Teaching Your Dog Emergency Recall

Thousands of dogs are hit by vehicles and killed every year. They just don’t look when they’re crossing a road chasing something. Most dogs, unless specifically trained not to, will bolt if they see another animal or a person they want to get at. For this reason, the dog emergency recall is just about the most important response you can train in your dog.

Teaching a dog to come when you call them is a basic part of dog obedience training. The emergency recall is separate from this. The idea is that when the dog hears you call out the special word (a word that you would never use except for an emergency recall) he will immediately drop whatever he is doing, no matter what the distraction, and come running back to you.

If your dog sees a squirrel and bolts after it, the chances are if you use the day to day call to get him back to you he’ll ignore it – dogs chase animals – that’s what they do. They get very focused on the object of their curiosity, which is another reason it’s so dangerous for them – they don’t see danger coming when they’re chasing unless it is directly in front of them. But if there is a special word that the dog associates with absolute pleasure, and it isn’t one he hears very often, that will penetrate his focus and if properly trained, he will come back immediately.

Training Emergency Recall

To start the training, you need to get your dog to associate the word with extra special treats. Cheese pieces or hot dog pieces work well. Don’t be stingy - the idea is to make your dog think that when he hears this word, the most wonderful food in the world is presented to him. Spend a couple of minutes just repeating the word as you give him the treat repeatedly. Do that a couple of times a day for about a week. Remember, this is the only time he gets that special treat. For other training, use something else.

Once this connection between the magic word and the extra special treat has been made, you can start training your dog to come back to you even if distracted. Have your dog training partner distract the dog while you move away. Don’t go too far yet. Make sure your dog can still see you. Use your command, and reward him when he leaves his game and comes to you.

Your dog won’t be perfect at first. He hasn’t learned that he should come, even when he is distracted. Have patience. As he improves, you will need to make it more difficult for him to come. Have your friend create different types of distractions. He needs to learn how to drop everything and come on that command. Anything from holding smaller treats to playing games will work. Gradually move farther and farther away from your dog. You may want to be in another room when you use the command. When he gets good enough, you can even try hiding from him.

Emergency Recall vs "Come"

Just remember there is a difference between this and just teaching him to come to you when you call his name or say “come”. For normal recall training, the treat is gradually replaced with praise. Not the emergency recall. When you call him using the emergency recall command, you need to give him his extra special reward every time he finds you.

A couple of other points about the dog emergency recall. The word needs to be something he just wouldn’t hear otherwise. This is a special command and should only be used when it is needed. “Ruetabager”, or “Charlie Chan” or anything that the dog is not likely to hear day to day will do. Secondly, never ever correct or give him a negative experience if you’ve called him with the emergency recall. Never yell at him when he comes, even if he did just chase that cat up a tree. He has to know absolutely, when he hears that word, nothing but wonderful treats and praise is waiting for him when he gets to you. If you do behave in any negative way, it will make him less excited to return to you and will destroy all of the work you have done by weakening the command’s effectiveness.

You’ll also want to make sure that this command is not overused. This can be difficult when you begin training, since you need to use it often so that your dog can learn it. But once you’re sure he knows the command, use it sparingly. Don’t abandon it entirely you will still need to use it from time to time to keep it current in your dog’s mind. But don’t use it frivolously.

If you're serious about your dog’s safety, you need to train him to come to an emergency recall command. This training should be a positive experience for both of you and knowing that he will come without hesitation will give you piece of mind. Next time you go into your backyard and find the gate unlocked, you don’t need to panic! If you’ve been consistent with your dog’s training, he will happily return to you unharmed.

Looking for more dog obedience training advice? We recommend this comprehensive dog training resource.

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