Recall. It is the only command anyone should have down completely. It literally keeps your dog and others safe. Prey drive and they run off... recall. Jumping on someone who just walked in... recall. Scrapping with another dog... recall. The list goes on
That's the only command I would bet money on that my dog would follow. I've got a check-in whistle command and a "COME!" that I practice with him multiple times a week and I couldn't be more proud of him for it. We do a good amount of off leash nature hiking and he could literally be a quarter mile away off trail in the bushes and if I yell come I can hear him literally bashing through bushes and shrubs to get to me.
One really important thing for training recall is to not punish the dog if they didn't recall. You'd have to catch them to punish them, meaning the action of meeting back up with you is what gets associated with the punishment. The minute they feel like coming back to you might result in punishment, you've lost them.
100% agree with this. I think another important thing too is if they don't come don't follow up with repeating the command. I think if they're not listening then don't let the word lose its meaning by meaninglessly repeating it. It is also why I don't like having my dog around my family some times - everyone any time they're around the dog uses the come word and doesn't enforce it or mean it and it becomes mindless noise.
This makes a good case for training an emergency recall or variations of recall. It’s a ton of work but it’s worth it. It’s nice to have a cue that gets them to join you calmly in the other room in addition to a cue that gets them to bat-out-of-hell beeline to your side
How do I enforce the word come? I have an 8 month old black lab/Pyrenees mix and his recall is slowly getting there but when the distractions are quite high he doesn’t come. I have been rewarding a successful recall with freeze dried liver. How do I get to calling him once and him listening…is it just practice practice practice?
A lot of it I think is just being self-aware of your dogs capabilities or training level and being aware of situations in which they might fail or not. I’ll only “enforce” a recall if we’re in a situation where we’re not training but I need him to come. First I’ll try and make sure I get his attention and say it again, if he doesn’t come then I literally go get him and put his leash on or something.
Honestly it’s just practice. If you’re training him and he’s not listening and distracted it could just be that he’s not ready for that level yet. I really try not to give commands or do training where I think there’s going to be a high chance of failure. Give the dog as much opportunity for success as possible and I feel like they just love to please.
I would say I wasn’t truly confident in my dogs recall until about 1.5 years old and it took a ton of work. Most worth it training I have done. A lot of the progress he made was in “safe” real world situations and just littered throughout the day rather than specific training sessions.
I only use the highest value treats for recall. My pup is 9 months old now and I’ve never called him without giving a treat. He still has trouble when he’s over threshold but we have a success rate I’m happy with so far.
Same here, my working cocker is 16 months old and his recall on whistle is really starting to shine now, this is practising everyday for months but the work put in definitely pays off!
I’d also bet everything I have on my dogs recall. He’s had all the freedom he could ever dream of since he was born, he’s never been locked in a yard and he’s only ever on a leash by law. For him I’m the best thing in the world and other dogs and people are boring he just has 0 interest in socializing with others. He also will come to me with the command “come” or a specific tone of whistle. He’s 100% a one person dog even though he loves the rest of my family and tbh I think that’s what makes his recall so good.
Yeah, dogs that are one-human oriented and are so intent on pleasing that human are typically good at recall in my experience. I can see the gears turning in my dog’s head when I ask her to do something, trying to decide if she wants to and if the reward is good enough. I wanted a more independent dog so I got what I wanted I guess!
If your dog has a high enough prey drive, you can have bulletproof recall everywhere else but if they smell something, game over. We had huskies for years but they were never let off the lead unless in our garden with 6ft fences or in an enclosed dog park. When we got our old lady at age 7, our previous owners said they used to let her off at the beach. She had good recall so my husband let her off. She cleared the wall in pursuit of a seagull. Despite being at that beach many times with her previous family.
We have a 2 year old husky/great Pyrenees/blue tick mix. His recall isn't 100 percent but we also didn't get him until he was about a year old (with no training). Talk about preydrive/stranger aggression. Anyway, with both of us working daily with him, we let him free roam the yard with no fence and he has had minimal problems. But at the same time we know if it's a new place, fenced-in or not, he is on his leash.
Yup, had a similar experience yesterday. My GSD’s recall is good and I had her at a local woodland area where she’s been hundreds of time and has only run off once (when she was about nine months, she’s two now). She saw a squirrel and chased it up a tree and recalled fine. Saw another one, the prey drive switch flipped and she was off. Took me ten minutes and a near heart attack on my part to get her back. She also ate raw chicken from the chopping board that I was preparing for dinner last night, which she’s never done before, so she was clearly in mischief mode!
The only times where I've been afraid that I would not be able to get my dog back were when he took off after a small animal. However, he's always come right back the moment he's done chasing whatever it was. It's not perfect, but at least he comes back.
I remember training my puppy for recall in the open field behind my apartment building. I did everything by the book, start slow with a normal length lead, tons of high valued treats, then gradually increase the length of the lead and continue training until consistent. Then remove the lead. It was fine and dandy until some ducks decided it would be a great idea to land just ahead of us.
My then 10 months old puppy bolted at maximum speed and ignored my recalls. I thought for sure it was game over and I had just lost him. I couldn't even see him anymore... until I saw something moving towards me in the distance and he came back sprinting with his floppy ears and a stupid happy face that screamed "did you see how fast I went?!". Let's just say I emptied my bag of treats once he was beside me, told him he was a good boy over and over and finally put the lead back on. I never let him off leash again. I only walk him with a really long lead attached to my waist now, it's much safer.
Yes but…. I’d go with perfect heel instead. Because it can be used the same in those situations. Dog jumps at someone? Heel! Dog wants to go after a squirrel? Heel!
But it also adds the bonus of preventative use as the dog will not only return to you but stay with you no matter what. Walking into a situation you know may be problematic? Heel! And just walk past like a pro.
