If your dog doesn’t come back when you call it, stop and think about what you use recall for.

If you only use it to end a walk or leave the park – your dog is smart enough to figure out that “come” means playtime is over – resulting in selective hearing.

90% of my recalls are just for fun. My dogs get a reward (treat, game, praise) for coming in, plus they get to return to what they were doing.

How do you respond when they don’t come back to you?

If they are distracted by something, you need to match the energy of that distraction to get their focus back on you – be prepared to get loud, shrieky and silly.

And if you chase or grab at your dog, you’re only making the problem worse.

How?

Because you’re accidently rewarding unwanted behaviour with a fun game for your dog.

And when you reward a behaviour, your dog will offer more of the same.

Have you made

holding their collar a nice experience?

It’s easy to get frustrated when things are going wrong and many people grab their dog’s collar to administer a telling off.

But all this does is create a negative association with the action, and holding their collar is a necessary part of the process of putting them back on the lead.

Reframe this as a positive association by playing collar grab games at home – hold their collar and give them a treat to make that positive link.

Have you taught your dog to ignore distractions and focus on you instead?

Wherever you go with your dog, there are two games for them to play.

One is you, the other is the environment.

If you let the environment become more compelling than you, when push comes to shove and you want your dog to come back, they’ll ignore you.

Counter this by:

Rewarding your dog for breaking focus on distractions and choosing to engage with you instead – practicing lead walking is a great way to do this.

Creating a fun zone around you with training, toys, treats, and games, to put high value on close proximity.

Taking the time to understand your dog’s genetics and giving them an appropriate outlet for their breed specific behaviour – e.g. if you have a hunting dog, find a controlled simulation of that activity.

Playing hide and seek, so that finding you is super fun.

Non-linear walks – change direction to teach your dog to follow you.

Avoid too much time just standing in the park looking at your phone or chatting to other owners while your pooch runs wild with a bunch of other dogs.

You’ll just fade into the background and teach them fun and excitement is over there.

Same goes for a ball which constantly sends them away from you.

When, in fact, being with you needs to be the best thing ever.

Swap it out for a tug toy instead which helps strengthen your bond.

Not coming back isn’t a phase, they won’t just grow out of it, it’s learned behaviour.

And if you don’t have good recall, you’re putting your dog in danger every time you remove that lead.