While Gerry and I attended Starmark Academy for professional dog trainers, we managed to get a perfect recall, where our dogs were being called off leash and came running to us full of motivation while picking up tracks of all sorts of wild animals.
Of course the foundation we learned there and taught our dogs played the main role in teaching our dogs to come when called. But the secret weapon were our recall pancakes or recall patties, which you can see in the video.
We just mixed everything we had for our dogs that would be stinky, tasty and safe for them and made them into little patties. Refer to yesterday’s post to see when you should use such high value treats.
The key thing is that we were not showing our dogs what we had for them as a reward, otherwise it would become a bribe. But if they did an awesome recall then the patties came out. You can see the motivation increase dramatically. Then do some reps with lower values, praise, toys …. and every now and then bring out the big boys again. Your huge rewards can also be a new toy that you know they will love or an old favorite you’ve kept away for some time, it can be paired with the return of a loved one or many other things that will hugely motivate your dog.
Imagine you go to Vegas and hit the jackpot, you might be more enticed to go back if you hit the jack pot or at least win something, than if you don’t.