Last week a dear friend brought her teenage Bernedoodle, Leo, over to meet Skip and Maggie. Leo was like Sheldon at a Comic Con Convention (can you tell I’ve been watching Big Bang Theory?)–all enthusiasm and no social finesse. This is Maggie after he tried to mount her head. (Please supply caption.)
In spite of his enthusiasm, Leo is a dear, sweet dog, but his owner asked for some advice about teaching him to come when called off their home territory when he is highly distracted. We did a little work, and he’ll be over again soon, but he got me thinking about how recall training isn’t as simple as it often feels. I was about to write a new post on the topic, and then remembered I’ve done that already. I wrote a post in August of 2017, and I offer it to you here, with a few minor edits:
When Willie starting working sheep as a youngster, he didn’t want to quit. This is a high quality problem with a young sheepdog, but it’s still a problem. At some point you just have to end the session. It’s a common problem too–I’ve seen scores of adolescent Border Collies zoom around the flock while the owner attempts to call them back and snap on a leash before the dog over heats. Or the sun sets.
This isn’t a challenge restricted to sheepdog owners. Who doesn’t need a dog to stop what it’s doing and come when called? When I asked blog readers what they’d like to talk about, this was one of the topics that came up regularly. I think that’s great, given my belief that all dogs need some freedom in their lives in order to be healthy and happy. Granted, that freedom might be inside a fenced area, but surely all dogs need a little autonomy. However, you still need to be able to call an off-leash dog to you eventually. I’ve seen plenty of client’s dogs who couldn’t be caught, much less asked to come, even inside a small area, so a solid recall is critical no matter how “freedom” is defined.
I’ve written about this before, but never laid out a list of the steps that I think are critical to developing a kick ass recall. I’ll get it started, but I’m counting on all you readers to add your expertise and experience to the mix.
1. Prevention Prevention Prevention. Granted, it’s not always possible, but the more the better. It’s hard to compete once a dog has learned that ignoring you means he gets to chase a deer or snarf down a McBurger wrapper. It’s not necessarily impossible, but it depends on the dog. My border collie Pippy Tay, seemingly the sweetest most obedient dog that ever lived, began ignoring me on country walks when she became an adolescent. I’m quite sure she was chasing an animal a few of those times. I went back to basics, including the prevention of more inadvertent reinforcements, some time on a long line, and in addition I introduced competition into the mix. I’d call all the dogs to come, and give high quality treats to all but the last dog who arrived. Three or four times food-loving Pippy arrived last, and watched the other dogs gleefully snarf down their pieces of chicken. Guess who began winning the recall race after just a few sessions?
Prevention means different things for different dogs in different contexts. A working sheepdog in training has to be off leash, but can be started in an area small enough that you have some control. Every dog, and every context is different. But in general, do all you can to work with a dog until you are truly confident you can call her back in Context A before moving to the more challenging Context B.
2. Winning is Everything. Start teaching a recall when you can’t lose. No distractions. Your dog practically beside you. The perfect reinforcement. (I like to vary the reinforcement, so that the dog learns that “If I come when called, I’ll be happy,” not “If I come when called, I get X”. What if she doesn’t want X right now?) Whatever you use, be sure that it truly is a reinforcement for your dog. Slappy pats on the head, we all need to remember, are punishments, not reinforcements. I almost always use food–great food–to start, then quickly add in play, chase, belly rubs, cooing praise, releasing on a walk, working sheep, or whatever the dog wants.
If you’re not sure which reinforcement to use, use the Premack principle. Simply stated, one uses a “high probability behavior” to reinforce a “low probability behavior”. This is just another way of saying that if your dog does it a lot (by choice), then he must like to do it. An clear example comes again from working with sheepdogs. Willie, for example, didn’t want to stop working sheep. If I let him loose around sheep, he’d begin working them–a high probability behavior. So high, as a matter of fact, that that was the problem. He wouldn’t stop. Perfect! All I had to do was get him to stop momentarily by blocking his access to the sheep with my body, and reinforce that by letting him work the sheep again. That evolved into stopping for longer periods, then coming toward me when called, then leaving the sheep even if a hundred yards to me and running like Lassie to me at twenty miles an hour, his face shining with happiness. That’s all because he learned that stopping and running to me meant he got to work the sheep again, some of the time.
This is relatively easy to generalize to any dog. Does your dog like to chase? Then make chasing the reinforcement for, well, not chasing. Sounds ridiculous when I put it that way, but that’s the bottom line. Does she like to chase balls? Then teach her if she is ahead of you and starting to move away, she’ll get to run after a ball that you threw behind you. I begin early recall sessions by running away from the dog and letting her chase me as a reinforcement. I usually add in food or play when they catch up, but dogs who love to run after things love to run after you too. Just be sure they don’t get nippy when they arrive.
