Back to: Restorative Recall
What happened to my Recall?
You may have wondered “well, they used to have good recall as puppies!” and that may very well be! There are tons of reasons a recall can breakdown and disappear over time. Let’s go over some of the most likely reasons!
Not Engaging and Fun enough for your dog
When we have puppies, they are often easily enticed and curious little creatures. But as they get older and we start falling into a routine of a daily walk for them, and that’s about it. We start seeing their recall diminish as time goes on, and their interests lead them elsewhere.
This is usually because we have become merely “the one who lets me out to pee and fills up my food bowl” in our dog’s lives. We aren’t the fun, amazing person we used to be when they were puppies. In order for our dogs to want to come to us no matter the situation, we need to up our game and become the reward! We want our dogs to think we are the best thing ever! This course will help you with that!
Their Recall cue always ends their fun
Often times people will only call their dogs when its home time, time for their kennel, a bath, or something that usually ends their fun. We want their recall cue to mean PARTY TIME! LET’S HAVE MORE FUN! Instead of: ok, funs over get in your kennel, or let’s go home so you can be bored and sleep. We will change that with this course!
They get in trouble when they finally do come to you
Let’s say you are out on a walk, you see another dog and call your dog to you. But instead, they run over to greet the other dog and his owner. You get frustrated INSTANTLY! “how could he, how could he not come to me..what a bad dog” you may think. Then you call him a third time and Finally! “Oh?” he turns to you can run or walks your way. THEN, when he gets to you the first thing you say is “BAD DOG! NO! You come to me when I call!!” What your dog understood from that, was that he got punished for coming to you when he got called over…now, do you think he wants to come next time if all that awaits him is a scolding?
I encourage you to never punish your dog when you get him or he finally comes to you in any situation. The only thing you can do is reward with a good boy! Show him he was just missing out on the fun and treats, and then live and learn. Time for a refresher! Practice recall in sessions and don’t let him off-leash with distractions anymore. Go back to kindergarten and practice recall from square 1.
Need to give your dog more reasons to come to you
We need to ALWAYS reward our dog for a good recall. Whether it’s a ball, toy, or a favourite treat or belly rub or releasing him to go back and play. We always want to remember to reward their recall and not bribe them (don’t show them the treat or reward to get them to come to you). You need to build up a repertoire of rewarding your dog for perfect recalls in training sessions, before you can practice and do so in real-life situations.
Why do you think your recall slowly disappeared? Tell us your story in the FB group!