dog owners tend to prioritize this in order to get the habit firmly established.

It is most dog owner’s dream to give their dogs the happiest and fastest experience in recall training – and this is what we’re going to discuss more about in this article!

No Secrets Necessary

A quick online search on recall training will reveal so many strategies that often sound similar to one another. Once you find them, there’s no excuse to dig deeper. The bottom line is there is no secret move or trick into making recall training more effective than what it is that you’ve already searched for.

The simple ingredients to this? Dedication, consistency, hard work, mutual respect, and love! The last two are particularly important, because both will determine how high your dog’s level of motivation will be when you finally embark on your recall training experience.

Making Recall Training a Mindful Experience

When you create the recall training experience, you need to put your whole mind and heart into it. This will be necessary in getting your dog to heed your call and run back to you when called, choosing to prioritize you over any other distraction in the environment. For this to happen, you need to employ the strategies you’ve learned as well as deliver it with the most earnest of intentions.

Your sincerity will come out in your words and actions such that your dog will easily see how much you want him to come back to you. As a dog owner, seeing your pet scrambling to run back to you will be one of the best experiences in your life – and you will naturally want to maintain that level from there on in!

Compared to other training procedures, recall training is special because of its real-life safety applications. Other training procedures such as “sit-stay” or a sit-in-front perfect square positions may win applause in the obedience category, but they aren’t functional experiences that will serve the dog well in real life.

Recall training, on the other hand, requires eliciting a behavior in a natural environment and using it when necessary – and in many cases, it will be all about saving your dog’s life.

You will know when recall training has paid off when you are out in public and call your dog to come to you so you can steer him away from potential danger. When it used to be fun to see his rear legs flying about towards you, you will soon feel the relief that comes with being able to extricate your dog away from a dangerous situation just in the nick of time.

You’ll feel glad that you’ve had a lot of times to practice recall training, and in the moment where you truly needed it the most it worked splendidly. Otherwise, you may be filled with panic!

Not an Impossible Feat

Training a dog to perfect the recall command is never impossible. In fact, even older dogs have been known to understand and carry out recall training, provided that they were well-invested in it by their dog owners even in their advanced age.

When things seem hopeless and you feel like giving up, the important thing to remember is that this is the kind of training that will help ensure your dog’s safety. Having said that, here are two more things that you need to keep in mind every time you set out for another opportunity to practice recall training:

1. Owner-Pet Relationship.

For recall training to be successful, your dog should enjoy being in your company. This necessitates having a very good relationship with it. For the relationship to be considered enjoyable, the sense of enjoyment should come from the dog.

Your dog needs to feel that he is 100% safe and totally at ease in your presence because your company is pleasurable and you have a lot of great treats and games that he always looks forward to.

With that, you need to be careful not to do or say anything that can hamper this relationship. Avoid using a cranky voice when you give out commands and strive to maintain the same level of enthusiasm when you interact your dog (or even higher, if you can!).

When you give a command and your dog obediently follows, always make sure that you have a doggie treat to reward him with because this will ensure that your status as an authority “bearer of gifts” will always be present in his mind. If this isn’t the case, he will have no reason to come to you because there is nothing in it for him.

Treats don’t always have to be food – you can also use water, other refreshments, games, favorite toys, games, and many more. Anything that you can think of that your dog will like will be a good candidate for a treat.

2. “Come” as a Loving Word.

And of course, you need to teach your dog to love the command word “come”. Whenever you say come, it should fill your dog with excitement and desire to make his way back to you instead of chasing those butterflies at the part. “Come” should always mean something good for your dog, otherwise he will not want to heed your call!

Here’s the next step: 

If you’d like something as a reminder when you are recall training your dog, then download the bonus below.

You’ll receive a free step-by-step checklist that shows you the process to ensure your dog comes to you every time you call.