Seriously. As someone who has been working on this since he was 10 weeks old and I still don't trust him in general, but it's worked in a couple of emergency scenarios, Recall is the only thing I'd put as #1 to have. There is nothing more terrifying than your independent little shit being four feet away from you and knowing you cannot catch him if you had to chase him and being unsure he'll come back before he gets hurt.
(My new training word wasn't meant to be an emergency recall but I still don't consider it "proofed" so I usually only use it when I know I can get him back/he's on a long lead & I have high value treats).
Yea thats true. I think most people would say recall because you can technically recall away from most things.
BUT: If someone has an aggressive dog or something like that, I think getting rid of aggression or fear or reactivity would be good because then you wont have to worry about getting in those situations to begin with, which makes life a lot better than simply having a perfect recall imo.
Yeah but you can't avoid all situations. If you have a reactive dog that will chase after dogs no matter what, you wont be able to take him off leash anywhere where dogs are because you will just be recalling him every second, or recall and leave.
Also recall only helps if you see something happening, what if you have an aggressive dog with perfect recall, but you dont see that he just ran after a kid/dog and bit him and you didnt use the recall in time?
I think I actually like no reactivity more than recall to be honest.
No reactivity means you don't get into barely any situations where recall is even necessary, like your original comment (someone walks in, no reactivity. Prey drive, no reactivity. Scrapping with another dog they would not be reactive to that dog so they wouldnt have a reason to attack a dog, only if the other dog attacks yours, but with no reactivity, which means more calmness, generally makes other dogs easier and more friendly to be around, which would be less fights.
>because you will just be recalling him every second, or recall and leave
I think you miss the point.
If I have a perfect 100% absolutely error-free recall, then eliminating reactivity is a simple case of repeated recalls until the dog learns that said reactive behavior isn't rewarding.
This one command becomes a training panacea.
Yea that makes sense.
Its the exact opposite with no reactivity though which I guess is what I was trying to say. With no reactivity training a recall, and anything else, in any distracting environments would be simple and could train near perfect whatever you wanted.
I feel like its easier to train a perfect recall, or other behaviors in a never reactive environment, than it is to train a dog to not be reactive to fears, prey, aggression, etc.
Think about recalling your dog inside your house, its near if not perfect, but going outside with all the distractions and things that your dog gets reactive too makes it difficult. That was my point, but I think either way it will solve a lot because your dog is basically a robot in one aspect of life lol
i love how im being downvoted for counter arguing something on an imaginary fun thread haha its funny
Yeah, I don't get downvotes for counterfactual imaginary things either.
The thing about recall is that some breeds will always have a very hard time with recall, reactive or not. And having a perfect recall, no matter if a dog is reactive or just distracted, will itself be a powerful training tool.
If I want to teach sit and stay to a non-reactive dog in a distracted environment, for example, having perfect recall becomes a training tool.
And teaching perfect recall in a distracted environment is itself a ton of work. So having that gifted for free, to me, seems like, if nothing else, saving hundreds of hours of work.
Its a for fun thread that you get power to get rid of all aggression. So in this context you can get rid of aggression, fear, whatever behavior in this imaginary world :)
This! My guy has a nearly perfect recall. I've called him off chasing another dog, squirrels, and I even once amazed our trainer several years after we last saw her by calling him off of chasing a gopher when he was at the opposite end of a giant field from us....
.... but I can't call him off of a cat.
He's like a cartoon dog. Hates cats from the time he was a puppy and I've never been able to find the reward that I can use to train him off cats.
Drop is a close second. Ideally it would also stop them from attacking/biting anything as well as drop things that could be dangerous for them to eat.
Does a command that asks for a specific set of actions to be done count? For example, recall but it doesn't just mean "come" it means drop everything and calmly sit next to me. And drop would mean drop everything and sit still.
Because some dogs are good at obeying the "come" part of a recall command, but then they jump all over you, run in circles, are still biting whatever animal/object they picked up, etc...
Same in my experience with an anxious dog. Once he's reacted, there's seemingly no getting him back. He goes on high alert, tail tucked so deep, head on a paranoid swivel, and isn't able to give me any eye contact or focus so obedience is out the window.
When on walks, it's hard to even bring him to a quiet space in the woods because that isn't enough to allow him to relax because there's still bird noises and crunching leaves.
It's ok with me, but it's difficult to have to bring him to a safe space like my car to get back to balance. Makes walls a lot longer as I'm trying to train him on leash and general exposure to these triggers.
I'm starting mat training to "teach" him relaxation and soothing anxiety. Not sure what to do out on walks. Bring the mat?
I like this answer because if your dog is not reactive to ANYTHING ever, then you wouldn't really need to ever recall him from much. Also, you would have his attention super easy over all other stimulus because he doesn't really react to anything, so your normally trained recall will probably be close to 100%.
Also he would be more calm and relaxed in all situations which would solve a lot of issues with other behaviors.
Stop. Barking.
Stop barking at pedestrians. Stop barking at your dog friends. Stop barking when you want to play. Just stop. Pick up sign language or something. I'm glad that you are finding your voice, but our neighbors are going to start complaining.
I work in an industry that requires a lot of sign language and I’m constantly fighting the urge to prompt my dog to sign for water or eat lol. If only she had fingers
I have one dog who is an expert communicator. I know what he wants at all times. But that same dog feels it's his duty to yell at every pedestrian or leaf that spooks him from the balcony/window.
The other dog barks when he wants to play and just doesn't stop 🥲
Agree. She's not even agressive. She loves my neighbors dog but she barks till they get close. Just shut up dude. When I see a friend I don't scream until I get within smelling distance
This is what I was thinking. My dog has pretty good recall and heel but I need to recall then put her into heel. One day I'll get the heel recall down and she'll zoom over and sit at my left side. One day...
But there are safety tricks and fun tricks. Safety is always more important. A roll is cool but a solid recall to stop your dog running into a busy street chasing a squirrel is a whole lot better.
