The MagneticRecall - Stage 2

© 21 Days to a Clever Dog

Day 12

The Magnetic Recall- Stage 2

You want your dog to come to you when you call.

You turn towards the dog, face him and call. The problem is that to a dog this body language says ‘stop’.

Then, when he doesn’t come, human nature makes us want to approach the dog in order to be able to ‘make’ him.

Unfortunately, this tends to make the dog move away from us, not towards us – and so has the opposite effect.

Instead of this strategy, we need to try and encourage the dog to ‘chase’ us. The whole exercise needs to be a game of ‘tag’ and the dog has to catch us in order to get the reward.

Here’s how.

Stage 2

You have already started this exercise by teaching your dog to touch your hand with his nose, but now we are going to do something a little different.

With your dog in a secure area (indoors, or on a long line outdoors or in a fenced area).

Think of yourself as a bullseye, in the middle of a circular target area.

© 21 Days to a Clever Dog

1. Ignore your dog! Let him amble around. Turn away from him and move away a little. Watch him out of the corner of your eye. Don’t talk to him or look at him directly. Don’t show him you have food.

2. When your dog moves even one pace towards you, click to mark the behaviour, and throw a food treat down within about a yard of your feet to one side, and then move away from your dog as he comes in to eat it. If he’s hopeless at spotting it then use a couple of big treats that he can’t miss to begin with.

3. Repeat this a few times. Very quickly your dog should start to make the association between moving towards you and getting clicks and treats.

4. When you see this happening, you are going to add the cue. This needs to be your ‘come here’ word. Say it ONCE, just before you move away from him. “Here!” then move. Then as soon as he comes into your circular region (say, within two yards of you in any direction) click, then chuck the food treat behind you. Let him eat the treat, then cue him again and move away.

5. Keep cueing and moving away from your dog, but start to only click for him coming right up to you. Still throw the treat to one side – in fact, you need to throw the treat further away from you – don’t be tempted to lure him to you with it, or try to touch him.

Your job is now to get away from that pesky dog! If he comes towards you then head off quickly in a different direction – keep him guessing and move faster as he becomes more engaged in the game. He now needs to ‘tag’ you (come within one pace of you) when you give the cue, in order to get that click and treat.

Make sure it’s fun, fast and interesting! When he’s really, really keen and you can’t get rid of him, then click, toss down several food treats right by your feet and gently hold his collar so that you can end the game.

Remember. You are in the first stage of training this exercise – so don’t expect your dog to come back to you mid-squirrel-chase just yet! Practise is required to make this work!

© 21 Days to a Clever Dog