Puppy Recall Training

Having a puppy who won’t come when called is not only frustrating but can also be dangerous in some situations. The most common reasons why your puppy won’t come when called are: too many distractions, leadership issues, inconsistency and fear.  Let’s discuss these issues, then go over three easy steps to solve your puppy recall training problems.

Reasons Why Your Puppy Won’t Come When Called

Too many distractions. Don’t start by taking your puppy to a busy park or on a walk down a busy street.  Start recall training in a place with as few distractions as possible, like your back yard or in a quiet, more secluded area of a park.  If your puppy is very young, start inside your house at times when it’s quiet.

Leadership issues.  Establishing yourself as the leader (otherwise known as the “Pack Leader”) is one of the very first things you should do when you begin to train your puppy.  You can learn how to do this quickly by following Doggy Dan’s 5 Golden Rules, found on his online dog training website (I’ll tell you more later in this article).  Getting your puppy to see you as Pack Leader will make all of your training efforts far easier.

Lack of consistency.  Consistent repetition is vitally important when it comes to training a puppy.  Be consistent with the command words you use such as “come” and also be consistent in rewarding your puppy when they obey, and not rewarding them when they don’t.  Not only do you need to be consistent, but all members of your family must be as well.

Fear.  If you’ve been harsh with your puppy, or if they’ve ever been scolded immediately after coming to you, your puppy may be afraid of you.

How to Train Your Puppy to Come When Called

Make sure your puppy has a pleasant experience every single time they come when called (no matter how many times you had to call them).  Put a few small treats in your pocket and give one each time the puppy obeys your call.  After several repetitions, your puppy will begin to see that coming to you when called pays off!

Don’t call our puppy if you are going to scold or yell at him when they come. You can undo months of hard work doing puppy recall training by doing this just once, because in your puppy’s mind, coming to you now means punishment.

Convince your puppy that coming to you is worth it. If your puppy hates returning to the car after playing at the park, for example, reward him as soon as he gets back to the car with water and a treat.  Here’s a tip:  the more you’re struggling to get your puppy to do something, the better and yummier you should make the treat when they obey.  This will compute in your puppy’s head very quickly and will go a long way toward teaching them.  Does this mean you’ll always have to have treats available in order for your dog to listen?  No.  This only needs to happen during the training process so your puppy will experience the repetition necessary to be successful during learning process.

Try This Basic Formula

1.  Call your puppy to you and hold of his collar gently
2.  Reward him within two seconds
3.  Then immediately RELEASE him.

Do this repeatedly and your puppy will become convinced that coming when called will always be a positive experience.

For More Help with Puppy Recall Training

For more help with teaching your puppy how to come when called, refer to this article, Recall Training for Dogs – Why Your Dog Ignores You and How to Fix It by Doggy Dan, Professional Dog Trainer and owner of the website, TheOnlineDogTrainer.com.

Training a puppy can be challenging and frustrating for new puppy owners.  I highly recommend visiting Doggy Dan’s dog training website called, The Online Dog Trainer.  The site contains more than 300 videos of Doggy Dan working with dogs on every dog behavior issue you could think of, including recall training.  You can choose the training issue you’re having difficulty with and get instant help with it from Doggy Dan.  Here’s the link directly to Doggy Dan’s video about recall training:

I Donate to Animal Charities

Thank you for visiting my website.  I donate 10% of all commissions I earn on this website to animal charities.  You can see a list of the charities I donate to here.  If you like this website, please share it with your friends – every purchase helps animals!  Debra

For More About Puppy Training, CLICK HERE