🐾 The world is exciting and reinforcing

A lot of our dogs live in relatively sterile environments. The outside world is full of interesting smells and experiences that don’t exist inside our homes. 

🐾 We have taught them to ignore us

When we ask our dogs to do behaviours that are beyond their skill level, like recalling out of play, they learn to ignore our cues. Because what happens? We give the cue, the dog keeps doing something else (sniffing, playing, etc), and the immediate consequence is… more of those things! Frequently asking our dogs to do things that they aren’t likely to do just teaches them to ignore cues.

🐾 We overuse the cue 

No one likes being nagged. Every time we ask our dog to come back to us we are asking them to give up something valuable, even if it’s just continued access to the environment. As a captive species, dogs have very little freedom, and asking them to give that up is a big deal. When we find ourselves having to call the dog over and over to control their movement, we can degrade the cue and make it more likely that the dog will ignore us. 

🐾 Our reinforcement isn’t good enough

Again, the world is exciting and freedom of movement is a big deal to dogs! The reinforcement for coming when called needs to be big, and it needs to be worth it to the individual dog. If it’s between three kibbles or chasing a bunny, the bunny is going to win. But a breakfast sandwich all scrunched up in its bag for the dog to chase and rip open? More likely to be worth coming back. 

🐾 We punished coming back (usually accidentally)

When coming back starts to predict leaving the park, getting nagged to sit, being yelled at, getting leashed, even being petted or handled for some dogs, it is likely that coming back will decrease. Dogs are smart, and they do what works for them. Coming when called should almost always predict only good things for dogs, so that in the few cases when we really have to grab them and hightail it out of the park it’s just a weird one off. 

🐾 They can’t hear us

This one’s simple. Either because they’re so focused on sniffing that they’re not hearing, or because the wind is up and they’re out of range, that may just not hear us. 

Get a whistle. 

Recalls are simple, but simple doesn’t mean easy! You can find the link to my webinar on how I teach reliable recalls right here!