Yesterday was Winnie’s last day of group training! 

The focus of the lesson was on recall. Winnie is generally pretty good when we ask her to “come,” but she’s not as consistent as we would like her to be. So it was good to have this chance to practice more with her and implement new skills. 

Marker Word: The first thing that was talked about, was using a marker word. This is a word that is used immediately after your dog starts to “come” to you. Our word is “yes,” so as soon as we say “come” and Winnie makes a move towards us, we say that marker word. 

Encouragement and Motivation: Make recall fun and worth it for your dog! It’s important to encourage them the whole way, as soon as they begin to come towards you. 

Movement and Move Away From Them: This is where you take a few steps away from your dog as they are coming towards you and have them move towards their reward instead of you reaching towards them. This is because dogs are naturally attracted to movement and love when you play ‘hard to get’!

Practice and Practice More: The instructors emphasized the importance of practicing for fun 90% of the time and using the command only when you need it 10% of the time. If you practice for fun then they will want to play the game of recall. If you only use it when you need it, for example only when leaving the park or yard, then they might be less willing to come to you.