Recall
Step 1: Start with your dog on a leash. Using your dog's name to get their attention (in an excited voice), add your verbal cue right away, 'come' or 'here' as you walk quickly backwards getting them to follow you.
Step 2: Once they follow you, 'mark' and treat. Make sure that your dog fully comes towards you (not out of reach) before treating them.
Step 3: Repeat this a number of times so that it becomes natural.
Step 4: Once comfortable, begin adding a collar grab when they come to you. So treat with one hand, and touch their collar with the other. That way they associate you reaching for their collar, with something positive.
Step 5: You can then begin creating more distance between you and your dog and adding more distractions little by little to achieve a solid recall.
Fun & Games
Get It Game – Recall Training
The “Get It Game” can be used to teach a great recall. This is as easy and comfortable as dog training can get. You can do it while watching TV, cooking dinner, reading – anytime. It’s the foundation for a good, solid recall.
Toss a treat so that your dog can see where it goes. Tell her to “get it!”
Once she’s gotten the treat, say “Fluffy, come!” in a nice, friendly tone, and hold ONE treat out in your hand for her to see.
When she gets to you, give her the treat while you hook a finger from the other hand through her collar. Then throw another treat and tell her to “get it!”. Your dog will quickly learn to come back to your side.
If your dog doesn’t come when you say her name, don’t repeat the cue. Walk up to her, put the treat under her nose and lure her back to where you started. Give her the treat when you get back to your starting point. If she didn’t follow that treat, you either need higher value treats, to go back to a shorter distance or play “The Name Game” first! Practice this several times a day in several locations. You can do this outside with your dog on-leash or long line, or in a fenced yard off-leash.
Jackpot Recall
The Jackpot Recall is an incredibly useful tool to keep in your training toolbox. It's meant to be used in potentially dangerous situations where you need your dog to come back to you as quickly as possible.
Charging Your Jackpot Cue
Come up with a word that will ONLY be used for Jackpot Recall. This recall word should not be used for anything else. Begin by practicing this in your home, in a distraction-free area.
Start with your dog close to you and call out your jackpot cue.
Immediately give your dog 30 seconds of jackpot reward. This means small bites of that highest value treat, one right after another. Pair this treating with over-the-top excitement and verbal praise.
Then give your release cue — “All done” or “Okay”. Wait about thirty seconds to a minute, then repeat
Practice this 2-3 times a day for a week, or until your dog shows immediate response and anticipation at the word before moving on.
Distance
Add distance. Once your dog has connected the jackpot cue to an amazing reward, you want to start to add some distance before you give your dog the cue.
Start just a short distance away, about 6 feet. Say your verbal cue for the emergency recall. If you’ve been consistent in charging the cue, when they hear the word they should run over to you for their 30 seconds of reward!
Release them with their release cue, let them wander away and lose a bit of focus, then repeat.
Slowly work on adding more and more distance to the jackpot recall. Don’t work too far away too quickly, as this is setting up the cue for failure. Start with about 6 feet (or the length of a leash), then add a few feet each training session.
Distraction
After getting your dog conditioned to the recall word and working on adding distance, you can start to practice around distractions.
Start with low-level distractions and make sure that you’re using the highest value reward, treating and praising for a continuous 30 seconds each time.
Begin in a fully fenced area, where your dog is off leash but has some distractions with different smells and noises (not an offleash park!), or use a long lead and practice in a small park or field.
Practice while out on walks when your dog is engrossed in a smell, then give the cue and reward.
Your tone: When you're practicing this cue, try to keep your tone of voice happy and your volume should be rather loud. Think about when you'll be using this cue in an emergency — you'll be a bit panicked as your dog takes off away from you, and if you've only ever practiced in a soft or quiet voice, your dog might not even hear you! A happy tone encourages your dog to come back to you for fun and rewards and can help keep you calm in an emergency situation.
Maintain the Cue
Now that you've worked on adding distance and distraction to your dog's emergency recall, you'll want to maintain the value of the word. You do not need to practice this cue as often as you did while first introducing it, but keep the power of that emergency word by randomly practicing it one or two times a week. You always need to have your high value reward ready for when you ask your dog for their emergency recall. I like to prepare my dog's emergency recall reward the night before I plan on practicing it, and then I can easily pull it out of the refrigerator the next day.
Do not overuse this cue! It is meant to be used in emergency situations only, and the word needs to retain its powerful charge for it to be reliable. If you do use it in an emergency where your dog does not receive the jackpot food reward, you do want to still reward with lots of high-energy praise and petting. Make sure your dog knows how amazing they are for running back to you when they heard their cue! Then spend the next couple of days re-charging your emergency recall cue, working through steps 1 through 3 as needed to make sure your dog still has a strong response and association to their word.
With contributions from IAABC & Preventive Vet