GARDEN ROUTE | KAROO NEWS - A reliable recall might save your dog's life one day, and while teaching a dog a solid recall is essential, many find it hard to do.

Local animal behaviour practitioner George van Huyssteen, explains.

Imagine walking in our beautiful forest with your dog. You don't see anybody around and decide to let him walk off-leash for a while. Your dog wanders off a bit, and in the distance, you see another dog approaching, or you see a snake very close to where your dog is walking and sniffing.

In such a case, a solid recall might save your dog's life. But, how do we teach this? How can we train our dogs to respond quickly and without hesitation when we call them back to us?

For a reliable recall, the dog must find it very rewarding to return to us when we call it. On walks, we as humans compete with the environment (which the dogs love), so it would be an unrealistic expectation to think the dog must come when called if not trained to do so.

Steps to train your dog good recall

• Start at home. 
Firstly you need to make sure that your dog knows and responds to its name. The next step is to teach it the "come" cue. 

An excellent way of teaching this is to have a friend over. Have some high valued treats available for your dog to reward it when it gets to you. Let a friend or family member hold the dog and call your dog (Bella, come!) in a friendly and enthusiastic way. 

As soon as you do this, your friend must release the dog and as soon as your dog gets to you, praise it and give it a treat. Now you and your friend can change places and repeat this a couple of times. Once the dog responds reliably inside your house, you can move to the next step.

• Upgrade the training to a safe, fenced area. 
Now that the dog responds well to its name and all the good things that come with it, you can go to an open space where there are a few distractions. Have your friend or family member do the same as at your house. At this stage of the training, if you see your dog is very distracted, don't call it as it will most probably not come. 

Make sure the dog responds correctly to your "come" cue. If you keep on calling it while it is distracted, training might take longer or, in some cases, not work at all. It is essential to set it up so that your dog will return to you as soon as it hears the cue. Remember, we are still in training at this stage. 

Every single attempt to return to you must therefore be rewarded with a treat as well as praise. Once the dog reliably responds every time, you are ready for the next step.

• Start calling it when it is distracted. 
This should be done in a safe fenced area and not in a place where there are too many distractions, such as a dog park. Let your dog relax and catch it in a moment of low distraction. Maybe it is sniffing some grass or barking at something. 

Call your dog enthusiastically, and if it comes, it has passed the test with flying colours. Should the dog not respond to you at all, don't get frustrated - it simply means that it is not ready to work with distractions around, so you might want to practise some more at a place where there are fewer distractions. 

You can go to the next step only once you can successfully call it back while it is distracted. It is still important to reward and praise it for every attempt to return to you.

• Now it is time to test your friend's recall. 
At this point, you can have it on a long line at a place where there are other dogs around. You need to ensure that all the other dogs are leashed as well. Let your dog walk around and call it to come to you to test its response. If it responds correctly every time, you have done a great job teaching your dog a solid recall.

Golden rules when teaching recall

• Never scold or punish your dog for coming back to you. Should you do this, the dog will simply learn that coming back to you leads to punishment and your training will not succeed.

• Always praise and reward a successful recall. For example, should your dog bark at somebody and you get frustrated, and it does not come immediately when called, still praise it should it eventually come back to you. 

It must associate returning to you with something amazing, or it will learn that it is not safe to return to you.

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