Setting up success relies on understanding how to gradually increase the difficulty level of the recall. Distance, Distraction Level and Pace of the dog are all factors that need to be considered separately. Once you’ve done it enough it becomes automatic, but it does take experience to learn to consider each of the factors as separate issues. Pay attention to those three things, and you’ll learn quickly not to ask for a recall when the dog is in a distracting environment, already running away and a good twenty feet from the owner. Your mantra must be to increase the difficulty level one factor at a time: Low distraction level, dog close by but beginning to run forward away from you. Dog close by, only walking, but several distractions. No distractions, dog trotting away from you, but farther away than usual. You get the drift.
3. Reinforce the turn toward you. If your dog was focused on a chipmunk, but turns his head to you when you call, he’s already done much of what you’ve asked. After all, a “recall” isn’t just running to you. The first step is taking his attention off what he was focused on to begin with, so don’t wait until the dog gets to you to provide reinforcement. The second your dog’s head turns toward you and takes even a half of a step forward, reinforce her verbally. Use Good! or Woo Hoo! or Yay! or Click with your clicker, but let your dog know that shifting his attention from the chipmunk and onto to you means good things are going to come. (Be sure to “load” up any verbal praise, or secondary reinforcer, with food or play, whatever is a primary reinforcer for the dog.)
4. Teach Stop on Cue. It only took me a couple of years of working with dogs to realize that, as mentioned above, a recall includes several behaviors. 1) Stop what you are doing. 2) Change your focus onto me. 3) Turn around toward me. 4) Come toward me. 5) All the way.
Teaching a dog to stop when asked–first things first–is one of the keys to getting a dog to stop running after something and come back to you. My method is relatively simple: Decide on your ‘stop’ cue, have treats that your dog adores, start walking forward with your dog beside you or one step ahead, say the cue quickly and emphatically, reinforce the slightest pause or look in your direction. Repeat a few times, but don’t over do it so it becomes boring. Gradually, over time, gradually and SLOWLY (I am sort of yelling [not at the dog!] because this seems to be the hard part) increase the difficulty. Only change one of the factors mentioned above at a time–Distance, Distraction, Pace–and again, set the dog up to win. I mostly use this in real life when a dog is moving fast away from me, for example, if Skip sees a deer and would chase it if I didn’t stop him.
If your guess is wrong about your dog’s response, perhaps he continues trotting down the path when you thought he’d stop, either clap like crazy to get his attention on you and run the other way, or say “Okay!” if you think he’s on a mission and won’t respond at all. I honestly have no idea if pretending you released your dog helps to build a reliable recall, but it feels good, and surely that counts for something. Then evaluate the factors, and go back a few steps.
Choose your cue carefully. Make sure it can come out of your mouth fast and furious, because that’s what will happen if your dog flushes a deer while walking in the woods. My Border Collies have to lie down on cue while working sheep, so I’ll often use a lie down cue to get them to stop in other contexts. It’s just something my brain is programmed to do and a cue they are used to hearing when they are moving fast in any direction. If you ride horses, “whoa” might be a good cue, but whatever it is, it needs to be short and carry well over distance.
You can tell I think a trained stop is important, because I’ve written about it twice before. See Safe Off Leash? from 2013 and The Importance of an Emergency Stop from 2009.
5. Repeat repeat repeat. And reinforce reinforce reinforce. Never stop reinforcing this behavior. Not every time, and not necessarily for responses when all the stars were aligned, but running and chasing is such a natural behavior for a dog that stopping a chase and coming back to you is basically a circus trick. When I walk my dogs off the farm, about every tenth trip or so I will practice an emergency recall when the dogs are a good 40+ yards ahead. When they get to my feet the food flies out of my pockets, and I know that next time they flush a deer or are about to dash toward an algae-filled stream I know I can count on them to respond when I call.
6. Be realistic. Adolescent dogs are famous for forgetting everything they’ve learned as a puppy, so don’t hesitate to go back to prevention for a few months, even if your dog was a star pupil as a youngster. Some breeds are designed to respond to you, no matter what. Others, not so much. There’s nothing like being the owner of Border Collies and Great Pyrenees to be reminded of the influence of genes on behavior. I never would have taken either of our Great Pyr’s on an off-leash walk in the woods away from the farm, while I could walk the BC’s off leash in a city if I had to. (But I wouldn’t. Just the thought of it makes me nervous.
