How to speed up a recall

How to speed up a recall

Does it feel like your recall is falling on deaf ears when your dog is busy doing something more ‘important’? (Running, chasing, playing, hunting for example!)

Are you confident your dog knows what you are asking when you recall them, but they’re choosing whether to come back or not and when they do it’s in their own time and with no sense of urgency?

Accelerate not decelerate

You need to find something that is more exciting in your dog’s eyes than anything you might encounter out on a walk. So, ask yourself What does your dog find reinforcing? 

For many dogs, that is really high-value food, such as chicken, cheese, sausage or Pâté .

My top tip for speeding up a dog’s return is to think about how you deliver your rewards.

If you reward your dogs from your hand, they will have to decelerate on their way back to come to a stop in front of you and as they slow down may get distracted on the way!

Instead, I encourage you to switch your reward drop zone this week to behind you; use a light-coloured cube of food thrown behind you, so now the dog must accelerate on their way back for the chase!

Trainer Recommended:

My go-to recall reward for this game is Pâté , not only is it tempting and motivating for most breeds of dogs I have worked with, it’s easy for them to spot as contrasts with the grass, and is dense enough to roll out for a chase plus doesn’t go ‘mushy’ like other treats in my pouch.

We’ve just received a new brand of Pate this week, ‘Finer by Nature’, that we will be stocking alongside JR Pet Products; if you would like to try it too, you can check them out by clicking here