Recall Training for Puppies

Recall training is something we can teach puppies from the very start of their life with us – and can be part of day-to-day interactions. By knowing how to start off on the right foot from the start will transform your dog’s recall training – and will make it as reliable as it can be before you head off into the great outdoors.

Starting Puppy Recall Training in 6 Easy Steps

The building blocks of a good recall start the moment you bring your puppy home - and will continue throughout their life. This is an ongoing part of dog training but make sure you get a head start from the beginning of your lives together.

This is something that needs to be taught slowly and gradually at home as part of your day-to-day life with your puppy long before you need it when they are off the lead and out and about.

1. Very first steps – ‘Watch me’ (teaching your puppy their name)

Start by teaching a ‘Watch Me’ in the house – effectively teaching your dog their name, and also kickstarting your relationship as they learn that you are a great person to pay attention to.

Teaching your dog to look at you when you want them to is the beginning of virtually everything else. It is a key part of training a reliable recall, and it is one of the best ways to ensure they are paying attention to you and ready to do whatever else you might ask them to do. 

2. Watch Me recap

For this you will need lots of tiny, tasty treats that your puppy loves, and have them with you all the time.

The cue for your dog to look at you is their name – and so you are going to teach them that their name always means ‘good things for the dog’! 

Don't use their name for anything unpleasant, never call them to you for things they don’t like, and don’t use their name endlessly without meaning, otherwise you are just teaching them to ignore it. From now on, their name is always going to be something they are going to look forward to hearing – and they will associate it with getting nice things from you!

For the next few weeks, always have some dog treats in your pocket – and when your puppy is not looking at you (but isn’t distracted with something interesting or asleep) say their name brightly and happily, and when they look at you, throw them a treat.

Only say their name once – and if they don’t look at you, no treat! Move somewhere else and try again.

And that’s all there is to it - but do it in every room and at different times and start to do it when there are distractions around too! Do this for a week (or longer if your puppy needs it) - and even if you think they can already do this without any problems, it’s always worth a refresh. 

3. Moving towards you

Once your puppy is reliably doing this, instead of throwing the treat, drop it on the floor. Start by dropping it/throwing it halfway between you, then slowly you can build it up to dropping it at your feet.

Now your puppy should be looking at you and moving towards you when they hear their name. You can already see how this is the foundations of recall.

4. Add a cue word

Now you have the basis of a recall in place, you can add in a recall cue to link that word to the action when they are coming towards you. This is where people often go wrong! Until your dog knows that the word (“here” or “come” – or whatever word you choose) means coming towards you, it is just a meaningless sound. There is no point in adding it in when they aren’t coming towards you, as that will just teach them that “come” means don’t come – or come eventually! 

Reward them with a treat when they get to you, so they always think coming to you is a great idea!

5. Practice recall training in different rooms – and then the garden

Practise this everywhere in the house and the garden – first of all with no distractions. There’s time to add these in later (as that is a far more advanced training exercise). As the distractions become greater, so must the value of the treats! 

Every time you work in a new location, start from the beginning again (with no cue word – and just dropping a treat) so you teach your dog that recall means come ‘wherever you are’. Dogs aren’t good at generalising and so they might know that “come” means “come in the kitchen” (or wherever you train your dog in the house) but that doesn’t mean they know that “come” means “come in the garden” or “come in the park”. Remember this for the future and any time you are in a new place.

Once again, when you are sure your puppy will come to you when you say the cue word you can start practising it for real. Start slowly in the house, then in the garden (if you have one) – until they are reliably coming to you, on lead first and then when everything is going well, off lead (if your garden is securely fenced).

This is all still long before you need it in the great outdoors. 

6. Make it fun!

You can have fun with this too – and sometimes as your puppy is coming towards you, run backwards away from them so they have to follow you. Or if you have the space, run and duck behind a tree or a bush. Always be excited and reward them when they ‘find’ you. Make it a game that you can both enjoy. So often people only call their dogs at the end of a walk and so teach them that “come” means ‘the fun is going to stop now’ – so no wonder they are not rushing back!

Start from the beginning again and do some ‘Watch Me’s’ by dropping a treat close to your feet. This could take a few visits and several days especially if your puppy is easily distracted.

Then start to practise recalls. The lead/long line will mean your puppy can’t go too far away from you (most dogs have a crucial distance beyond which they become ‘selectively deaf’!) – and while you shouldn’t be reeling them in with the lead, it does mean you have the security of knowing they are safe – and if you need to, you can begin to guide them towards you as a last resort.

Once you are confident your puppy will come back when you call them, you can begin to practise off-lead as long as you are in a safe and secure location.
The great outdoors can be really distracting so always reward recalls with a high value treat you know your puppy loves.

Make puppy recall a game. Do lots of chase games, hide and seek and have fun with recall training. By making it a game, it becomes even more rewarding for you and your dog. Training shouldn’t ever be boring!

Next steps in puppy recall training – making it real

Now you can begin to practise every single time you are out with your puppy. Always try to set your puppy up for success, so at the beginning of your training (and this is also something to think about during adolescence) only call them back when you are sure they will come to you (so not while they are totally engrossed in something) and if you are not confident in either your puppy or the new environment/distractions, keep them on a lead/long line. It is important that they don’t think of recall as being a multiple-choice question!

Top Tips for teaching puppy recall

Do’s for puppy recall training

• Once in the ‘real world’ or in a new environment, start slowly in a quiet enclosed place with no distractions.
• Do a few on-lead recalls first before doing anything off lead.
• Give them a treat immediately you let them off the lead. This will stop them excitedly vanishing off into the distance and instead paying attention to you from the moment you let them off lead – and it will remind them that you have fabulous treats! (and, for this you do need fabulous dog treats – something your dog loves above everything else).

Don’ts when recall training puppies

• Don’t let them wander too far from you (all dogs have a crucial distance beyond which you have far less influence!).
• Don’t just recall your dog at the end of the walk.
• Never stop practising – and go back a few steps (even repeating all of this again) if your dog’s recall starts to slip. It is natural for this to happen as your puppy goes through adolescence (in fact you might well find they need to be on a lead or a long line for a lot of this time – especially when there are a lot of distractions. Far better than this is that they learn that they can easily ignore you (or more likely in adolescence, don’t even hear you!).
• Never stop rewarding good recalls – it could one day save your dog’s life.
• Don’t rely on your recall (no matter how good) in situations of safety or novelty - such as around livestock - or in unsafe places - such as near traffic. Safety is your responsibility, not your dogs.

Be Realisitic

There are some dog breeds or individuals who may never have a reliable recall no matter how hard you work at it (often sight hounds fall into this category). 

For them do the best you can to make your recall as good as it possibly can be (and it can still be perfect where there are no distractions so don’t use breed/type as an excuse not to train!) but be prepared to recognise and accept their limitations (don’t rely on your recall for safety) - and find ways to exercise them and let them run in safe, enclosed spaces.

Like all your training, teaching your dog to come back when you call them should be fun – and it will allow you both to enjoy your walks far more and get more exercise. It will also be the basis for any dog sports you might want to try your hand – the vast majority of which are done off-lead.

NOTE: Never let your dog off lead anywhere that is unsafe, near traffic or livestock, or if you don’t know they will come back to you.

We hope this guide to puppy recall training was helpful! Next, make sure to take a look at our next article on the benefits of puppy training.

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