A solid recall is far and away the most important behaviour we can teach our dogs and particularly our labradors . It’s not the end of the world if your dog won’t sit, drop or stand, but you cannot have a dog that will not come when called.
The stronger the recall, the safer our dog is when off-leash.
When you are teaching the ‘recall’, make sure you have your dogs attention before you call them.Say their name first and then the ‘cue / command’. “Lucy,...Come”. Don’t call your dog when they are unlikely to come. This will teach them “learned irrelevance” meaning that your recall cue is meaningless. You’ve ruined your recall cue and you’ll have to start again with a different command.
When you hit a difficult phase, increase the value of your treat. Bring out the high value treats or a toy if your dog loves to tug. Make sure that your rewards are meaningful to your dog.
Always take care not to reinforce any behaviours you don’t want. If your dog doesn’t comply with your command, simply say ‘no’, without energy or emotion and start again.
I like to start with ‘Restrained Recalls’. This requires 2 participants. Both of you need to stock up with high value treats or toys. One of you needs to hold your dog while the other one calls,..’Lucy Come’. Each person marks & rewards the dog when they arrive. Now do the same thing, recalling back again. There is nothing more satisfying to a handler than a dog that ‘comes’ as fast as they can run in response to the recall cue.
The recall certainly come more naturally to dogs like labradors. For others, it’s a more difficult behaviour to teach. This can be the result of high distraction, low food drive, lack of desire to please or apathy and low motivation.