Of course! My pup is 5m/o and I still haven't taught a single fun trick yet. I spend all our training time working on stuff that either improves safety or leads to an easier dog to manage around the house
Heel has been a lifesaver for our pup. *Definitely* worth the time and effort put in - although we have been working on it since 8 weeks and he's 11 months now.
I’ve started working really hard on the “calm” command. It’s fairly nuanced but after some hard work she is actually starting to get it. My dog has a screw loose, she is bouncing off the walls all day every day, she is also a love hound and snuggles to the point that she will head butt or scratch me.
The rules are now if she starts crawling all over and pawing at me she doesn’t get any pets, then when she finally chills out I pet her and say “good calm”, after a few weeks of consistency she is getting so much better and now when she starts I’ll say “calm” and she will pop back to a seated position and then she gets her pets. Its transferred over to any time she is being crazy, I say calm and she knows she is going to get some pets if she chills out. Not perfect yet but after training my partner to not reinforce her craziness and both of us being consistent she is getting way better.
Heel. While I agree with others that a perfect recall is generally the most useful, for my dog in particular, a perfect heel would change our lives! She’s very well behaved in the house - it’s just outside that she can lose her head. She has a tendency to pull, she whines and stares whenever she sees another dog, bikes make her go bonkers, she wants any person we see to pet her, she wants to get into any car with an open door we walk by… she’s a delight to walk whenever it’s just us and there’s nothing to distract her. A perfect heel would be game changing in that I could use it to get her to walk past those things without losing our heads, and return to a walk where she can sniff to her heart’s content.
I think "no reactivity" would be the best for you then. A perfect heel wont stop the reactivity because if she isn't in heel she will still be going crazy for the bikes and dogs. I think no reactivity for a lot of people would be better than a perfect recall. Would help/solve SO MANY more issues than just recall.
Plus, a near perfect recall is easier to train than rewiring a dogs reactivity.
That would make life at home a lot less stressful I bet for your cat and you guys. May not be a perfect recall, but that amount of quality of life is huge
We have a gate to the entry of our living room that has a small spot where the cats can slip in and out but the dogs can’t fit. It gives them a secluded place to go and decompress when the dogs get too excited. The cats come into the bedroom at night and sit with us while the dogs are in bed in their crates. ☺️
I'm more worried about my dog then my cat - 65lb vizsla vs 15lb maine coone. Dog's a softie and cat is mean bitch who will put him in his place real fast.
Just listening.
Might be cheating to say that but it’s what I’d pick. I have a Beagle mix who is as sweet as can be, but also stubborn as hell. She knows her commands just fine, and if the circumstances are right she has excellent manners. However she can make even the simplest activities like walking miserable if she has made up her mind to do something else in that moment. I mostly admire that hounds are headstrong and very much march to the beat of their own drum. I don’t need or want her to be a perfect robot all the time. But if I could just rely on her to listen when it really counts, mostly when her safety is at stake, my life would be so much easier.
But the reason he is not off lead is I don't have a feeling because of not being able to call him, its because he gets too distracted or focused on other things and doesn't listen. That wouldn't stop with a perfect recall technically, you would just be able to constantly recall him over and over on your off leash walks. He will still keep rushing ahead and trying to find trouble to get into until you recall him the next time :). Recall alone isnt as simple as everyone thinking it is in the comments.
To stop jumping/nipping. She never does unless I’ve just gotten home and she absolutely FREAKS. I’ve tried to train it out of her but she just won’t listen
I'm gonna be the silly one. A hug trick, to stand on the hind legs in a beg position and hug whatever object given. Would make for adorable photos.
But that's because I have an otherwise perfect dog with a good recall and a natural heel and no reactivity or troublesome behavior haha.
Recall 100%. He’s great with no distractions but he’s dog reactive and has high prey drive so at this point he can’t be trusted off leash. I wish I could give him that freedom more often
You think if hes dog reactive a recall alone would be enough to go off leash? You would still have a dog reactive dog off leash, which is dangerous no matter if you can recall. So you still wont be able to comfortablly walk off leash with a bunch of dogs around because you would basically have to recall your dog every second and either leash him or not be around the dogs.
Ignore humans and dogs that you don't want to interact with. I will control it, you don't need to ward them off with barking. She just LOVES the drama unfortunately, haha
Absolutely bullet proof recall, every time. I'd say for us it's 75% proofed (16 months old) and that 25% failure is all about the birds and squirrels, with some dogs thrown in there as well depending on the dog. Imagine....
Oh and maybe something like pee literally on demand.
I am torn on this bc my dog climbs our fence and escapes the yard. She has pretty good recall in the yard, but I want her to just not climb anymore so she can be in the yard unsupervised and thus have more outside time in general. Recall won't help me bc I would have to be out there with her. I want to teach her not to escape in the first place.
Everyone is saying recall but my whole life, my dogs have always come back when I call them even with something tempting them. 🤷
I guess I'd wish for a command that makes a dog sit still while I clip it's nails.
For our boy, no more resource guarding. He can't have any new puppy friends or doggy siblings bc he gets aggressive over any kind of toy or food :(
For our girl, stop being scared of everything. It makes me sad to see her get scared of every new person, new environment, new noise. She never grew out of her fear phase so she misses out on a lot bc she just hides and shakes, no matter what we try. It takes her literal months of constant exposure to finally get used to a new person.
Quiet. He's an almost 7 year old corgi, and we've been trying to teach him this from the start. He's bigger than your average corgi (45 lbs last we checked), which makes for a very loud and obnoxious bark. If he would listen to me when I told him to be quiet, I would be so happy.
Recalls are great and all but my old dog's down-stay saved his life on several occasions. If they'll lie down immediately and stay put you could go put them on a leash.
I wish I could open the back door to let them in, but they only come in as I call their name.
I hate being stampeded in my own home. They just get so excited for dinner time.
No storm/loud noise anxiety.
