23/12/2022
23rd December
Behind number 23 of the Twins tips is following on from yesterdays post and today we will talk about building a formal recall.
So before you begin the training decide on what you want that recall to look like, what will you use? A word a whistle? I personally prefer a whistle it’s consistent and the tone remains the same in every situation. Think reinforcers, go high value or go home, dry biscuits won’t cut it. I tend to use liver, roast beef, chicken you get the picture.
We are simply building a response to a sound wave, it’s basic conditioning. To begin this start at home with your puppy right beside you, blow the whistle and drop half a dozen treats at your feet. The reason we drop at our feet is this is exactly where you want your puppy to come back to when they hear the whistle. Repeat this lots before you start to add any distance. Shifting a gear we want to begin to add in a little distance. Wait until the puppy is a little away from you, even another room and blow the whistle, drop half a dozen treats at your feet. fast response? Great!!
So we have added in distance now it’s time to add a distraction. Wait until your puppy is playing with another family member or having a tasty kong, blow your whistle and again drop those treats at your feet. Repeat this until you have built up a good history in distractions.
Now that you have a fast reliable response indoors it’s time to change environment, take this to your garden and repeat distance and distractions. Going well? If no go back a step and begin where you were successful previously. If it’s a yes, move up to another environment. Choose your environment carefully so that you set your puppy up for success, somewhere that isn’t too distracting, you want to work up to more distracting environments. Keep your puppy on a longline whilst teaching this, for safety and to stop your puppy creating bad habits.
Recall is certainly one of the most important things you will teach your puppy so investing the time is worth it’s weight in gold.
Happy training 🎄