Take your puppy’s skill set even further by working on their Recall, a.k.a. getting them to “Come” when called!
If you’ve followed our puppy training 101 series, we’ve introduced a few of your puppy’s basic obedience commands: “Sit”, “Place”, “House”, and “Stay”. Now your puppy is ready to start working on their recall, a.k.a. the “Come” command!
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Teaching Your Puppy to “Come” on a Leash
Teaching your puppy to “Come” is one of the most important commands as it helps build a stronger Recall (a.k.a. Coming when called) with you. In time, you can trust your puppy will come back to you whenever needed, whether at home, out in public, or in various situations, you'll come across throughout your puppy’s life!
When teaching your puppy to “Come”, we like to pair this with leash guidance which will help clarify your communication with your puppy and what you’re asking them to do. To start, we recommend working in your home with your puppy on a harness and leash, and food for a reward! You may need to apply light-resistant pressure on your puppy’s leash to gain their attention from distractions. Once you have their attention, release that tension when your puppy starts coming to you, and finally reward them with food as they approach you! It’s important to create this positive association for coming to you each time to help encourage that good habit as they continue to build muscle memory.
By using leash guidance along with the verbal “Come” command, it will help your puppy understand the difference between how leash tension and slack feels. Doing this is setting you up for making a loose-leash walk easier and more attainable as your puppy grows up!
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Teaching Your Puppy to “Come” with Leash Guidance from a Stationary Spot
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To teach your puppy to “Come” from a stationary spot, you’ll want to start off with your puppy in a harness and leash attached to the harness. With them on “Place”, in a “Sit-Stay” or “Down-Stay”, and their leash in your hand, walk to the end of it, and say “Come!”
To entice them to come to you at first, you may need to show them the food reward in hand, or step backward as you say “Come” to motivate them. Also, add some excitement to your tone as you say their name to make coming to you a positive experience!
Begin adding in slight tension on the leash as you say “Come” to help communicate to your puppy to start heading towards you, and release that tension immediately once they start to move. Reward your puppy when they get to you, reset your puppy on “Place”, and practice this routine again.
Teaching Your Puppy to “Come” with Leash Guidance and Movement
In this routine, you’ll be working on teaching your puppy to “Come” when they are already moving. Start with your puppy on harness and leash and allow them to do their own thing for a few moments by letting them sniff, walk around a bit, etc., before getting to work.
At this point, when your puppy reaches the end of the leash and consequently begins to pull and create tension, apply light pressure on the leash to gain back your puppy’s attention. Say “Come” and guide your puppy back in your direction. Just as with coming from a stationary spot, when your puppy turns and makes eye contact, then proceeds to come back, immediately release leash pressure and give your puppy slack.
Complete the training routine by marking the correct behavior with “Good” and reward your puppy! The goal of this puppy training exercise is to start building muscle memory in your puppy that leash pressure on means to turn and come back to you and leash pressure off means they are being rewarded for not pulling! Not all puppies will get this routine down right away. It takes a lot of practice, in particular, if your puppy is still on the younger side and easily distracted!
Pro Tip: If you have a puppy that is young, easily distracted, and already a big puller, you might need more motivation to get your puppy to come back to you! Add excitement to your tone of voice and movements when you’re taking a few steps away from your puppy after calling their name and saying “Come.” Also, having a high-value treat on hand can be a major help!
Pro Tip: The leash position to guide your puppy is off to the side, not down the spine which actually creates the pulling or yanking tension. Off to the side redirects your puppy’s balance and motivates them to look toward that direction. In doing so, you’re using that balance to guide your puppy.
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How to Advance this Routine
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Keep adding to your puppy’s skills by taking this routine a step further! Utilize your puppy’s food to create a distraction between you and your puppy. Place a few pieces of food on the ground, take a few steps back (you can go as far as the full length of your puppy’s leash), and let your puppy eat it. When your puppy is done, apply light pressure on their leash, say their name, and “Come!” then when your puppy starts to return to you, follow through with releasing pressure, and mark the correct behavior with “Good” and reward them again! Starting to create distractions and distance between you and your puppy, helps reinforce their recall in trickier situations.
Teaching Your Puppy to “Come” Off-Leash
Leash guidance is an excellent tool for teaching “Come” in the beginning, along with helping them to understand leash tension which will help further with loose-leash walks. But, what about those times you’ll want to use “Come” when your puppy isn’t on a leash?
Reliability with “Come” takes a lot of time and consistent repetitions to establish with your puppy, so don’t rush it! As your puppy improves with their “Come” while on the leash with the exercises we covered above, begin adding more distractions and distance while using a long-line (15-20ft), then advance to off-leash work in a secured area like a fenced backyard to test their skill level. At this stage, you can begin to substitute food rewards for praise as your puppy gets older and improves!
Pro tip: When practicing in a new area or around more distractions, it’s normal to have to go back to using a shorter leash and more food rewards for a while to help guide your puppy through those new distractions and work them back up to get more distance and better focus again!
Our puppy training 101 blog series will help you start your puppy training journey! Remember that to teach your puppy “Come”, your leash will be your first line of communication using light pressure and release to guide your puppy. Engage your puppy by challenging them to start coming to you from a distance of a few feet to eventually across the room! Building your puppy’s recall will be an essential life skill you can use when you’re out with your puppy in a park, beach, on a hike, and in other situations!
Check out these blogs related to puppy training and more!
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Puppy Training 101:Teach Your Puppy to Stay!
Puppy Training 101: How to Teach Your Puppy Confidence for the Real World!