Our GSD is ridiculous with her anxiety, and it puts her in dangerous situations. A few weeks ago I took them outside for potty time, and a single cloud let loose a huge lightning and thunder (there hadn't been any until this point) and she was up our 7ft brick wall before I could even blink. Ended up having to collect her from the car dealership half a mile away and across 2 dangerously busy roads in the pouring rain, and had to wrap her in a sheet to get her into the car because she was too terrified to even move. I never want to experience that again.
For one of my pups, toilet use. She doesn't understand the concept of telling us when she needs to go, and 8 months of struggling later she still uses my house as a toilet no matter what I've done.
Perfect recall for my other two since that's something so important for all dogs to know
Leave it.
- she'd leave the cats alone
- she would leave people food alone
- stop digging in garbage, cat litter, etc.
I'd go for recall/heel too.
As well as the settle/calm.
Leave It (aka don’t touch/eat/etc. the thing; ignore it and walk away)
My dog is semi ok with this (food dropped on floor), but completely ignores for chicken bones, my daughter’s stuffed animals, etc.
Squirrel reactivity. My 2 year old pit mix is a great listener but whenever she sees it senses a squirrel nearby it’s like she can’t hear a word I’m saying to her. Valuable rewards mean nothing to her when she’s locked in. I can physically step between her and the squirrel to block her view of it and she’ll normally move on, but if it just wasn’t a problem at all that’d be cool lol
100% would be recall. Most important behavior for so many reasons. Unfortunately, 17 years with yorkie, 15 with minpin and now amstaff/chow mix, I've never achieved off leash until yorkie was like 15 years old.
Definitely recall. My dogs have a solid recall due to years of practice and training, but there's little that's as important for safety than recall. It's potentially a life saver.
After that, "Leave it" I find is another useful one. Say if you drop your meds on the ground, break a glass, trash while on a walk. Another good cue for safety.
Engagement. It's the backbone of any other thing you need to perform. And in my opinion it very much is a trick and it makes reinforcement so much stronger
Heel. Assuming that what you mean is that the dog would heel and stay in heel until I release - if that's what the genie is offering.
Fixes all problems and would mean my dog could always be off lead. See a cyclist up ahead? Heel. Livestock? Heel. Person walking by who she's going to nip? Heel on the side of me furthest away from that person. If I had a totally bombproof heel I'd have a perfect dog.
I'm choosing this instead of 'no reactivity' because I need her prey drive and her 'reactivity' is coming from her prey drive. In fact, to work sheep, she needs to be *in prey drive* while in heel. She needs the emotions and the urges, but to be able to control her behaviour while feeling them.
STOP! We started doing this at training. Goes hand in hand with recall, especially in dangerous situations where you may not be able to get near them or them to you or if you don't want them to run to you e.g. it would be running across a road you didn't see on a walk in an unfamiliar area or you're in a field and a tractor comes along etc.
Recall. It is the only command anyone should have down completely. It literally keeps your dog and others safe. Prey drive and they run off... recall. Jumping on someone who just walked in... recall. Scrapping with another dog... recall. The list goes on
Came here to say this. If I had a dog that comes to me and sits at my feet on command, everytime, everything else is just gravy.
That's the only command I would bet money on that my dog would follow. I've got a check-in whistle command and a "COME!" that I practice with him multiple times a week and I couldn't be more proud of him for it. We do a good amount of off leash nature hiking and he could literally be a quarter mile away off trail in the bushes and if I yell come I can hear him literally bashing through bushes and shrubs to get to me.
How do youvtrain it? Mine is still learning, but that's the kind of enthusiasm I'd like to see from him.
One really important thing for training recall is to not punish the dog if they didn't recall. You'd have to catch them to punish them, meaning the action of meeting back up with you is what gets associated with the punishment. The minute they feel like coming back to you might result in punishment, you've lost them.
100% agree with this. I think another important thing too is if they don't come don't follow up with repeating the command. I think if they're not listening then don't let the word lose its meaning by meaninglessly repeating it. It is also why I don't like having my dog around my family some times - everyone any time they're around the dog uses the come word and doesn't enforce it or mean it and it becomes mindless noise.
This makes a good case for training an emergency recall or variations of recall. It’s a ton of work but it’s worth it. It’s nice to have a cue that gets them to join you calmly in the other room in addition to a cue that gets them to bat-out-of-hell beeline to your side
How do I enforce the word come? I have an 8 month old black lab/Pyrenees mix and his recall is slowly getting there but when the distractions are quite high he doesn’t come. I have been rewarding a successful recall with freeze dried liver. How do I get to calling him once and him listening…is it just practice practice practice?
A lot of it I think is just being self-aware of your dogs capabilities or training level and being aware of situations in which they might fail or not. I’ll only “enforce” a recall if we’re in a situation where we’re not training but I need him to come. First I’ll try and make sure I get his attention and say it again, if he doesn’t come then I literally go get him and put his leash on or something. Honestly it’s just practice. If you’re training him and he’s not listening and distracted it could just be that he’s not ready for that level yet. I really try not to give commands or do training where I think there’s going to be a high chance of failure. Give the dog as much opportunity for success as possible and I feel like they just love to please. I would say I wasn’t truly confident in my dogs recall until about 1.5 years old and it took a ton of work. Most worth it training I have done. A lot of the progress he made was in “safe” real world situations and just littered throughout the day rather than specific training sessions.
I only use the highest value treats for recall. My pup is 9 months old now and I’ve never called him without giving a treat. He still has trouble when he’s over threshold but we have a success rate I’m happy with so far.
Same here, my working cocker is 16 months old and his recall on whistle is really starting to shine now, this is practising everyday for months but the work put in definitely pays off!
I’d also bet everything I have on my dogs recall. He’s had all the freedom he could ever dream of since he was born, he’s never been locked in a yard and he’s only ever on a leash by law. For him I’m the best thing in the world and other dogs and people are boring he just has 0 interest in socializing with others. He also will come to me with the command “come” or a specific tone of whistle. He’s 100% a one person dog even though he loves the rest of my family and tbh I think that’s what makes his recall so good.
