Week 3 Recall The Very Beginning
Equipment Needed: 6' Leash (week 1, afterwards we will use 15' long line); Training Collar
Explanation and Goal of Exercise: Formal command that requires the dog's immediate response to the command in a straight line that ends very close to the owner/handler/trainer in a sit position (auto sit).
Uses for This Exercise: This is an immediate directive to return to owner. This can be just to leash up, or the owner/trainer/handler could see danger up ahead. This exercise done well and to a standard can not only return your dog to you, but avoid some dangerous situations (hole in the ground, barbed wire, away from wild animal that has come into the yard ET).
The following are steps for this exercise:
STEP 1: Start off in a heel.
STEP 2: Close up your feet into the auto sit position, when your dog is walking in heel position. If your dog does not go into auto sit, be sure to give them the correction timely so that they are in correct position.
STEP 3: Say "STAY" and then walk two and a half steps. Then turn and face your dog. Should the dog move, be sure to go back and correct him/her. Also if as you are walking away, and you see the dog move, be sure to go immediately back to correct him/her. If their butt simply goes up and then down, you can continue. The dog is thinking and learning at that point, and has therefore self corrected themselves.
STEP 4: Wait for 5 or 10 or 20 or even 60 seconds. You want to stagger the amount of time between the stay and command to recall. Otherwise, your dog will anticipate the call and break themselves.
STEP 5: Then say "[DOG'S NAME] COME". Jog backwards a few steps just after you issue the command (you can also just give the lead a quick snap towards you as well). I find jogging backwards usually ends up keeping the response peppy later on. You can praise your dog once they begin coming towards you. (if the dog resists at all, reel in the leash, and it usually helps if you jog backwards a bit--however, you usually don't need to do this)
STEP 6: Once the dog is close in front of you, give the sit command and help the dog into a straight sit. The dog should be directly in front of you, and you eventually want them looking right up at you at the end.
STEP 7: Give heel command and start all over again.
Explanation and Goal of Exercise: Formal command that requires the dog's immediate response to the command in a straight line that ends very close to the owner/handler/trainer in a sit position (auto sit).
Uses for This Exercise: This is an immediate directive to return to owner. This can be just to leash up, or the owner/trainer/handler could see danger up ahead. This exercise done well and to a standard can not only return your dog to you, but avoid some dangerous situations (hole in the ground, barbed wire, away from wild animal that has come into the yard ET).
The following are steps for this exercise:
STEP 1: Start off in a heel.
STEP 2: Close up your feet into the auto sit position, when your dog is walking in heel position. If your dog does not go into auto sit, be sure to give them the correction timely so that they are in correct position.
STEP 3: Say "STAY" and then walk two and a half steps. Then turn and face your dog. Should the dog move, be sure to go back and correct him/her. Also if as you are walking away, and you see the dog move, be sure to go immediately back to correct him/her. If their butt simply goes up and then down, you can continue. The dog is thinking and learning at that point, and has therefore self corrected themselves.
STEP 4: Wait for 5 or 10 or 20 or even 60 seconds. You want to stagger the amount of time between the stay and command to recall. Otherwise, your dog will anticipate the call and break themselves.
STEP 5: Then say "[DOG'S NAME] COME". Jog backwards a few steps just after you issue the command (you can also just give the lead a quick snap towards you as well). I find jogging backwards usually ends up keeping the response peppy later on. You can praise your dog once they begin coming towards you. (if the dog resists at all, reel in the leash, and it usually helps if you jog backwards a bit--however, you usually don't need to do this)
STEP 6: Once the dog is close in front of you, give the sit command and help the dog into a straight sit. The dog should be directly in front of you, and you eventually want them looking right up at you at the end.
STEP 7: Give heel command and start all over again.
You can do this inside or added to your training walk if it is not too highly distracting. Do about 25 reps of these a day, and those can be broken into smaller sessions of reps.
NOTE: Your dog may become confused when you first start to step away. This is because they are in a position for a heel and you are leaving them. Two things you can start to do to make it clearer to them. One is that I will step off with my right foot instead of my left, and the dogs will learn the correlation to that. The second is I start maybe even nose to knees close to the dog when I go to the front, and then build a stay that way with me stepping away farther and farther each time. Or you could just place him back each time he tries to break and follow you.
NOTE: Your dog may become confused when you first start to step away. This is because they are in a position for a heel and you are leaving them. Two things you can start to do to make it clearer to them. One is that I will step off with my right foot instead of my left, and the dogs will learn the correlation to that. The second is I start maybe even nose to knees close to the dog when I go to the front, and then build a stay that way with me stepping away farther and farther each time. Or you could just place him back each time he tries to break and follow you.
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