Recall is really a part of leadership, isn’t it? The good kind of leadership where the follower wants to follow and voice control reaches out from the dog being behind you to being anywhere, in any environment. There is no greater joy than seeing your dog race to you on a trail in the woods choosing to be with hose they respect and love.

In teaching recall classes it is more than just calling your dog, it is about building a relationship, playing games, getting attention, teaching several different cues such as “check in” or an emergency cue different from regular “COME” word, a “here” and touch for close calls. The emergency recalls have saved many a dog from the tires of a car or racing after a bunny in a field.

People who lose weight say there is no food better than what it feels like to lose weight. In dog training, there is no distraction better than what it feels like to put in the work to build a bond and relationship with your dog that creates a trust so strong you just know a recall has meaning and substance. This is true freedom.

We were walking off-leash in a fenced city cemetery we went to daily when a woman (who we knew only slightly) joined us with her MUZZLED recently-rescued German Shepherd. After only a minute or two, she allowed the shepherd off-leash, and he took off instantly (and aggressively) after my shy 30# dog who was only about 1 year old. Annie ran like the wind trying to get away from him, spotted a depression under the fence, and ducked under it onto a sidewalk along a very busy street! Thanks to my trainer, Annie returned to me INSTANTLY despite her fear of the other dog. But I’m sure my voice was about as panicky as it can get.

The teacher made the point that our voices may be different in a situation of danger, so the dog may not come because of the fear in the handler’s voice.

I still practice it once in a while 9 years later, and it works for me!

(Love your blog, BTW!)

Thanks for the great blog! And as always, the inspiration.

My current dog has a lovely recall. Amazing. He stops whatever he is doing and runs to me. He does this over a great distance. People are always asking me how I achieved that.

But I can’t say the same for recalls with my former dogs. And it seems like I’d been doing the same things. For instance, I only called them for pleasant things. (If, say, they hated a bath, I would never call them and plunk them in the bath, but rather go and get them in that instance.) I ALWAYS take a moment to let the dog know he is a WONDROUS animal for coming to me so quickly.

Obviously, there is something here I’m not seeing – why one dog runs to me so brilliantly, and the others – well, if they felt like it. I guess an expert trainer is one who can achieve it with nearly every dog.

The absolute importance of having a reliable recall was brought home very tragically to me when years ago I lost a dog after being run over. I can’t say that a recall would have saved her life but not having a good recall didn’t give us the chance we might have had otherwise. We now train and never stop training recalls with our dogs. Are they perfect? No but that’s why we keep at it.

I would also like to endorse having several ways of recalling a dog. A verbal recall is excellent but when we are in the back country my voice may not carry well. I have trained the dogs to recall with a voice whistle and mechanical whistle that I attach to the chest strap of my pack. We have also taught the dogs to recall when they hear the horn on my ATV. The horn recall brought them back to me one time and avoided a grizzly bear encounter. I was very thankful for their instant response that time!

I would love to attend a recall seminar!

Jerry