Teaching Recall?

Hi, i would like to teach the little boy how to come to me straight away with a command,he sometimes will come to me if i sit on the floor,but if im standing and say 'come here' he just looks at me confused. I want to learn this so i can eventually let him off the lead,feel sorry for him as he isnt able to play with other dogs like he wants to, as he is on the lead,any tips?

You need to make yourself the most exciting thing around so there aren't any distractions. Might make you look a plum to begin with but you will be so suprised how quickly they learn.

Practice it in the garden, then get a training lead and try it in a park with more distance.

Use treats/toys, he'll get it, its a simple process of repetative training, may get tedious but Buster will twig.

One day trust him off lead and I think you'll suprise yourself. Xx

yeah,would it be best to stand still and do it or walk or run backwards,as if him to chase me?,or is that completely wrong,what words did you use to teach your dog?
I tried it with treats,but as soon as he realised i had them,he wouldnt leave my side haha

Get him to stay then move away just a little first then we say here and give a treat, do it again and move further then further and further away until you can say here and he will come ( for his treat)

That is what we have dine with Billy and it is working 98% of the time

Some people use whistles, hope this helps

Good luck


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thanks,would this work if he does'nt really know how to stay yet?,he sits all the time i ask him now,but wouldnt be sure on stay,did ur billy know the stay command when you done this? or were you more a less teaching him two tricks at once?

To be honest I didn't do a lot. She was 10mnths ish when I got her, 3 previous homes. The afternoon I got her I took her down to the park and let her off. She always returned, I think my trust in her, and her new trust with me was enough. She has never been onlead since that day I got her.

You really need to make yourself the funnest thing there, so he doesn't want to be around anyone else. Tone of voice is a must too. When your keeping his attention be excited, and if he gets distracted use a firmer tone.

It really is just trust and training Xx

yeh,i would love to be able to do what you did and just let him off, trusting him,but near where i am there is a road that we have to cross to get to the field,and we are also in an area where there are alot of little kids and there is also a school nearby,and whenever he sees a group of people,he always pulls on his lead, so i think if he was'nt on it,he would go sprinting over to the group. I will try to make myself the most interesting thing around though,by acting like a complete plum

Traing lead then! Worth a go, does he play fetch yet, another thing to try, teaches them and keeps them occupied Xx

Give it time, with training it will come X

We had this problem with Rocky. OH then bought a 10 metre training lead. This gives him room to move around and peace of mind for us. We got him to sit OK, this had already been taught. Told him to stay, just one word command, then moved away a pace and a small treat given. Told to sit again then 2 paces taken and another treat. Keep eye contact by calling his name. Build up gradually trust gained by both. Good luck

janey,yeah he plays fetch perfectly,brings toy back,he knows the drop command aswell,so drops when i ask. We are on to our 2nd training lead, he chewed through his first one,we took him to a big park with loads of water,he got too excited started rolling round on his back and chewed through it,took a while to get him back!

Kathy,do you mean tell him to sit then move a few paces away from him,gradually getting further,then say 'come here' then treat him when he does?,sorry to sound so stupid,this is our first staffy and would love to be able to teach him a few things.

What I used to do with really young pups was to have them on the lead, walking along nicely, then suddenly start to walk backwards, calling "Come" in a high, really stupidly happy voice and giving a gentle tug on the lead if necessary. To start with your pup'll think it's a great game so he'll want to come to you.

Then when you have the stay command right, get him to sit facing you, walk backwards a few paces & then stop. Wait a couple of seconds & then call again in that silly voice. As Janey says, you'll look a complete plum to anyone else around but because you started with the recall being fun, it'll stay fun & your dog will want to come to you.

NEVER tell your dog off when you're doing a recall, even if it's taken you half an hour to get him back to you! If you tell him off when he comes back (eventually) then you're actually telling him off for coming to you so he might not want to come next time. As soon as he starts to move towards you, make yourself totally irresistable, even if it means kneeling on the ground in the mud with your arms flapping about at your sides to excite him!

Yep, thats what I mean about being a plum but it gets results Xx

haha thankyou for all the suggestions,i will try them all out.

If i do this everyday for a short time,will he learn this quick?,he seems to have learnt a few things in the short time weve had him.

Caryll,does your dog now come straight away when you call him,even without the bribe of a treat?

MrWells wrote:Caryll,does your dog now come straight away when you call him,even without the bribe of a treat?

Usually, although it took him about 18 months to really get it right. But then I'm afraid that EBTs are really quite thick compared to Staffs! Also, Dempsey takes no notice of either treats or toys outside the house & is super-dominant. So our problem was more stopping him from chasing after other dogs to make sure they knew he was boss! For that, we concentrated on the Stay command, and now I can yell "Stay" and as long as he's withing about 50 yards of us, and the other dog is afew yards away from him, he'll stay.

A Stafford will learn very quickly as long as he's motivated.

Yeh at least he got there eventually . I didnt know that EBT's were not as clever as staffys.

thanks for the advice above,i will be trying the sit,stay, come here method.

Mr Wells
Yes gradually build up getting further away. Always reward him.

It's a work in progress. Start off in the home and use treats. Then gradualy move outside and add distractions like new people and other dogs. You can also use a long lead just to be safe.

With Violet we started in the garden, calling her over from one side to the other, treating her when she got to whoever was calling her. Now we can do it in the park because we know she'll come back (after testing her out on a long lead first!). We just need to work on teaching her to use her brakes instead of ZOOMING into my leg to stop

haha my buster does that,runs full speed and uses me as his brake.

I have already done some of this today in the house and i have built up a gap of a few metres already. What treats do you give your dogs,i have been using tiny bits of cheese,but dont want to give him to much of it.

We got a 750g bag of Betty Miller Petite biscuits for £2.70, for Rocky from the shop at the rescue shelter where we got him (WoodGreen Animal Shelter, Godmanchester, Cambs).
Here is a link to the same product.

http://www.bettymiller.com/Wholebaked-Biscuits.php

They are quite small and you can get loads in your pocket.