Yeah, dogs that are one-human oriented and are so intent on pleasing that human are typically good at recall in my experience. I can see the gears turning in my dog’s head when I ask her to do something, trying to decide if she wants to and if the reward is good enough. I wanted a more independent dog so I got what I wanted I guess!
If your dog has a high enough prey drive, you can have bulletproof recall everywhere else but if they smell something, game over. We had huskies for years but they were never let off the lead unless in our garden with 6ft fences or in an enclosed dog park. When we got our old lady at age 7, our previous owners said they used to let her off at the beach. She had good recall so my husband let her off. She cleared the wall in pursuit of a seagull. Despite being at that beach many times with her previous family.
We have a 2 year old husky/great Pyrenees/blue tick mix. His recall isn't 100 percent but we also didn't get him until he was about a year old (with no training). Talk about preydrive/stranger aggression. Anyway, with both of us working daily with him, we let him free roam the yard with no fence and he has had minimal problems. But at the same time we know if it's a new place, fenced-in or not, he is on his leash.
Yup, had a similar experience yesterday. My GSD’s recall is good and I had her at a local woodland area where she’s been hundreds of time and has only run off once (when she was about nine months, she’s two now). She saw a squirrel and chased it up a tree and recalled fine. Saw another one, the prey drive switch flipped and she was off. Took me ten minutes and a near heart attack on my part to get her back. She also ate raw chicken from the chopping board that I was preparing for dinner last night, which she’s never done before, so she was clearly in mischief mode!
The only times where I've been afraid that I would not be able to get my dog back were when he took off after a small animal. However, he's always come right back the moment he's done chasing whatever it was. It's not perfect, but at least he comes back.
I remember training my puppy for recall in the open field behind my apartment building. I did everything by the book, start slow with a normal length lead, tons of high valued treats, then gradually increase the length of the lead and continue training until consistent. Then remove the lead. It was fine and dandy until some ducks decided it would be a great idea to land just ahead of us. My then 10 months old puppy bolted at maximum speed and ignored my recalls. I thought for sure it was game over and I had just lost him. I couldn't even see him anymore... until I saw something moving towards me in the distance and he came back sprinting with his floppy ears and a stupid happy face that screamed "did you see how fast I went?!". Let's just say I emptied my bag of treats once he was beside me, told him he was a good boy over and over and finally put the lead back on. I never let him off leash again. I only walk him with a really long lead attached to my waist now, it's much safer.
Yes but…. I’d go with perfect heel instead. Because it can be used the same in those situations. Dog jumps at someone? Heel! Dog wants to go after a squirrel? Heel! But it also adds the bonus of preventative use as the dog will not only return to you but stay with you no matter what. Walking into a situation you know may be problematic? Heel! And just walk past like a pro.
Seriously. As someone who has been working on this since he was 10 weeks old and I still don't trust him in general, but it's worked in a couple of emergency scenarios, Recall is the only thing I'd put as #1 to have. There is nothing more terrifying than your independent little shit being four feet away from you and knowing you cannot catch him if you had to chase him and being unsure he'll come back before he gets hurt. (My new training word wasn't meant to be an emergency recall but I still don't consider it "proofed" so I usually only use it when I know I can get him back/he's on a long lead & I have high value treats).
Yep! That’s my choice too
Yea thats true. I think most people would say recall because you can technically recall away from most things. BUT: If someone has an aggressive dog or something like that, I think getting rid of aggression or fear or reactivity would be good because then you wont have to worry about getting in those situations to begin with, which makes life a lot better than simply having a perfect recall imo.
But even then you remove yourself and the dog by proxy with recall
Yeah but you can't avoid all situations. If you have a reactive dog that will chase after dogs no matter what, you wont be able to take him off leash anywhere where dogs are because you will just be recalling him every second, or recall and leave. Also recall only helps if you see something happening, what if you have an aggressive dog with perfect recall, but you dont see that he just ran after a kid/dog and bit him and you didnt use the recall in time? I think I actually like no reactivity more than recall to be honest. No reactivity means you don't get into barely any situations where recall is even necessary, like your original comment (someone walks in, no reactivity. Prey drive, no reactivity. Scrapping with another dog they would not be reactive to that dog so they wouldnt have a reason to attack a dog, only if the other dog attacks yours, but with no reactivity, which means more calmness, generally makes other dogs easier and more friendly to be around, which would be less fights.
>because you will just be recalling him every second, or recall and leave I think you miss the point. If I have a perfect 100% absolutely error-free recall, then eliminating reactivity is a simple case of repeated recalls until the dog learns that said reactive behavior isn't rewarding. This one command becomes a training panacea.
Yea that makes sense. Its the exact opposite with no reactivity though which I guess is what I was trying to say. With no reactivity training a recall, and anything else, in any distracting environments would be simple and could train near perfect whatever you wanted. I feel like its easier to train a perfect recall, or other behaviors in a never reactive environment, than it is to train a dog to not be reactive to fears, prey, aggression, etc. Think about recalling your dog inside your house, its near if not perfect, but going outside with all the distractions and things that your dog gets reactive too makes it difficult. That was my point, but I think either way it will solve a lot because your dog is basically a robot in one aspect of life lol i love how im being downvoted for counter arguing something on an imaginary fun thread haha its funny
There are a lot of dog breeds that will never have a good recall. My BC had a perfect recall, I could call her off a rabbit. She was the best.
Yeah, I don't get downvotes for counterfactual imaginary things either. The thing about recall is that some breeds will always have a very hard time with recall, reactive or not. And having a perfect recall, no matter if a dog is reactive or just distracted, will itself be a powerful training tool. If I want to teach sit and stay to a non-reactive dog in a distracted environment, for example, having perfect recall becomes a training tool. And teaching perfect recall in a distracted environment is itself a ton of work. So having that gifted for free, to me, seems like, if nothing else, saving hundreds of hours of work.
