Teach Your Dog to Come When Called

One of the most important skills you will ever teach your dog is to come to you reliably on command. It could literally save their life one day. Having a dog who comes reliably gives them freedom to enjoy life and gives you the freedom to enjoy them.

It’s truly a win-win! But where do you start? How do you get there? There are many methods that will all work equally well. When we work with people who have dogs who won’t come when they are called, it’s always the same story. It’s not the methods they’ve used, but the lack of focus and the lack of consistency that causes their recall to fail. With that in mind, here are a few hard and fast rules to stick to when teaching a reliable recall.

Keep Your Dog On Leash

Until they know how to come reliably, they should always be managed. One of the worst things you can do for your recall training is to allow your dog the freedom to ignore you. Puppies are very cooperative. They often make us feel a false sense of security because they follow us around and convince us that they’re always going to! Flash forward a few weeks and you’ll start to notice that there’s a lot more interest in the big world, and the puppy who was so eager to look to you now has their own agenda. Don’t allow them the freedom to learn to ignore your come cue. Keep a leash on for control at all times!