Recall Is Fun! & Did She Take A Nap? (First Full Day In Foster Care, Part 2)

After relaxing in the yard and watching the dogs have a blast we decided to putter in the yard. We had some lawn mowing, a little weeding, and some bark hauling to do. We let the dogs all have access to the whole acre and one thing I always like to do when we are all out in the big yard is to practice recall with my dogs.

I always tell applicants for our New Rattitude-PNW rescue dogs when we do our phone chat that recall is the most important thing to work on with our dogs and it is never too early (or too late) to start! Make it a game, meaning it is just a fun exercise and food is always involved and you will have eager dogs looking forward to hearing their names called. Starting where there are no distractions is so important and it is important to remember, there should not be any pressure. Here your name called, come running, get a treat. Heck I don't care if all the dogs come running when I call any of their names. That works for me! (and you will see that is exactly what happens) For our foster dogs it makes it easy because they see the resident dogs running and getting a treat so they just naturally follow suit. Tesla was a champ with her first recall lessons.

Tesla's ears just look like they are ready to hear her name don't they?

 In this video, the dogs all hover around me because they figured out I filled my pockets with treats. Hey no problem! I actually always like them to know before we get started that I have treats and will be doling them out at some point. Then they are more apt to focus on me in between doing dog stuff. You have to make it easy for them to be successful!

We practiced with Tesla not too far from me, so she would get to see how the game is played. She is a quick study!

Here you can see how when I call Tessi (this has become her nick name now) all the dogs who were in earshot come running too. That is fine with me, I always reward any dog who comes running when I call out.

Working from a distance! Good job!

I tried calling her when she was trying to get Skip to play. Good girl! Got her attention!

And here I purposely waited for Tessi to go out of sight before calling her name and she came running! 

There are all sorts of games to be played to strengthen recall, get creative. Try to not call your dog's name several times. When you are practicing, call the name once, either your dog comes or doesn't come. If she doesn't come, just wait until you know she is in a place where you will be more interesting than what she is doing. Be sure to have treats that are of high value to your specific dog. Hard biscuits might not be enough to get him running to you. Make his paycheck worth his while. Meat jerky, small bits of cheese, cooked chicken or roast. My dogs are pretty food motivated so I use Ziwi Peak a lot or The Real Meat Co jerky treats, or string cheese, or home made treats with salmon or sardines. The ideas for recall are endless and so is thinking up yummy treats to use as reinforcers!

Did any of this running around and exercise make Tessi tired enough to take a nap? What do you think?

Ahhhhhh, it was so nice to see that she wanted to lie down and that she felt comfortable to pick one of many dogs beds scattered throughout the house! She picked the bed that all the foster dogs seem to like, "the best bed!".

The eyes finally closed...... but still not completely relaxed...

Oh good, a very relaxed position. Yes she did take a nice long, well deserved nap... precious girl.