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This game is the key to training a whip-lash turn from your dog on hearing their name
or recall word. You want your dog to react instantly, without question or even thought
when they hear the magic recall word.
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What You Need: Great Treats, 1 or 3 other people to help you, your dog’s lead
How To Start: Give each person a pile of the high value treats to put in their pocket.
Start in a location that has low level distractions, if any. It needs to be a small, secure
area – Patio? Lounge? Start with the dog on lead but without anyone holding onto him
– let him roam around. Each helper should go to a different spot in the area. With one
treat in one hand, each handler should take in turns to call the dog’s name. Call ONLY
ONCE! When the dog comes to you take their collar and deliver the treat and praise the
dog. Make sure you do not use the treat to lure the dog in, but only show it once the
dog gets to you. Then release them away again. Next a different person calls the dog
and repeats above. Once the dog has repeated 5 or 6 times successfully, removed his
lead.
Sessions: Keep sessions very short, with only up to 10 recalls in one session. But you
can do more than one session in a day, ideally 2 or 3 sessions per day.
Tips: Discuss with your helpers who is going to call the dog in which order. You want to
avoid two people calling at once, so have a plan. Or a non-verbal way of signalling who
is going to call the dog next. Do not always call in the same order. Your dog will pattern
this very quickly. Keep it random with regards to who is going to call the dog next. If
you do not have any one to help you at first, this is fine. If working alone reward the
dog when you call him, then throw a lower value treat (kibble?) away from you so that
the dog leaves you to go and get it. Once he has picked up the treat (he is allowed to
eat this piece), call again and reward for him coming to you. Vary where you are
standing in the area.
Progression: Once you have done 2-3 recalls with each person in the group, move the
training to a different location or venue, and gradually start adding in other distractions
in the environment too. You could even add another dog if yours is showing great
success – however, do not call this other dog at any point during the session. They are
just there as a distraction and you should be dedicating the session to the one dog at
first. Eventually you can mix the two and recall them separately to different handlers,
but you must have spent plenty of time working and rewarding just the one dog first.
Trouble Shooting: If the dog does not respond when you call their name, do NOT
repeat the name. Wait until you are confident that he did “choose” not to come to you
(rather than didn’t hear you or any other reason). Then without speaking to him, walk
over to the dog, take them by the lead and move him 6ft away from whatever was
distracting him. Then return to your space and retry the name call. If he chooses to
ignore again, repeat the above double the distance that you take the dog from the
distraction. Repeat until you get a success and then end the session. Record keep this
and analyse whether that environment/habitat/location was too distracting for your dog
for the level you are at. Try changing to a less distracting environment (the
bathroom?), make sure your rewards are high value enough and have another go.
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