7. Use all the resources available. There are lots of good books and videos out there to help you create a dog who is reliable off leash. I love Leslie Nelson’s work on recalls: Check out her Really Reliable Recall DVD. Kickopup has a great video on teaching a dog to come through distractions. If your dog loves to chase livestock or wild animals, a great resource is a book by Clarissa von Reinhardt in her book Chase! Along with a section in my Learning Center, there are so many other great resources out there. Don’t hesitate to use them–no need to reinvent the wheel here.
8. Ask the village. Now I turn it over to you. What’s your experience been with teaching dogs to come when called? What works and what doesn’t, with which dog(s)? Tell us how your dogs have varied in their response to recalls. What resources have you found most helpful?
MEANWHILE, back on the farm: Skip and I had a ball working together to get the sheep shorn. Here he is explaining to the sheep that he’ll be soon moving them into a smaller pen (out of sight, on the right) to be shorn.
However, the experienced ewes knew what was coming, and explained back to Skip that they’d rather not get a hair cut that morning. I wish wish WISH I had thought to video Skip easing the sheep into the pen. He was, I say with total objectivity, brilliant. He was so quiet, so calm, and yet so committed. At one point he had the flock in the mouth of the pen’s gate, but they still wouldn’t budge. He literally had his nose touching one’s back leg. Finally, he gently, ever so gently, nipped a leg, and the sheep were in the pen in seconds. Skip can be a complete idiot about some things sheep-related, but he has no peer when working in close.
Jerry Ace, our shearer for many years, is trimming hooves in the photo below. Jerry is expensive and slow, and the latter is why we love him: He is gentle and kind and makes it as stress-free as possible for the sheep. Of course, they don’t enjoy it (as they make clear by not wanting to go into the pen), but without shearing some of them would suffer from a variety of problems. I don’t enjoy the dentist either, but I know I need to go.
Here’s the flock after shearing, Skip has brought them out of the barn pen and then they headed by themselves for the upper pasture beyond the woods.
Here’s Skip watching the sheep move up the hill toward the upper pasture. I’m not sure I have ever seen him happier than when we walked back to the house together, after spending over two hours in the barn together. “You and me, just you and me, doing farm chores. I’m a workin’ dog, yes I am.” It made my heart sing.
Here’s a bit more delight for us flower lovers: These snow drops are still blooming, even though they bloomed over a month ago, a month early. The weather is so weird it’s crazy-making (I told Jim “This is a nightmare for gardeners!”), it got so warm so fast it’s hard to know how to proceed–uncover those plants you’ve been protecting from frost that are already full of green shoots, when the last frost day traditionally in Wisconsin is mid-May? But, still. Delight in these hardy, early spring flowers, that laughed off a temperature swing from 70 to 14 in less than twelve hours. A reminder to me to be flexible and accepting?
Here’s to delight, no matter what form it comes in–whether it’s doing real-live farm chores or soaking in the the unexpected beauty of green against an all-brown background. I hope you have plenty of delight in your week too, including telling us about your experiences teaching great recalls.
Jenny says
Ok, I have two captions…one is “Excuse me?!” The other…”Buddy if you try that again you’ll be barking out of your ass!”
Trisha says
Jenny: Maggie would absolutely say the latter! (But all she’s ever done to any dog is face off and growl, which is what she did to Leo, and he said “Oh, duh, okay, I’ll go sniff over here!”
Kat says
Caption: Not Happening, Buddy
The smartest thing I ever do training a recall is much like you with Willie. I call the dog, put them on leash, reward them, then release them to continue doing whatever fun thing I interrupted. I never want the dog to think that coming reliably means the fun ends. Some times it has to but as much as possible I have it mean a brief interruption or transition to something else fun.
Great Pyrenees are notorious for not seeing any point to coming when called. I won’t trust mine outside a fenced area but at home I have out of sight recalls very reliably on D’Artagnan and more than 50% of the time on Falkor Bash. Bash is still a work in progress. Knowing the breed I don’t call them unless I have a reason they’ll find reasonable (food, car ride, games, etc.) If I need them to come in for the night I go to them and ask them. If they don’t get up to accompany me I’ll drop a slip lead over their head. That’s apparently the sign that I mean it. I don’t even have to hold the other end of the slip lead just having it around their neck is enough. I’ve never used it to force compliance so I’m not sure why they have decided it means they must do it. Since they have, though, I’m happy to use it. Mostly though going to them and saying, “come on, let’s go in” is enough. I’m sure, however, that if I used a recall cue often for getting them inside for the night that cue would become poisoned in no time. They don’t hate coming in but given their choice they’d nearly always be outside. I think their ideal would be a Pyr sized doggy door that they could use whenever they chose.
