To start with, a puppy up until about the age of 5-6 months will be going through what is known as the "puppy attachment period".  During this stage the puppy will not rush off to pastures new!  It will stick quite close by, and the older it gets the more its confidence will grow to explore its environment and move further away from its owner. It is during this stage we should "cash in" on this period.

The way in which I do this, will be to take a young puppy, the moments the inoculations are complete, or before, to an area with some woods and free from distractions of other walkers and dogs.  I check to see which way the wind is blowing and walk into it.  The puppy is off leash, as it goes slightly ahead of me, I skip behind a tree, saying nothing as I do so, and watch closely.  The puppy will check to see where I am every so many seconds/minute, when it does so this time, shock, gasp, horror, I am not there!  Usually it puts is superb sense of smell into action and the breeze is blowing towards my scent, so should come after me in my direction, if it goes in the opposite direction, I will come out from behind the tree and call it in a fun voice.  I will not allow it to panic for long, if it does not find me after 20-30 seconds, I will appear calling to it.  I have now taught this puppy one valuable lesson.....KEEP AN EYE ON ME I'M UNPREDICTABLE! 

I may need to repeat this once or twice over the coming weeks, but that is the lesson learnt for life then.  Lastly I make sure the puppy learns (yes learns as this is not a behaviour it is born with) to play with toys.  If my dog loves toys and I have control of the games, I will never have a problem again.

Now, lets take a look at how a lot of people train this exercise is the early crucial periods.  To start with they are usually to afraid to let the puppy off the leash in case it doesn't come back.  By the time they do, the dog is already well on the way to the end of the attachment period. The owner will use a command such as "come" or "here", they may use a whistle, as Marie has mentioned in her excellent post on conditioning to a whistle.  Some people that have a problem with the recall will often go and purchase a whistle in the wrong belief it will cure the problem, especially if they buy a whistle that has been sold as a "dog whistle" believing they have a magic formula now.  But you have to train to the whistle, just as you do the command "come or here".  

So, now we have Mr. & Mrs. Way with their pet dog "Pip".  Its the first walk at the local park and they are going to let Pip off the leash.  Pip walks ahead of them a little, sniffing and exploring, but every so often turns round and checks her owners are still coming.  Sure enough they are, where ever Pip goes they follow.  After walking round the park, Mr. & Mrs. Way call Pip to them with the command "Pip come", as Pip was quite close anyway and recognized her name she turned round and looked and took the few steps back to her owners.....she was then put back on the leash and walked home.

PIP HAS NOW BEEN PUNISHED FOR COMING WHEN CALLED FOR THE FIRST TIME!!  The pleasure of being free was cut off and the walk ended....with the two words Pip Come.

At home, Pip has done something she shouldn't, so the owners call her over, once again using her name and the command "come" they then scold her for her misbehaviour. The next day they want to give her a bath and clip her nails, something Pip is not very keen on....once again they use her name and the command "come". Several days/weeks later whilst out walking at the park again, Pip is enjoying her freedom, she has also found some very nice dogs to play with and realises they are great fun, much better than her boring owners that just trot along behind her!  As the owners begin the fatal last steps of the walk, heading back towards the gate they will be leaving at, Pip hangs back to prolong her game with her buddies. Mr. & Mrs. Way call her in the usual way, but Pip ignores them and continues playing as this is much more rewarding than the awful words "pip come". The owners get a little frustrated and call her several times more, each time Pip continues her game and every time the owners call they are now training Pip, IGNORE the command and continue to play.  Eventually they go and get Pip, put her on the lead and go home.

As each day passes, Pip is getting worse and worse and coming back, she is being taught to ignore the word "come" and the owners are getting irate at having to go and get her, she knows they will go and get her eventually as she is training them to come to her instead of the other way round! But this day, the owners have had just about enough, they are late for work and when they go and get her they give her a good telling off and a slap.

Pip still does not come back when called, but she does keep a beady eye on her owners because she is waiting for them to walk towards her, as they near her she runs out of their reach so as to avoid the punishment.

This is how the problem develops and unwittingly is trained by the owners without realising it. I should also add that in order to put the dog back on the lead you are required to touch its collar, many dogs have an aversion to this as they have the collared grabbed many times a day at home to haul them off the bed, chair, settee etc.

