All dogs need a good run off-lead in a safe place at least once a day, to help them stay happy and fit. However, it is an owner’s legal responsibility to ensure that their dog is under control at all times in a public place – so being able to get your dog to come back to you when you call him is very important.
Stage one – introducing the basic idea that coming to you is a good thing!
• At your dog’s normal dinner time, wherever you usually feed him, ask your helper to gently hold onto his collar.
• Put one of the portions of food into your dog’s bowl, show it to him and back away for about 10 steps.
• Bend down with the bowl so that it is at your dog’s level and call your dog to you in a happy voice – using first his name and then a command word, for example “Rover, come”.
• Your helper should let your dog go and if he is hungry he should come straight to you.
• As he gets to you, reach out to gently touch his collar (to get him used to the idea of you putting his lead on). Give him lots of praise, put his bowl on the floor and let him eat.
• Repeat this until you have used up all of the portions of dinner.
• Do this every day for a week. At the end of the week, if he is coming to you every time you can move on to the next stage. If not, then continue for another week until he really gets the idea.
Tips for better success
• If you have been using “come” as a command up till now without success, then this may be a good time to change it. Try “here” or perhaps even a whistle which can be easier for a dog to hear when out on the park. Once you choose a new command you must stick to it, or you’ll confuse your dog and he may never learn what you really want him to do.
• Don’t give treats or any other food at any other time during this training. He needs to be a bit hungry so he’ll really look forward to you calling him.
• Even though your dog may already be happy to come when you call him in the home, you still need to do this initial bit of training. The idea is to completely retrain the recall command and turn it into a great game for your dog. Skipping a stage may affect the rest of the training.
• During this time, walk your dog on a long or extending lead. If you punish him in any way for not coming to you on a walk during this early training time, it may undo all the good work that you are achieving.
Stage two – coming when he can’t see you
• Now it gets even more fun for your dog. Do exactly the same as in stage one, but start moving further away from him.
• Eventually leave the room completely – your dog should now be straining to get to you.
• Make sure that your helper lets go of your dog the moment that you call him.
• Do this in as many different places in your home and garden as possible. Get your helper to release your dog from different rooms or the garden, as well as you moving about with his dinner portion.
• Your dog should be having great fun by now trying to find you when you call him. Do this for a week and if he is coming every time as soon as you call, you can move onto the next stage.
Stage three – introducing the ‘sit’ command for greater control
• Do exactly as in stage two, but this time as your dog reaches you, lift his bowl over his head and towards his bottom and he should automatically sit.
• When he is in the sit position, give him lots of praise and touch his collar as you put his food down immediately for him to eat.
• If you do this every time, your dog will soon learn to sit as soon as he reaches you without being told. When this is happening you can move onto the next stage.
Stage four – making the recall more reliable by changing the rules
• Now you need to change things slightly to make the game more interesting for your dog.
• When your dog comes to you on command, sometimes clip his lead on before giving him his food.
• Sometimes call him without showing him first that you have his food.
• Other times ask your helper to distract your dog by talking to him or petting him.
• If your dog is still coming to you immediately and willingly, go on to the next stage.
Stage five – keep him guessing and he’ll try even harder!
• Now you can use treats instead of his dinner in portions – but make sure that they are your dog’s favourites. It has to be something that he really wants. Remember to give him lots of praise and fuss as well as the treat when he comes to you.
• Do exactly the same as in stage four but with the treats. This means that you can now do this training at any time of the day, rather than just at his usual dinner time.
• Change the type of treat from time to time and sometimes give him a larger amount than usual as a big ‘jackpot’. Other times play a game with his favourite toy when he reaches you or just give him lots and lots of praise and cuddles.
• If you change the reward every time that you call him, this will actually make him try harder to get it right - just in case he hits the ‘jackpot’ i.e. the treat, game or fuss that he wants the most. Strangely enough it has the same effect as gambling has on humans!