Improving Trent's Recall - Part 1

Trent turned 10 months old on the 20th of December, and while he is excelling at many basic commands and general behavior and manners, his recall now leaves something to be desired. This is partly my fault, as I have not worked on his recall as much as I should have. The longest leash we have is a standard 6 ft. leash, and while he always comes when called inside the house, it's outside with distractions where we're struggling. This also may be due to the fact that he's becoming a bit of a teenager himself, and starting to get his own ideas. Luckily, it's only the recall that's deteriorating, and while he quickly and eagerly obeys all other commands, I'm still going to have to squeeze in more training sessions and being firmer with reinforcing commands. Good thing he's so eager to learn and please (or is it eager to receive his treats?).


Several knowledgeable dog owners have given me a great deal of excellent advice regarding strengthening his recall, and I'm hoping to put it to use while I'm on my 2 week holiday break.

First, I headed online to purchase a 30 ft. lead, which will be used to give Trent running space outside on the fields, and still allow me to reinforce the command I give, if he doesn't come when called.

I also did some digging through the freezer and found a package of meatballs which I'll be using as Trent's "extra special recall reward". He seems to love the taste and the smell of the meatballs, and hopefully if I only give them to him as a reward for coming to me, it'll up their value as training treats.

My next step was to choose a new word to replace the command I once used, "come", as it was suggested to me that I have "burned" the word - meaning essentially that now the word "come" means to Trent "run away from Mommy!" or "time to play hard to get!". I've decided to start teaching "hier" (a German command) as the new word for coming up and sitting down in front of me.

I'll start by practicing in the house and our backyard, which shouldn't be a problem, and then with our 6 ft. leash. With the 6 ft. leash, Trent won't have much freedom or running room, so I'll be backing up quickly and as he starts running towards me, I'll give the command "hier" and reward him when I've halted and he's sitting in front of me. We'll try doing this in more and more distracting environments, and perhaps even eventually take him to practice outside the dog park. Once the 30 ft. leash I'll be ordering arrives, we'll start using it out on the empty soccer fields where Trent likes to run and play ball.

Should be a fun thing to do for the Holidays!