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Teaching a Solid Recall

Updated: Feb 8, 2021


The recall is one of THE most important things we can teach a puppy. When a young puppy first joins your family, he has a natural instinct to follow you. I use this instinct to train my puppies to come when called. We spend a lot of time in the yard working and playing off leash. Every minute or so, I quickly move away from my puppy while saying, "COME!" and then I ALWAYS give my puppy a treat for doing so. I feed him a treat, take hold of his collar (because it's good practice and prevents the "catch-me-if-you-can game") and then let him go play again.

I do this A LOT! Multiple times a day, every day until my puppies know that when I say the word, "COME," it means they will get a treat and a scratch under the collar EVERY TIME. I start by calling my puppy to me from 2-3 feet away. Then I progress to 6 feet, 10 feet, 20 feet until finally my pups can be running on the opposite end of my acreage and come running from over 300 feet away. Every. Single. Time.


4 Comments


David Pigott
Nov 12, 2024

We have a 3 year old doodle and he resists recall. Do I follow the same recall routine as you recommend for a puppy?

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hslgsrgirl
Jan 24, 2023

Hi, I had a similar question. how do I access Lesson 2.1?

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The garage door was left open. My 9 week Havanese puppy bolted out and would not respond to my calling and saying "Pepper come!"as she went into my neighbor's yard. Suggestions please

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BAXTER & Bella
BAXTER & Bella
Feb 22, 2021
Replying to

You'll want to visit Lesson 2.1 Come and start making this a very rewarding experience for Pepper. Teach her come means to come get a piece of yummy food then you let her go back to play right away. This way she learns coming to check in is well worth her time and most likely she gets to go right back to what she was doing. Oftentimes we ruin this word because it always means we stop play or go inside. Making it something really rewarding to do then helps in times when they get out by accident.

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