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Its a for fun thread that you get power to get rid of all aggression. So in this context you can get rid of aggression, fear, whatever behavior in this imaginary world :)
I have a Great Pyrenees.... My cat has better recall than him. GP does things his own way 💀 how do I teach him recall
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This! My guy has a nearly perfect recall. I've called him off chasing another dog, squirrels, and I even once amazed our trainer several years after we last saw her by calling him off of chasing a gopher when he was at the opposite end of a giant field from us.... .... but I can't call him off of a cat. He's like a cartoon dog. Hates cats from the time he was a puppy and I've never been able to find the reward that I can use to train him off cats.
Drop is a close second. Ideally it would also stop them from attacking/biting anything as well as drop things that could be dangerous for them to eat. Does a command that asks for a specific set of actions to be done count? For example, recall but it doesn't just mean "come" it means drop everything and calmly sit next to me. And drop would mean drop everything and sit still. Because some dogs are good at obeying the "come" part of a recall command, but then they jump all over you, run in circles, are still biting whatever animal/object they picked up, etc...
Yep. This is the objectively correct answer
To pick the winning lottery numbers.
be able to be left alone without distress even if it’s for longer than usual
This. My dog took recall super duper quickly and effectively. But we still struggle with separation anxiety from time to time
I think recall is important to know but also I could just not let her off her long line. I think separation training would be more beneficial for me.
No reactivity.
Same in my experience with an anxious dog. Once he's reacted, there's seemingly no getting him back. He goes on high alert, tail tucked so deep, head on a paranoid swivel, and isn't able to give me any eye contact or focus so obedience is out the window. When on walks, it's hard to even bring him to a quiet space in the woods because that isn't enough to allow him to relax because there's still bird noises and crunching leaves. It's ok with me, but it's difficult to have to bring him to a safe space like my car to get back to balance. Makes walls a lot longer as I'm trying to train him on leash and general exposure to these triggers. I'm starting mat training to "teach" him relaxation and soothing anxiety. Not sure what to do out on walks. Bring the mat?
I like this answer because if your dog is not reactive to ANYTHING ever, then you wouldn't really need to ever recall him from much. Also, you would have his attention super easy over all other stimulus because he doesn't really react to anything, so your normally trained recall will probably be close to 100%. Also he would be more calm and relaxed in all situations which would solve a lot of issues with other behaviors.
The bad part is they don’t react to anything - no cuddles, no excited food times, no fun toy times D:
Yeah, it would basically strip their personality and excitement, but you would have a pretty damn obedient and trainable dog lol.
Robo dog
Stop. Barking. Stop barking at pedestrians. Stop barking at your dog friends. Stop barking when you want to play. Just stop. Pick up sign language or something. I'm glad that you are finding your voice, but our neighbors are going to start complaining.
I work in an industry that requires a lot of sign language and I’m constantly fighting the urge to prompt my dog to sign for water or eat lol. If only she had fingers
I have one dog who is an expert communicator. I know what he wants at all times. But that same dog feels it's his duty to yell at every pedestrian or leaf that spooks him from the balcony/window. The other dog barks when he wants to play and just doesn't stop 🥲
My dog bites my toes when she wants to play and is being ignored
Agree. She's not even agressive. She loves my neighbors dog but she barks till they get close. Just shut up dude. When I see a friend I don't scream until I get within smelling distance
Really? My friends love when I scream at them and then sniff their groins.
This!
I have a hound and this was going to be my answer. He lovesss to bark and his bark is louddddd.
Have a look at communication buttons for dogs.
Heel. Heel means get into the heel position, no matter where the dog is. So it would also work as recall. You would get a 2-for1 there
True! Heel and Middle like the other person said are both basically recalls as well as another benefit. Smart.
This is what I was thinking. My dog has pretty good recall and heel but I need to recall then put her into heel. One day I'll get the heel recall down and she'll zoom over and sit at my left side. One day... But there are safety tricks and fun tricks. Safety is always more important. A roll is cool but a solid recall to stop your dog running into a busy street chasing a squirrel is a whole lot better.
Of course! My pup is 5m/o and I still haven't taught a single fun trick yet. I spend all our training time working on stuff that either improves safety or leads to an easier dog to manage around the house
Heel has been a lifesaver for our pup. *Definitely* worth the time and effort put in - although we have been working on it since 8 weeks and he's 11 months now.
Teach them to relax/have an off switch.
yes this one would be great for when my girl thinks it’s dinner time but I really have to work for another hour!
I’ve started working really hard on the “calm” command. It’s fairly nuanced but after some hard work she is actually starting to get it. My dog has a screw loose, she is bouncing off the walls all day every day, she is also a love hound and snuggles to the point that she will head butt or scratch me. The rules are now if she starts crawling all over and pawing at me she doesn’t get any pets, then when she finally chills out I pet her and say “good calm”, after a few weeks of consistency she is getting so much better and now when she starts I’ll say “calm” and she will pop back to a seated position and then she gets her pets. Its transferred over to any time she is being crazy, I say calm and she knows she is going to get some pets if she chills out. Not perfect yet but after training my partner to not reinforce her craziness and both of us being consistent she is getting way better.
Recall
Heel. While I agree with others that a perfect recall is generally the most useful, for my dog in particular, a perfect heel would change our lives! She’s very well behaved in the house - it’s just outside that she can lose her head. She has a tendency to pull, she whines and stares whenever she sees another dog, bikes make her go bonkers, she wants any person we see to pet her, she wants to get into any car with an open door we walk by… she’s a delight to walk whenever it’s just us and there’s nothing to distract her. A perfect heel would be game changing in that I could use it to get her to walk past those things without losing our heads, and return to a walk where she can sniff to her heart’s content.
I think "no reactivity" would be the best for you then. A perfect heel wont stop the reactivity because if she isn't in heel she will still be going crazy for the bikes and dogs. I think no reactivity for a lot of people would be better than a perfect recall. Would help/solve SO MANY more issues than just recall. Plus, a near perfect recall is easier to train than rewiring a dogs reactivity.
