Calling All Dogs: Coming When Called

“Poppy, come! Poppy! Poppy, come! Poppy, no! Come!”

We’ve all heard it at the dog park, maybe we’ve even been the person shouting it repeatedly. When we call our dogs, we’re expecting a happy dog to sprint in our direction for the sheer pleasure of returning upon our call. But, what if your dog is joyfully wrestling with another dog, or ecstatically rolling in goose poop? Sometimes that recall goes ignored and as dog owners, we may feel at a loss when we’re faced with fixing this problem.

What is a recall?

That’s a loaded question. Remember that ideal description of what happens when we call our dogs? That mental image of our perfect dog running back simply due to our call. When you break it down, our one cue, “Poppy, come!” means a series of challenging behaviors for our dogs. Let’s use my rolling in goose poop example.

Poppy is enjoying her roll, she hears a call of “Poppy, come!” She then has to orient and hear the cue, disengage from the goose poop, turn in the direction of her owner and, with haste, make her way back. How far is she away from them? At what speed should she move? When she gets there, she’ll also have to get close enough so that she can be gathered and possibly leashed to be brought home.

As you can see, depending on the level of distraction, this one cue represents a series of challenging behaviors that your dog may not understand and may not have been adequately taught from the beginning. Poppy ignores your call, so what can you do now?

Do You Already Have a Recall?

The dream recall, you may already see this when you open up the kibble bag or pick up your dog’s leash.

Funny thing is, your dog probably has many sounds and cues that they run toward you for. What happens when you open the kibble bag to dole out their dinner? I’m guessing there is a perky dog that will come running from their nap spot in the living room. How about when you open the drawer, you know the one...the T-R-E-A-T drawer? How about when you lift the leash from its hook?

Here is the good news, if your dog got excited about any of those sounds I mentioned, you have in effect taught your dog recall. This means that over time, your dog has come to understand that one specific sound predicts really, really good stuff for them. This typically isn’t a one or two repetition process, it happens over the course of history without us really noticing it at first. We can do this same thing, but with a recall cue. No, I’m not telling you to bring the cabinet that holds the treats outside and I’m not saying we need to replicate the sound of the kibble bag. What we can do is establish a cue that means really good stuff for your dog. But first, let’s talk about what to be careful of when establishing that cue.

How We Waste Cues

Remember that person screaming at Poppy at the park? And how Poppy continued to roll and roll oblivious to the anguish of her owner?

Every time you call your dog and they ignore the cue, you are wasting the cue. What does that mean? It means you may be slowly adding to the history of the words, “Poppy, come” meaning absolutely nothing to your dog. Every time you say it, your dog doesn’t respond, and then either nothing happens or perhaps your dog is punished or interrupted, we’re adding to a history. Your dog remembers hearing you say these words and then nothing good happening, so why listen to it now? Or even worse, your dog remembers hearing it, responding, and then something terrible happening like being brought away from their friends.

Well, life isn’t always fun! You can argue this, but I’ll argue that while you’re establishing the cue - life SHOULD always be fun. In fact, that cue should elicit the most fun and most good things that your dog loves.

To stop wasting the cue, I stop saying it entirely if I don’t mean it. If I need my dog to move to me in my house, I use a small noise that I don’t care if they ignore. Or I use a fun hand target (hold out my hand and ask for my dog to “touch” with their nose). Additionally, if I know my dog can’t listen to my cue, I’ll go get them from the activity they’re engaging in and reevaluate whether I should have them off-leash in that situation. I also stop pairing my cue with un-fun things like being leashed up. When I’m first starting to rework a recall cue, I’ll simply move to my dog without calling them to leash them up. I’ll also practice leashing and unleashing at random so that it doesn’t become associated with any cues from me.

Pick a Cue, Build a History

Now that we understand this is a tough behavior and we’ve decided we can embark on the process of building a history of reward, let’s get started. I want to establish that when your dog hears the cue, really good things will happen. Start in your house and choose a recall cue you are comfortable saying in public. I will stick with “Poppy, come” in this example.

• In the house, from 5-10 feet away from your dog, say “Poppy, Come.”

• Walk to your dog, and then feed them 5-10 pieces of meat or cheese in a row.

• Take a break.

It is important to pair the cue with really good food and make sure you feed morsels in a row as opposed to in a pile in your hand. It is also important that your dog isn’t aware the food is present prior to your call. To do this, I often set food out prior to a training session and wait until my dog either forgets, or enough time has passed so that food no longer predicts my call. I want the call to predict the food! Similarly, do this same activity outside.

• Outside, in a non-distracting setting, with your dog on a 6-foot leash, say “Poppy, come.”

• Walk to your dog, and then feed them 5-10 pieces of meat or cheese in a row.

• Take a break.

Does this feel silly? It should, and your dog should love it. It’s also the most important part of this process, where you are simply conditioning your dog to hear their recall cue and then get great stuff! Do this for a week and then add some difficulty. At first, this will be a mild distraction in the house, like your dog playing or looking out of the window. Outside, you’ll add a little more distance by putting them on a long leash (or tying two leashes securely together).

Squirrels, Goose Poop, and Dog Friends, Oh My!

Okay, sure, standing 5 feet away and then just giving my dog meat for free. Yeah, they’ll come to that. How about when I want to call them as they’re chasing a squirrel? To that, I’ll argue that having an ample history of hearing their recall cue and then getting really good stuff will eventually outweigh strong distractions. To start work on this, add distraction into their training program.

Start by following the protocol laid out above for one week, then add the mild distractions I mentioned for the second week. Is your dog perking up when you say those magic words now? Are they moving to you with speed to eat their meaty or cheesy morsels? I’d say it’s time to up the challenge. I’ll use squirrels as an example below since it’s a common challenge.

• Outside, with your dog on a 6-foot leash, stand ~50 feet away from a stand of trees with mild squirrel activity.

• Say “Poppy, Come!”

• When your dog turns and comes, feed them 5-10 meat treats in a row.

• If your dog doesn’t come, still feed them those treats, but do so by placing the treats on the ground, then move them an additional 20 feet away from the squirrels and repeat.

Notice that the distances are important here. I want to start at a distance that I think will be easy for your dog. Does your dog look on placidly at a group of squirrels from 20 feet away? Start work at 30 or 40 feet away and gradually work up to getting closer. Also, consider your nearness to your dog. Often, the closer you are, the more draw you’ll have.

History Was Not Made in a Day

Some dogs have many distractors they need to work through. This does not make the task impossible! Some dogs aren’t huge foodies! In that case, we need to find what reward is best for them. One of my dogs returns and receives a thrown tennis ball. Some dogs return to a rousing game of tug.

Brainstorm what your dog loves, and how you’ll teach them that their recall cue makes that happen. Teach them this for one to two weeks and you should see a really bright and happy response. Then, brainstorm how to get a safe distance (further is better) from their standard distractions and teach them that their recall cue still brings about fun stuff. Work through it slowly, while being careful not to waste their cue.

Training is never complete for teaching a recall. I want to continually remind my dog that the cue brings about great things. Continue to keep reward high while you’re working through training with various distractions. A recall is a behavior that I typically do not remove or decrease reward for. As my dog learns that recall is always worth it, I may switch up what I offer them (it’s not always hot dogs, but sometimes it’s still hot dogs!) I will also use a more casual recall, such as a short whistle or a leg pat to indicate that closeness is nice but not necessary.

Put a little money (hot dogs, cheese, or ham) into the process and you’ll soon see a dog that is happily running to you, away from the goose poop and away from their friends.

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