Amy F says
Skip’s happiness in this post is the perfect start to my day :))
And no to uncovering stuff outdoors! I worry a lot of our native bees will perish if folks start spring yard “clean-up” early. They need more time in their ground nests, safely protected. I know the pull to get started is real… Resist that urge!
(Also said by Maggie to Leo.)
Sally says
Finding this in my backed up email is a HIGH VALUE TREAT. Thanks ❣️
Lorraine says
Recalls are often extremely difficult for whippets and other sighthounds, bred for generations to zoom off at maximum speed at whatever they see that is or might be quarry (squirrel, tiny dog, bit of blowing paper, oddly-shaped rock…). Whippets that have raced or lure-coursed have been encouraged to demonstrate maximum acceleration while paying no attention whatsoever to their handlers. A whippet can get very far away very quickly on a walk if the handler isn’t watching what the dog is doing! Your instructions summarize my training process as well. I also pay attention to the environment so I have a chance of spotting the squirrel before he does, and bought a long-distance whistle so I still have an audible recall cue if he does go rocketing off towards the horizon.
Melissa Crandall says
Caption: “Dude…”
Trisha says
Thank you Amy! The challenge is that some things are growing so fast that if I wait too long I’ll damage the shoots when clearing. But I hear you, I’m leaving as much down as I can. (Helps to be surrounded by hundreds of acres of untouched woods!)
Trisha says
Made my day Sally!
Trisha says
I hear you Lorraine. I behaved very differently with my Gr Pyrs. Never ever would’ve trusted them off leash off the farm, doesn’t matter how good a trainer a person is, they have to know their dogs. I Love that you still teach recalls, even to a challenging breed. I did for Bo Peep and Tulip too, but sure never would’ve taken them off leash somewhere where they could get into serious trouble.
Tails Around the Ranch says
Caption…”Yo dude…you best be putting that thing away if you know what’s good for you!”
Gotta love young hormones. 😉
Recall has to be the absolute best skill to master. It can literally save a life and keep an upright from losing her mind from worry. I need to practice this more with new dog, Wilson when he decides to have a session of fence biting with the neighbor pooch.
Trisha says
Melissa: Winner! (Less is more.)
Christa says
What happens to the fleece once the sheep are shorn? I’m a knitter and wonder about these things.
Jane Koopman says
“You fluffy, teenage punk. Stand down”
Thanks for this Tricia! Feels very relevant now for me as I have moved to a new town where the local trail is adjacent to a number of houses with open compost piles – aka an all you can eat buffet for my lab. HIGH value. So we are working on, just as you say, paying those look backs at me before he decides to run down the bank, just going back on leash by those houses or practicing walking in a heel as an alternate behavior in those locations. (which is funny because I am never one to really teach heel to my clients! but its a great DRI to keep moving with a job in this context!) Anyway great to hear your strategies too! Love your blog.
Trisha says
Christa… how I wish it had value! Even good wool has almost no value now, but we have a lot of hair sheep so ours is worthless. Some years we keep bags of it and use it as insulation, but this year we just tossed it. 😢
Barb Stanek says
One of the caracteristics that I cherish about you, Trish, is that you are willing to say, “With some dogs in some situations, you amy never get a reliable recall. Manage those dogs in those situations for safety.” I so value that about you.
I have had Portuguese Water Dogs for 20 years. The current two are not reliable in my unfenced front yard. For whatever reason, once they hit the front yard, it’s hard to know when or where I’ll find them if they’re not on leash. They both have a fairly reliable recall otherwise in almost all situations. But I will manage the front yard. The cars at the end of my lot zoom, and the drivers will never see my charging pups until they are hood ornaments. So managed they will be.
I used to feel like a bad trainer as there was a seemingly unending supply of people out there talking like an automatic recall/stop was no big deal to train. It’s good to remember that not all dogs read that book.
Chris Johnson says
Only 3 big letters and an exclamation point “WTF!” , pardon my abbreviated French.
Arnette Small says
FYI at Garden Expo this year was a booth selling wool pellets for enrichment of the soil , a possible use for your wool.
Anna says
I taught my Field Spaniel to come using a hand target when he was young, which worked well until the past year. We had to do an elimination diet to find his food allergies (beef and chicken), and around the same time he just started to refuse to touch his nose to my hand even if he was right in front of me. It has always been difficult to call him when he is following rabbit smells outside, but since he doesn’t do it forever, I just let him sniff and come in of his own accord. Even on walks, I often follow him until he rests on his own. I have been able to recall him by whistling when he ran after a squirrel or cat. But now I have a puppy, and he plays rough with her sometimes. I really need to find a way to call him in or at least get him to stop when things get too rambunctious for my comfort. The puppy loves him and even if he does stop, she will keep pursuing. I live alone, so it has been a challenge, to say the least. I’ve found that they play best in the middle of the day and will readily respond to a whistle and some treats (we finally found a treat he can eat without a reaction!) I think I just need to incorporate the whistle as a recall at other times when I know they can successfully respond. And I probably should stay firm with only letting them outside together when I know they’re less likely to get carried away.