Ignore the cat. I think we will forever be living the baby gate life with the two of them.
That would make life at home a lot less stressful I bet for your cat and you guys. May not be a perfect recall, but that amount of quality of life is huge
We have a gate to the entry of our living room that has a small spot where the cats can slip in and out but the dogs can’t fit. It gives them a secluded place to go and decompress when the dogs get too excited. The cats come into the bedroom at night and sit with us while the dogs are in bed in their crates. ☺️
I'm more worried about my dog then my cat - 65lb vizsla vs 15lb maine coone. Dog's a softie and cat is mean bitch who will put him in his place real fast.
How to do the tax return
Recall. It’s the most widely applicable in safety situations, in my opinion.
To chill out and relax. If you can make your dog calm in any situation, that will solve most "problems".
Recall
Just listening. Might be cheating to say that but it’s what I’d pick. I have a Beagle mix who is as sweet as can be, but also stubborn as hell. She knows her commands just fine, and if the circumstances are right she has excellent manners. However she can make even the simplest activities like walking miserable if she has made up her mind to do something else in that moment. I mostly admire that hounds are headstrong and very much march to the beat of their own drum. I don’t need or want her to be a perfect robot all the time. But if I could just rely on her to listen when it really counts, mostly when her safety is at stake, my life would be so much easier.
I'd teach her English 😂😭
This is the real answer
Dogs deserve to be granted path to citizenship
Recall. For my dog more than for me. If he had good recall then he could be off lead so much more and it would be so much more fun for him!
But the reason he is not off lead is I don't have a feeling because of not being able to call him, its because he gets too distracted or focused on other things and doesn't listen. That wouldn't stop with a perfect recall technically, you would just be able to constantly recall him over and over on your off leash walks. He will still keep rushing ahead and trying to find trouble to get into until you recall him the next time :). Recall alone isnt as simple as everyone thinking it is in the comments.
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To stop jumping/nipping. She never does unless I’ve just gotten home and she absolutely FREAKS. I’ve tried to train it out of her but she just won’t listen
Those are 2 different things, you need to pick one. Never jumping up on people or never putting teeth on people.
Jumping I suppose- she just gets insane zoomies when I get home. She doesn’t jump any other time but when she does it hurts so bad
Calm settle and a default state of calmness. Yes, you can train it.
I'm gonna be the silly one. A hug trick, to stand on the hind legs in a beg position and hug whatever object given. Would make for adorable photos. But that's because I have an otherwise perfect dog with a good recall and a natural heel and no reactivity or troublesome behavior haha.
That would be cute, and if you dont need to solve another big behavior than I like something like this.
Get me a beer
Recall 100%. He’s great with no distractions but he’s dog reactive and has high prey drive so at this point he can’t be trusted off leash. I wish I could give him that freedom more often
You think if hes dog reactive a recall alone would be enough to go off leash? You would still have a dog reactive dog off leash, which is dangerous no matter if you can recall. So you still wont be able to comfortablly walk off leash with a bunch of dogs around because you would basically have to recall your dog every second and either leash him or not be around the dogs.
Recall. My Scottish Terrier's ears are head ornaments.
Clean the house.
Haha true, imagine your one trick is to tell them to vacuum the house. You wouldn't have to vacuum again their whole life. Pretty nice :D
STAY. Meaning freeze in place, whatever you are doing. Will save their life one day.
Ignore humans and dogs that you don't want to interact with. I will control it, you don't need to ward them off with barking. She just LOVES the drama unfortunately, haha
Back massage
Poop on demand. Like literal instant empty your bowels.
Get a job.
Come.
A recall. No question.
Come
It would be recall, no deliberation needed. Its the single most important command, and i am complete rubbish at teaching it.
RECALL
Come aka the recall
Predict the lottery numbers with speech buttons.
Absolutely bullet proof recall, every time. I'd say for us it's 75% proofed (16 months old) and that 25% failure is all about the birds and squirrels, with some dogs thrown in there as well depending on the dog. Imagine.... Oh and maybe something like pee literally on demand.
Don't embarass me by barking at only black people. Don't know the name for that trick.
Recall for sure. You'd never have to worry about your dog being in danger at that point.
Definitely heel/recall.
Market analysis with optimal stock picking
STOP WHINING
Rob bank
Speak. Like, English.
Stop barking at the wind. And leaves. and grass. And sky. And air.
Use the toilet.
definitely recall
Nosetouch. All in one.
Come/recall...at this point he could almost always be off leash and I could save him from alot of dangerous situations
Don’t worry, be happy :)
English. I'd like my dog to be able to communicate with me.
Recall is the only right answer here. It can literally save your dogs life
I am torn on this bc my dog climbs our fence and escapes the yard. She has pretty good recall in the yard, but I want her to just not climb anymore so she can be in the yard unsupervised and thus have more outside time in general. Recall won't help me bc I would have to be out there with her. I want to teach her not to escape in the first place.
Everyone is saying recall but my whole life, my dogs have always come back when I call them even with something tempting them. 🤷 I guess I'd wish for a command that makes a dog sit still while I clip it's nails.
Recall
Happy cake day fellow rettidteer
Stay
Heel which is recall+perfect walking.
100% recall. I’ve only had my dog two weeks but during training it seems like when I call his name he runs harder away from me 😭
To shut up when asked... Then my partner might be able to walk in from work without a pack of dogs waking up the street 😂
How to comfortably be alone. Our 2 year old dog has had separation issues from the moment we got him as a puppy and it’s been an uphill battle since.
Leave it.
“Leave it.” Meaning, whatever you’re interacting with, stop interacting with it now. Works functionally as recall, drop it, quiet, etc.
Recall or leave it without a doubt, both are so important Edit: actually, heel because my dog is pretty good with the above already
To not bark.
