Off-leash skills— Teaching your dog to come when called around distractions
Recall, also known as “come when called” is a simple behavior to teach, but is difficult for our dogs to do consistently unless we set them up for success. A dog who is ENGAGED knows that payments (praise, treats, toys, and fun) come from their handler and is motivated to work with their human. Before we can ask a dog to follow cues, have good manners, or be safe off leash, we must show them that listening to us is in their best interest.
The following 5 rules of thumb for building a great recall should help!
Top 5 Rules Of Recall
#1 Make it FUN!
Recall should ALWAYS be fun. Never use your recall cue for things that aren’t fun for your dog such as leaving the dog park, getting a bath or trimming their toenails. Do use their recall cue for all things that result in pleasant outcomes. That could be recalling your dog to give them a treat, invite them to play, or to feed them breakfast.
#2 Don't Wear it Out
When trying to recall your dog, say the recall cue once and one time only. If you are having to repeat your cue to get your dog coming towards you then you are asking for a recall that is too difficult.
#3 Name As a Barometer
Use your dog’s name as a barometer for success! If you say your dog’s name and they don’t enthusiastically turn their head, then don’t use the recall cue. Doing so will only “pollute” the cue and teach your dog how easy it is to blow off his or her recall cue.
#4 Set Realistic Expectations
Not all recall situations should be treated equally. Asking your dog to come when called in the backyard is pretty easy, but asking for the same behavior at the dog park is like asking them to perform a collegiate level recall. Ask yourself, “Did I properly train my dog for a collegiate level recall?” If not, then don’t ask them to recall in those difficult situations until they are ready.
#5 Great Rewards Get Great Recalls
Find out what motivates your dog above all else and use that as their recall reward. If they are obsessed with cheese, then reserve cheese for recall and recall alone. Recall is the one cue that you should always pay your dog for!
Does your dog struggle to come when called or listen when off leash? We have a group class is designed just for you! This affordable, reward-based clicker training class will enhance and elevate your relationship with your dog and teach them to listen to you when off-leash. Learn a variety of games that will help you and your dog each thrive in your lives together.
The first step to teaching recall
Charge your recall cue:
The beginning stages of teach a recall cue are really quite simple. In class we discuss taking time to teach our dogs that their recall cue is highly reinforcing and meaningful by simply pairing the word with a super novel and high value treat.
Choosing your recall cue
Your dog's recall cue should be a novel word that is unlikely to be heard in everyday conversation, and unlikely to be over-used by family members, especially your young kiddos if you have them. This is because your dog's recall cue should be kept absolutely SACRED in order to keep the value high. The more your dog hears their cue without getting properly rewarded, the less meaningful it will become. Therefore, choosing a word that is less common is ideal as it will inherently remain more powerful.
In the following video you will see coach Brie Blakeman charging up Panda's recall cue which is "Kiwi". It doesn't matter what cue you use, it just matters that it is successfully paired with a high value treat.
Follow The 80% 20% Guide
Behaviors that our dog enjoys performing, which routinely end in desirable consequences will be reliable & consistent.
The 80% 20% guide can help us set our dogs up to succeed. This guide states that 80% of the time we cue a challenging “high stakes” behavior, our dog should not only receive a high value reward for their performance, but they should also be invited to return to the activity we pulled them away from. This prevents us from accidentally "poisoning" the cue by setting up our requests to routinely predict the end of a fun activity.
A common scenario would be the dog who will not come inside from the yard when called, because the door is always closed behind them. To a dog, this is an undesirable consequence and their recall cue will begin to predict the end of fun.
To change their associations we would start to apply the 80% 20% guide.
Instead of recalling them inside and closing the door, we would recall them inside several times when we don't need them to come inside, reward them with a piece of cheese (or any other high value treat) and then send them back outside. If 8 out of 10 times they are released back to the yard, and only 2 out of 10 times does the door closes preventing their return, the dog won't be able to predict when they will get removed from the yard. They will also learn to trust that most of the time they are coming inside for a snack and heading right back out again.
By doing training setups where the dog is able to safely return to the activity they are invested in we can tip the scales of reinforcement in our dog’s favor so they truly believe that most of the time they are called away from an item of interest, they get to return to it after collecting a tasty treat from us. The remaining 20% is then reserved for real life situations where the dog must truly be removed from the activity they were engaging in because it is unsafe for themselves or others. With practice, your dog won’t think twice about responding to their recall cue.
Keep realistic expectations
Factors that increase difficulty level
Proximity to the distraction: the closer your dog is the harder it will be
Activity level of the distraction: faster moving and more active distractions will be harder
How satiated your dog is on a given day: if your dogs enrichment and exercise needs have not yet been met, they will be more invested in completing instinctive pursuits over coming when called
Lack of novel rewards: if the rewards you are using are not novel your dog will be less motivated to choose that over a distraction
Novel environments: if the environment you are in is novel to your dog they will have a harder time focusing
Reward with life rewards
A life reward is anything that your dog wants in their daily life. It could be an activity your dog enjoys doing, access to something they want in the environment, and in general anything they want that you cannot put in your pockets, such as treats and toys.
We can use life rewards to reward our dogs behavior in place of those things. In fact, sometimes a life reward is going to be more exciting and reinforcing to your dog than anything treat you could give them.
This theory is known by behavior professionals as The Premack Principle, but you can just call it “grandma's law.” You have to eat your veggies if you want that ice cream after dinner!
Premack Principle is a law of behavior that states that a high-probability behavior reinforces a low-probability behavior. That means that a preferred behavior can be used to reinforce a less favored behavior.
High-probability behaviors are what the dog wants or wants to do; low-probability behaviors are what you want your dog to do. To apply this principle in real life you first need to think of the things that your dog wants.
So what life rewards motivate your dog?
Make a list of all the things that your dog loves, especially the less obvious ones. Anything that the dog needs your thumbs for that you can't put in your pockets! Some examples include...
Walking/ continuing to move forward
Saying Hi to dogs/people (not always recommended but worth noting as valuable)
Coming inside after a walk
Going outside for a walk
Getting a leash put on/ taken off
Getting up on the furniture
Getting out of the crate or any confined area like the car
Standing in the kitchen while you cook or eat
Following you into the bathroom
Getting to sniff that bush on your walk
Crossing the street to access the park
Getting taken off leash at the park
Chasing that squirrel
Access to a body of water for swimming or wading
Getting to dig for critters or just for fun