Now for how to overcome the problem.  We need to re -teach, starting from scratch. 
I am going to use "food" as the reward for the start of this training, along with physical and verbal praise.  You can then use toys etc once the command has been taught, but please, firstly consider the following strongly.

In order to use anything as a reward, it must be seen as a reward by your dog.

1.  Using food.
If your dog has access to food all day, if the bowl of daily food is given and left there all day, then why would the dog want to work for this when he gets it for nothing?  Especially if he has learnt to become a fussy eater and in return has learnt this worries his owners, who then offer him some tasty human food or something better than what he has in his bowl...hey this guy is onto a good thing. So, you need to feed your dog twice a day, if it is an adult dog. Suspend all titbits in-between meals whilst working on this problem, the only food the dog gets is the 2 main meals daily.  These are put down when you feed your dog, the clock is checked and you time 10 minutes.  If after 10 minutes the dog has walked away and left some, or left all its food, pick the bowl up and DO NOT OFFER ANYTHING ELSE TO EAT UNTIL THE NEXT MEAL IS DUE. The dog may go without some of its food the first day, but will very very quickly realise that it is offered twice  a day and that's it.  It will soon eat it up and not be fussy, we can use it for training as it is a far more powerful reward than tit bits fed in-between meals.  You may go back to tit bits later in the course of the recall program. This is the only way to kick in your dogs survival instinct again, after all would you allow this behaviour from your children, not eating any diners you
gave them, but taking all the sweets you offered?!

2.  Using physical and verbal praise.
If your dog comes up to you several times a day or more and wants to be stroked, petted etc, most owners comply to this instantly and very often do not even realise they are doing it, the dog has them so well conditioned by its attention seeking behaviours.  Now if we ask the dog to learn a new exercise and give it physical and verbal praise, do you think it will say "what can I do next for you, I so enjoy earning you affection"  nope, its more likely to say "get lost, I can have this when ever I want for doing absolutely nothing at all, I'm not working for it!". With hold it a little, become aware when your dog initiates these interactions on his terms and do not keep complying! Now he/she will start to see it as something to be earned, something really worth having.

3.  Toys.
If I walk into someone's home, pick up one of the many toys there dogs owns that are either in a basket, in his bed or scattered all over the house and then I ask the dog to do a "sit" for me and I will play with the dog and toy as a reward, once again I will be told to probably "get a life!" by the resident dog.  Why?  Because he owns the toys, they are his possessions he can get them when ever he wants and take them to the owner who will willingly oblige in a game. The dog has total control of these games, he decides when they start, how long they last and when they finish by either running off with the toy, or dropping it and going off to do something else. Pick up the dogs most favourite toys and put them to where he has no access to them by himself.  Now get them out as many times as a day as you can and have a really fun filled play session for just a few minutes or less if
the dog begins to lose interest beforehand.  You end the game, before the dog gets bored and put the toy away again to were he cannot gain access to it himself. Now you have something special, for not only does the dog view the toy as special, but you also, because it means quality time playing games with you.

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RECALL PROGRAMME.

During this programme, when you take your dog out for a walk at reach the area you would normally let it off leash, I want you to put a long line on instead.  You can easily make one with a metal clip and a long piece of washing line.  If you use a retractable lead, please do not use it conjunction with a head collar type product.  We have to stop the dog ignoring your attempts to call it, so we are taking the option away. 

Play, have fun with your dog on the long line, but do not let it off yet.

For a young dog that is being fed more than twice a day, divide each of its meals into five equal portions.  For a dog that is being fed twice  a day, divide each meal into 10 equal portions.

For the next week:
Every time you feed your dog, show him you have a portion of his dinner, then get someone in the family to restrain him by gently holding his collar whilst you back away about 8-10 steps.  Now bend down, smile and call your dog in a pleasant tone (NOTE:  If you normally use the command "come" now would be a good time to change that, you could retrain using the word "Here" instead, but do change the command to something else and try to keep it to just one word) have your portion of food, contained in the dogs food bowl, outstretched in front of you as you call, as the dog approaches slowly bring the food nearer to you, to encourage the dog to come in close, gently touch the collar and lavishly praise with your voice, put the bowl on the floor and allow the dog to eat the portion.  Do not command the dog to SIT or anything else....it must just come when you call it, that's all.  Repeat this as many times as you have portions. This is an important stage and you must make sure the dog has no other food offered than the main meals, so watch that cat food!!