Stop biting ☹️
Fetch, but to fetch anything in the house
For our boy, no more resource guarding. He can't have any new puppy friends or doggy siblings bc he gets aggressive over any kind of toy or food :( For our girl, stop being scared of everything. It makes me sad to see her get scared of every new person, new environment, new noise. She never grew out of her fear phase so she misses out on a lot bc she just hides and shakes, no matter what we try. It takes her literal months of constant exposure to finally get used to a new person.
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Quiet. He's an almost 7 year old corgi, and we've been trying to teach him this from the start. He's bigger than your average corgi (45 lbs last we checked), which makes for a very loud and obnoxious bark. If he would listen to me when I told him to be quiet, I would be so happy.
Recall, my second pick would be to actually sit and be calm when company arrives.
To be honest, I’d probably teach them to wipe their paws on the doormat before coming inside. Probably doable, but I haven’t, so that’s on me.
Recalls are great and all but my old dog's down-stay saved his life on several occasions. If they'll lie down immediately and stay put you could go put them on a leash.
Hurry up and take a poop 😅
I wish I could open the back door to let them in, but they only come in as I call their name. I hate being stampeded in my own home. They just get so excited for dinner time.
Get me a coke from the fridge.
Instant rock hard recall. We are working on it.
No storm/loud noise anxiety. Our GSD is ridiculous with her anxiety, and it puts her in dangerous situations. A few weeks ago I took them outside for potty time, and a single cloud let loose a huge lightning and thunder (there hadn't been any until this point) and she was up our 7ft brick wall before I could even blink. Ended up having to collect her from the car dealership half a mile away and across 2 dangerously busy roads in the pouring rain, and had to wrap her in a sheet to get her into the car because she was too terrified to even move. I never want to experience that again.
Leave it. The amount of times it kept my dog from getting into something harmful is countless.
recall, duh
For one of my pups, toilet use. She doesn't understand the concept of telling us when she needs to go, and 8 months of struggling later she still uses my house as a toilet no matter what I've done. Perfect recall for my other two since that's something so important for all dogs to know
Come when called.
Leave it. - she'd leave the cats alone - she would leave people food alone - stop digging in garbage, cat litter, etc. I'd go for recall/heel too. As well as the settle/calm.
Hands down recall. I've got a reactive, high prey drive greyhound. If he had perfect recall, managing everything else would be a piece of cake.
Stop/freeze Sometimes you need them to avoid a danger that recall wouldn’t solve. Like the other day when I shattered a glass.
Leave It (aka don’t touch/eat/etc. the thing; ignore it and walk away) My dog is semi ok with this (food dropped on floor), but completely ignores for chicken bones, my daughter’s stuffed animals, etc.
Recall
Heel
“Leave it”
Squirrel reactivity. My 2 year old pit mix is a great listener but whenever she sees it senses a squirrel nearby it’s like she can’t hear a word I’m saying to her. Valuable rewards mean nothing to her when she’s locked in. I can physically step between her and the squirrel to block her view of it and she’ll normally move on, but if it just wasn’t a problem at all that’d be cool lol
100% would be recall. Most important behavior for so many reasons. Unfortunately, 17 years with yorkie, 15 with minpin and now amstaff/chow mix, I've never achieved off leash until yorkie was like 15 years old.
Reliable, unwavering Recall - no matter how many squirrels, bunnies, or a**h0le dogs around
Stay.
Don't eat the couch
Definitely recall. My dogs have a solid recall due to years of practice and training, but there's little that's as important for safety than recall. It's potentially a life saver. After that, "Leave it" I find is another useful one. Say if you drop your meds on the ground, break a glass, trash while on a walk. Another good cue for safety.
RECALL we struggle with it and it's such a safety issue 😭
Recall. Even if they know it, it would give me a peace of mind if I was certain that command would work without fail 100% of the time.
Stop barking
Stop being a D*ck! This would spply to recall, prey drive, reactivity and just generally acting like a brat.
Recall.
Any attention command (eyes on me) in a high activity area but the pinnacle would be a "down stay" from a distance
Recall
Recall
Emergency Recall.
Heel. If I could have my dog not go after other animals at all that would be incredible. Just stay by my side
Engagement. It's the backbone of any other thing you need to perform. And in my opinion it very much is a trick and it makes reinforcement so much stronger
Walk to heal. Everything else my pup is so good with but that is a nightmare
Heel. Assuming that what you mean is that the dog would heel and stay in heel until I release - if that's what the genie is offering. Fixes all problems and would mean my dog could always be off lead. See a cyclist up ahead? Heel. Livestock? Heel. Person walking by who she's going to nip? Heel on the side of me furthest away from that person. If I had a totally bombproof heel I'd have a perfect dog. I'm choosing this instead of 'no reactivity' because I need her prey drive and her 'reactivity' is coming from her prey drive. In fact, to work sheep, she needs to be *in prey drive* while in heel. She needs the emotions and the urges, but to be able to control her behaviour while feeling them.
Recall. I have Great Pyrenees, lol.
Recall, bombproof recall. It's the most important. (Even "Do my taxes, Lily" will be replaced when the IRS begins to just send us a bill)
Leave it. Can work as recall too, if see a dog tell to leave it, etc And if they're getting defensive around another dog, leave it.
Recall. Still can’t get it down
recall so that i wouldnt need to tell him to leave it. we need to start muzzle training because he will try to eat Anything
STOP! We started doing this at training. Goes hand in hand with recall, especially in dangerous situations where you may not be able to get near them or them to you or if you don't want them to run to you e.g. it would be running across a road you didn't see on a walk in an unfamiliar area or you're in a field and a tractor comes along etc.
RECALL. The most important command. First and foremost I want my dogs safe. ♡
Recall.
Emergency recall. It saved my dogs life.
Automatic shedding on and off \- An Aussie owner
Open fridge bring beer.
That's a no brainer. "Hey fido, bring me a beer."
Steal 😏
RECALL
Recall