A reliable recall is one of the most important things to teach your pup, to the point where it can even save his life if you ever need to call him back to you, away from a potentially dangerous situation. Consider the following scenarios:
- Your dog accidentally gets out of the gate and takes off. In his excitement he doesn’t even notice other dogs or cars that could hurt him. Our first instinct is often to run after the dog while hysterically calling him, but let’s face it, this only leads to chaos! Your dog is faster than you and the outside world is full of new things to sniff. Now, eventually you might catch your dog and proceed to yell at him. He will remember this, and next time he will be even less inclined to come back to you – it’s a vicious circle! Now imagine how much less stressful it would have been if you could just call your dog, and he happily returns to you.
- Off-leash time at the park is great fun for both dog and owner. But anything can happen, and having a dog who comes when you call him is vital for safe off-leash walks. Your dog might, for example, approach a dog who is on lead and who is not comfortable with other dogs. You need to respect this, be vigilant of what your dog does and call him away from on-lead dogs to avoid potential conflict.
Here is a step-by-step video to show you how to recall your dog:
The secret behind teaching the recall is that your dog views you as the most interesting, most wonderful thing in the world! You need to be better than anything your dog is sniffing, and better than the fun he is having. It does take some work.
