Recall Is a Relationship, Not a Routine
Some say your dog's recall is all (and only) about your relationship with your dog.
Some say it is all (and only) just about training your dog to come back to you. You know, purely the mechanical skills.
But it isn’t one or the other.
It’s both…and a whole bunch of other stuff too!
If you pigeon hole recall training as one single thing, you're missing the point.
To me, recall naturally matures and gets better over time, but only if you work on your relationship and their skills consistently.
It’s no good never engaging with your dog on a walk and then expecting them to want to recall to you every time.
It’s no good just training their recall to just the foundation levels and expecting them to recall to you every time.
It’s no good if you haven’t trained impulse control, you don’t play games with them or you don’t interact with them much at home or outside. It’s no good if you haven’t considered what breed specific skills you need to work on, or have missed training steadiness, general obedience or advanced steps for recall distraction work. If you can’t get your dog to look away from sheep or pheasants on a lead, don’t expect them to recall to you every time they see one. If you can’t get your dog to sit and wait for you outside, don’t expect a solid recall. If, for example, you have a working line spaniel who is computer programmed to choose the environment over you, don’t just train the basic foundation skills of a recall because you’re going to need so much more for your dog’s recall training to be reliable for life. Or for your hunting dogs, your herding dogs...you get the gist.
And if there's zero connection with you outside anyway, why would your dog come back to you?
It’s not just about the mechanics. It is about relationship, play, engagement, connection, breed skills and time.
It is a beautiful, beautiful skill to train your dog because it involves so much more than people think. Each little intricate skill being as important as the next.
But it isn’t rocket science either. You can start with just increasing the amount of interaction you have with them outdoors as a start. A bit of play together, running and jumping about together. Practice some tricks and silly stuff. Nothing major. Nothing important. Just build that general connection with you outdoors on as many walks as you can.
Recall doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It is a reflection of your entire relationship with your dog.
Happy training xx