Recall – Practical Tips for Teaching the Most Important Life Skill! part 2.

6. Controlling Your Reactions in the Face of Excitement

Another point to tick off the list! You might think that incredibly difficult and advanced exercises will be needed here because the point sounds too smart (I’ve been told to use fancy words because it makes me seem smarter than I actually am 😜), but no! Once again, it's all about the daily work with your dog and training during normal, everyday activities. I’m talking about things like preparing your dog’s meal, going for a walk, starting a game, and soooo many more. It’s about the dog’s ability to refrain from impulsive reactions in favor of polite behaviors, to "unlock" access to what they desire.

I sneak a lot of exercises related to this skill in the form of activities on the dog’s bed (and that’s one of the reasons I love them so much!) or during toy playtime. The key here is clear communication, challenges tailored to the dog (for example, we don't put food on a beginner dog’s nose and paws and wait 10 minutes for them to stop drooling... or force a dog who's just learning to play to sit and ignore moving toys right under their nose...), and SUCCESS, meaning successful repetitions and rewarding the dog for making the right choice 🙂

If the dog can control their behavior in the face of distractions and visions of "wildness" – it will be easier for them to control their urge to get to something you just called them away from 🤔
Here’s one of the first and simplest exercises with food and a dog bed that I use as small steps building the foundation for calling the dog away from temptations 🙂

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/c2nfnQmi1BY

7. The "Release Command" – Ending the Task

In recall exercises, your dog needs to understand when they can shift their focus away from you. In safe distraction situations, you can reward the dog “environmentally” – meaning, you can let them access what they wanted after being called back. For example, imagine walking and spotting a dog your dog knows (or just a dog they like). They’ll likely want to rush to greet it. You can recall them, reward them for coming back to you, and then release them to go and greet the dog. The dog benefits twice: first, for coming back to you, and secondly, for getting what they wanted.

But there’s a key point here: we need to prevent a situation where your dog grabs a treat and bolts toward the thing they were just called away from. Control is essential. The dog can only leave once you release them with the correct “end of task” command.

This is especially important when working with multiple dogs. If they can break away whenever they want, you'd be chasing the last one to reward them while the first one would already be halfway through the forest 🏃‍♂️.

8. Can't Control Your Dog? You Need to Control the Environment!

This is both the simplest and most challenging point. It’s tough for owners with well-behaved dogs who “just want to say hello.” Well, unfortunately, if your dog isn’t prepared to be off-leash in specific situations, you need to keep them on a leash or long line. Personally, I really dislike training leashes (I have no idea why, but they make me uneasy!), but I do put a lot of work into gradually increasing the difficulty of the environments in which I train.

After adopting an adult dog, I reluctantly bought two professional Biothane long lines, and I was pleasantly surprised (even though I may have gotten a bit tangled in them a few times). The key is choosing the right environment for training. For example, finding a lovely empty field means little if it’s covered in cow patties and your dog loves them. Or training in a closed area is pointless if you’ve left a bag of your dog’s favorite toys lying around – and your dog is a bit of a thief 😅.

This point requires thoughtful planning and some imagination to anticipate potential challenges. But I respect my readers, so I know you can handle it 🧠.

9. The End of the Behavior – What Happens When the Dog Returns?

Let’s break this down further, because I feel it’s important. There’s a common belief that a recall means the dog should return, sit in front of you, look at you, and then get a reward (often a head pat 😄). Why? I don’t know, but obedience sports are a different thing than life skills. In real life, you won’t encounter a judge who will give you a score and say, “Hmm, you get 5/10 because your dog didn’t sit in front of you!”

Recall is meant for you to function with your dog in everyday life. So, as long as your dog returns to you, you can leash them, stop them briefly, or hold them in place until further instructions. How the behavior ends depends on you. In my training, the final goal of recall is for the dog to come to my hand (even to an empty hand!) or for me to grab their collar/harness. If I’m not reaching for the dog, that’s the cue to wait for further instructions (such as a “sit” command).

While learning and reinforcing recall (and it’s something we reinforce for life, trust me, my dog Wena taught me that 😂), the reward is almost always in motion, about 80-90% of the time. Only when the dog is fully focused and following me do I then ask for stillness, like a “sit” or “down.” I even practice training dogs to switch from high-energy chase mode into a calm, static position, which you can see in the videos attached to previous posts.

10. Muscle Memory and the Power of Repetition

Here’s the secret: you can’t master recall without practicing it. Set aside 2 short training sessions per day, 2-5 minutes each, and your success rate will skyrocket 📈. In the video with Ravka (from the second point), we did 12 recalls in one session!

Your dog should react instinctively when they hear the recall command. If you only call them when absolutely necessary, your dog may start to think, “What am I giving up by coming to you?” The goal is to make the recall an automatic response, meaning your dog will come running to you at full speed when they hear the cue 🏃‍♂️.

To achieve this, you need a lot of repetitions – and I mean a LOT. We’ve turned recall into a ritual during our walks. Every now and then, I’ll call one of my dogs just to remind them of the game. If I have an imperfect recall, I plan a few more training sessions to prove to them that coming to me is worth it! With five dogs, four of which I train daily, there’s always plenty of practice to be had!

If “muscle memory” and “repetition” are new terms to you, I recommend looking up their definitions. Trust me, they’re important.

That’s it for today. Remember, this isn’t a step-by-step guide on how to teach recall. Rather, it’s a collection of inspiration for exercises that will help improve your dog’s recall skills.

Good luck with your training, and I hope you have many successful recalls ahead! 🐕✨