After one week, review your dogs progress, if he is coming readily, without hesitation every time, then move to the next stage.  If it is not 100% continue doing the above for a further week, then if at the second week it still has not improved, speak to me.  Most owners see a good improvement in the first week.  This is done inside your house and many owners will wail at me "we don't have a problem in our house its only when we go out!"  Never mind...do it in the house, we are totally retraining to make it absolute and make it a great game to the dog!

For the second stage increase the distance you move away from the dog and eventually go out of sight into another room.  Remember to first show your dog you have a portion of its daily diet and have your helper restrain the dog, who by now should be straining to get to you before you leave, the dog that is not the helper <s>!  Make sure your helper releases your dog the moment you call it.
Do this in as many different locations around the house as you can, making sure the dogs path is not obstructed.  The dog should be viewing this as a great game by now and getting quite excited about it.  After a week of this, we are now ready for the next phase which includes the dog sitting on reaching you.

All you should now add to this is the sit command when your dog comes close to you, expecting you to put the food down for it.  Instead, raise the food above the dogs head which will normally bring his head up and his quarters down into the sit position.  You may need to use your free hand to assist him into this position for the first few times, but do so gently. Praise him lavishly and put the food portion down for him within 2 seconds of him sitting, no longer.  If you are consistent in the way you train, the dog will start to anticipate the sit command and will do so automatically on reaching you, without being told to. Once this is happening, go to the next phase.

We are now going to change the rules a little to make sure that the exercise you dog does so well indoors, will be the same outside.
Repeat as above, but once the dog has reached you and sat, sometimes clip his lead on before offering him his portion, this will build up a good association with the lead being clipped on after coming to you.  You can also start to call him without firstly showing him you have the portion on offer.  You can also ask your helper to distract your dog by talking to him or stroking him as you give your command.

Now review again....does your dog understand everything we have been teaching?  Do he do it willingly and instantly?
If yes, then we can tighten the rules up further, but you must be sure he does otherwise it will go wrong!

We can now switch to tit bits, instead of the dogs daily diet.
Make sure they are tasty tit bits and now we are going to be random with our rewards.  Still use praise as normal.
Call your dog using your chosen command and sometimes give him the reward without him having to sit for it.  Other times tell him to sit before rewarding and sometimes tell him to sit and attach the lead before rewarding, make it random. If you also change the titbit from time to time or have a good game with a toy when the dog obeys, instead of a titbit and sometimes just lavishly praise you will continue a willingness for the dog to comply to the command for he will never be sure what reward he is going to get or how much he will have to do in order to receive that reward.

NOTE:  Some people see this as bribery training, especially when it comes to the dog understanding what is required to receive the reward and we go onto tit bits.  The owner can then feel the dog shouldn't receive a tit bit he should do it because he knows what to do and the owner has asked it of him. I usually ask that owner if they go to work in order to put food on their tables.  I then continue by adding that if I employed them to work for me and paid them £100 a week (the main meal in the dogs case) but once they had learnt how to do the job I reduced their wages to £50 a week (no tit bits or much praise) would they still be pleased to work for me?  If they answer YES, I snap them up quick! <g>

Now all that remains is to continue the training in as many different locations as possible, make the first stages from home to outside as easy as possible to begin with and continue using your long line so the dog cannot ignore your command.  You can drop the line on the floor (ideal length 11-20m) and let it trail behind the dog, stand on it or pick it up BEFORE you give your chosen command.  Do not use it to haul your dog into you, once you have hold of it, he cannot refuse you and he cannot go anywhere, it is in his benefit to obey and receive the reward, then be set free again! Once it is instant outside, reduce the line daily by cutting off a small amount, but by now you shouldn't have any problems.  Do try to be fun when out walking with your dog, so he doesn't have to go "self employed" and do his own thing, take his favourite toy and have games, using your line and reward to command him to come, then set him free again and continue playing.
This to your dog is one of the highlights of his day....make it one of yours also.

Several of you have  emailed me privately asking for help with this problem, please let me now, from time to time how you are doing.  You can e mail onto the forum, good or bad I can take it <s>.  When it works for you, please help others, so electric collars do not need to be used for this simple exercise.     
GILL