Diagnosing the PROBLEM with recall. pt 1
You’re outside, enjoying the sunshine with your pup, playing fetch, when you begin to feel a drizzle. You start to call your dog, so you can pack up and get to shelter from the rain. What is your dog doing? Running around like a maniac avoiding eye contact and grasp at all costs. Fast forward ten minutes; you’re both soaked
dragging your feet, as you grasp tightly to your dog’s collar -leading them grudgingly towards home! This is not the “fun” you were promised when you got a dog- so how do we change it?
So what’s the secret- what exactly is “Recall”. Recall, by definition is the act of calling to your pet in any variety of ways and they return to your person. This is taught in all sorts of animal training, from horses to dogs, to birds, and even the occasional cat.
This is a highly important skill to teach, as it helps bring your animal back to a safe zone, no matter the circumstances; when taught correctly and mastered. It assists when your dog is injured and you need to check them, you need to bring them home, calling them away from a dangerous situation- the uses of this skill are entirely endless.
If this skill is so heavily required for safety with your pet- why do most owner’s recall skills with their dogs, never seem to work when most needed? That is one of the questions we will dive in and hopefully begin to answer for you. There are many easy and most common mistakes made in the use and training of recall.
Firstly, we must understand how dogs’ brains function- they see things in very black and white. This means that they don’t understand when something is just a sometimes or occasional thing- they will define things with the simplest answer. An example of this is how some dogs will bark at the door, and consequently, the owner’s will let them out most of the time- thus, they believe if they bark at the door- the door will open. Or another example is they hear you touch the treat container- so they sit and wait for a treat. In other words, this means whatever definition or action we most often present to our dogs with everything we teach or show them, is the definition they will believe happens every time, even if it is only 60% of the time.
What does this mean for teaching recall though? Well, most owners use the dog’s name as the most common cue for calling the dog to them. So why in the world does it not work when you need it most?
Well, think on what is the most common reason you hear your own name. Growing up and even long married now, the reason i hear my name and the use of other’s names are because I’m in trouble or the need to get my attention for a serious manner. Because us humans are so adamant on using names when in trouble or in a tone of correction- that is the most common thing your pet connects the use of their name with. This results in the dog not wanting to respond to their name- since the core definition we as owners have given them to their name is trouble and correction. Thus, why would a dog happily turn around when hearing their name if they believe they mainly hear it when in trouble or with an angry tone. No one wants to come see someone when in trouble, and they definitely won’t want to run happily in the arms of what they perceive to be an angry or negative interaction.
When do we most use recall then? We must require our pet’s attention when the fun is over and they need to pack up and go home, the dog is in trouble or needs a break from playing because they are getting too intense, you need them to do something, such as brushing them or their teeth or maybe even going to their crate because you are leaving them. Take note of when you most commonly call your dog to you and get an inside look at what definition you may have unintentionally given to your dog hearing their name.
Changing this is the first step to solidifying and re-training your dog’s recall and association with their name. We first want to begin charging their name positively. This means doing an exercise in which you are sitting with your pup and every time you say their name you give them a good pet and/or a tiny bit of a treat. This is just the beginning of redefining how you use and how they perceive the use of their name.
Next is how we use their name on a regular basis. This all starts with the tone in which we most often say their name. Upon reviewing how you most often say their name in the past- we can then begin replacing either the corrective tone you use and what to use instead of their name when they do something wrong or are about to do something. That all too familiar situation where you see your dog about to eat something or do something not desired- and we say their name in that tone, “Stella!”- can be changed. If the motive in saying and using their name in that matter, is to stop the action that may be already happening or about to happen- we don’t need to jump to that corrective tone yet. The desired action is for them to stop- so even just saying their name in a happy- excited tone to get their attention, is quite often enough to interrupt the behaviour- plus you are aiding in rewriting their association with hearing their name. If the behaviour persists, then you may proceed with a more corrective tone- but instead of using their name and undermining all the work on their name you are already doing, use a sound such as, “Ah!”, or “Hey!”. Then when they do stop, you can praise by saying in a very sweet tone, “Good girl, Stella!”. Thus, increasing a positive association with their name again.
When we use their name or recall beyond for correction is also just as important. This means changing how often and when you recall them back to you. If you are mainly calling them back when the fun is over- as said earlier, they will not want to return to you. An important exercise to begin practicing is calling them for “no reason, but attention”. To begin you will be working off the exercise we did earlier of charging their name to mean affection and reward. Start by calling them to you when they are just doing nothing, (make sure to use an excited or energetic, happy tone). Repeat this until they reach you- and give them lots of pets and reward (does not need to be food always) and then release them back to play after a moment. Allowing, them to go back and play or do what they were doing, and repeating multiple times helps rewrite that pesky definition that recall only happens when the fun is over.
The final lesson you will be taught today is the consideration that recall does not always need to be their name. Some people find that rewriting the rules of using the dog’s name most often for recall is quite difficult. Another option to consider and begin playing with is using other sounds, words and even whistling to retrain recall the right way. To begin, you should be going through the exercises explained earlier and begin associating and training that sound/cue with positivity, reward, attention and all good things when they hear it and then consequently interact with you.
Please keep note for next blog as we will dive further into how to retrain or even train recall for the first time with your pup- the right way. We will learn the next steps to solidifying recall in a varying set of highly distracted circumstances, different types of recall and why each are just as important as the last and finally ways to maintain your pup’s new skills.
Written by Joy Stark