Jann Becker says
Oddly enough, our little rescue Jojo (from a hoarder; he was about ten months when the Humane Society got to him) has always come when I call him, even when he can’t see me! I get the impression that he’s highly motivated by curiosity and come to me because something interesting might be happening that he doesn’t want to miss. Often he gets a treat after doing so (duh) but he seems to be looking for novelty as much as food.
Linda says
Years ago I was visiting my brother who had a young excitable poodle. I opened the door to go out & she barged through the door, running for the street. I called her name & ran in the other direction. It worked! She came to me and received oodles of praise.
I’ve always walked my dogs in dog parks and ask them to come at some time during the walk. They get highly praised in an excited happy voice (voice inflection is important) and then told to go run again. The reward is being let loose to play again after coming. Treats in dog parks while other strange dogs are around is not a good idea since you don’t know if other dogs may be possessive with food.
Most of my dogs have been rescues with some herding breed blood. They were all interested in chasing a ball except my Beardie. She was of the opinion that since she had retrieved it twice and I had thrown the ball away again, I could retrieve it!
Elizabeth Stroter says
Delightful discussion and I loved “Really Reliable Recall”. Really Realistic Recall figures in there prominently as well. When in doubt of any dog’s recall, just call their name rather than give recall cue. It worked with my independent, female herding dog.
Louise says
What a fun topic! We have had only two dogs. The first was very independent and would avoid us if there was something more interesting. The second is very cool and comes to us, except if she has not checked to see if her friends out back are out playing in their yard. Then we get a delayed response.
Pamela S. says
Oh Trish, I love your books. I wish you could just use a dicta phone and just talk and talk. You have such awesome knowledge that you have learned and spent most of your adult life caring for dogs, caring for people who have dogs, and all the teaching you have done, and the radio programs you’ve talked on, answering questions, books you have written and books you have read and answering questions, and all the while keeping your spirits up and pushing your energy, running a farm, working your dogs, caring for your sheep, maintaining a household ( no mean thing as it all has to get done), caring for Jim and your own dogs and from your pictures I have seen you have such a sweet youthful smile. Winston Churchill said to someone once ” Love me and love my dog, if you can’t love me, you damn well can’t love my dog ! I love dogs and I love people who love dogs. In all my years I have mostly found that if a person doesn’t like dogs I don’t have time for them. You are a special person and I am so glad I have found you. Keep up the good work ! If you need a transcriber let me know.
Martin N. D. says
If you don’t need the wool, have you considered donating it to https://matteroftrust.org/clean-wave-program/ ? They collect wool, hair, fur, and fleece to make mats to soak up oil spills.
I found a way to teach a recall to a natural-born retriever that worked rather well (sample size of one, so who knows if it works for others). Dolce would always run back to me when I threw her a ball (giving it to me was a different matter!), so I started saying her cue when she was joyously running towards me anyway. We were playing her favorite game, a game she loved even more than treats, so a high value reinforcer was built-in. It worked like a charm – until family members started using the cue in lots of hard situations without playing with her like that. After that, the cue only worked for me.
At that point, she had years of practice at a hand touch and loved that trick, so we ended up using it as a recall (after carefully generalizing it to distance). Since we used that trick All The Time, the ratio of easy fun to actual impulse control was more favorable, leading to a more reliable recall for everyone.
I’ve had several dogs who love running. For them, recall is more fun if I’m further away. On the other hand, Ria dislikes long lines dragging on the ground, so using them to practice tends to act as a punisher.
Ria’s recall isn’t nearly as reliable as I’d like (yet). Nevertheless, it’s plenty good enough to land me in hot water if I’m not careful. She generally loves recall, so whatever she’s doing when I call her WILL be reinforced. If I called Dolce away from the same thing a few times, she would understand that I didn’t want her to go there/do that and generally stopped that behavior entirely. Ria figures that doing these things is a great way to get a fun game going.
Finally, a recall cannot replace an emergency stop. Says the man whose dog ran off the roof of a garage when said dog finally gave up on chasing a cat and came straight back instead. Recall is something I practice daily. Emergency stop I rarely practice, so I couldn’t even think of the cue in the panic of the moment. I need to get that fluent – for myself as well as my dogs.