I can't remember which thread I promised to post this in but here it is. It's one of my class handouts for the Emergency Recall. I hope that it's easy enough to understand, it's given with explanation during all classes and private training sessions. BTW, the "DUCK-DUCK-GOOSE is my emergency recall for Sophie and is demo'd in class with her under a crazy bunch of competing motivators..in case you're wondering about the title of the handout.
DUCK DUCK..GOOSE!! - EMERGENCY RECALL
Lets say your dog somehow got off leash and was headed towards a busy road during rush hour traffic. What would you do? Do you have a foolproof plan? The EMERGENCY RECALL is the most important command that you‘ll ever teach your dog. Here’s how it works -
We’ve already gone over the importance of calling your dog ONLY when he is already coming to you in order to teach a proper recall. Let’s take 3 of those perfect recalls every day and hard wire them for an EMERGENCY.
First, decide on a word or series of words that you and your family will use for the EMERGENCY RECALL. It should be something that you’ll remember, that you don’t already use around the dog, and that he won’t hear at the dog park…..like DUCK DUCK…GOOSE!!!!
Find some EXTRA special treats, something he absolutely drools for, that you will ONLY use for EMERGENCY RECALL and have them ready in your pocket.
Three times a day, when your dog is already coming to you, call him with your EMERGENCY recall word or words. When he gets to you, take a full 30 seconds and while repeating this recall - feed him his favorite treat in small pieces. Create a fine dining experience, one that he’ll thoroughly enjoy and remember.
Make sure to only practice this 3 times/day for the first 2 weeks (morning, noon and night) and ALWAYS pay for the full 30 seconds while repeating his EMERGENCY recall command over and over. As you start to see him respond…and you will, you can call him from a bit more distance and with more distraction. Be sure to go slow, you don’t want to add difficulty before your EMERGENCY recall is hard wired.
Once he is responding 100% of the time to the 3 EMERGENCY recalls/day, space them out to once/day, then 3/week and so on. You MUST always pay…ALWAYS! I still practice this once/week with my dogs and have used it successfully in a variety of situations that have caused people to stand with their jaws dropped in amazement at its effectiveness. It works, and it may just save your dog’s life some day.
DUCK DUCK..GOOSE!! - EMERGENCY RECALL
Lets say your dog somehow got off leash and was headed towards a busy road during rush hour traffic. What would you do? Do you have a foolproof plan? The EMERGENCY RECALL is the most important command that you‘ll ever teach your dog. Here’s how it works -
We’ve already gone over the importance of calling your dog ONLY when he is already coming to you in order to teach a proper recall. Let’s take 3 of those perfect recalls every day and hard wire them for an EMERGENCY.
First, decide on a word or series of words that you and your family will use for the EMERGENCY RECALL. It should be something that you’ll remember, that you don’t already use around the dog, and that he won’t hear at the dog park…..like DUCK DUCK…GOOSE!!!!
Find some EXTRA special treats, something he absolutely drools for, that you will ONLY use for EMERGENCY RECALL and have them ready in your pocket.
Three times a day, when your dog is already coming to you, call him with your EMERGENCY recall word or words. When he gets to you, take a full 30 seconds and while repeating this recall - feed him his favorite treat in small pieces. Create a fine dining experience, one that he’ll thoroughly enjoy and remember.
Make sure to only practice this 3 times/day for the first 2 weeks (morning, noon and night) and ALWAYS pay for the full 30 seconds while repeating his EMERGENCY recall command over and over. As you start to see him respond…and you will, you can call him from a bit more distance and with more distraction. Be sure to go slow, you don’t want to add difficulty before your EMERGENCY recall is hard wired.
Once he is responding 100% of the time to the 3 EMERGENCY recalls/day, space them out to once/day, then 3/week and so on. You MUST always pay…ALWAYS! I still practice this once/week with my dogs and have used it successfully in a variety of situations that have caused people to stand with their jaws dropped in amazement at its effectiveness. It works, and it may just save your dog’s life some day.