5 Rules For A Successful Labrador Puppy Recall

Puppyhood is the right time to start recall training.

You can establish a great recall with your Labrador puppy if you follow a few key rules

Here are the important ones

• Protect your signal
• Call when he is coming
• Use a reward marker
• Use big rewards
• Say it only once

Protect your recall signal

This is the most important of all rules.

If you use your recall word (come or here for example) or whistle, and the puppy does something other than come rushing straight to you,  then you have taught the puppy that the word ‘Come’  means absolutely nothing.   Zero.

People do this every day, all day,  and then wonder why the pup ignores them.

Defend your recall word.

Don’t use it unless you can guarantee 100% that the pup will come to you.

And there are only two ways to be certain of that guarantee

1. when the pup is already running towards you
2. when the pup is attached to long lead

Which brings us to our next tip

Call when he is coming!

Puppies often rush toward people.   Your puppy will chase after you if he thinks you are leaving him.  He will run to you when you have food ready for him (supper time)  and he will run to you if you make lots of nice encouraging squeaky noises or when you get down on the floor to his level.

These are all opportunities to use your recall word with guaranteed success.   But wait until he is actually on his way,  running towards you,  to give the command.

Reward Marker

Use a reward marker.   A reward marker is a signal (usually a sound) that tells the puppy he is about to get a reward.   A reward marker is helpful because it gives the puppy feedback at the exact point in time when he did what you want.

For example,  a puppy might start towards you,  then get distracted and change his mind.  If you use a marker,  like a clicker for example,  you can give him a signal as he starts towards you, which lets him know that  a) you love it when he moves towards you,  and b) he is about to get a reward.

This is a huge incentive for him to come all the way to your side.

You can read more about reward markers here:

Use Valuable Rewards

We are not talking about the crown jewels here.  We are talking about what is valuable to your dog.  Not to you.

Here are the most exciting rewards for a young puppy.

The best rewards are often

• Edible
• Moist/juicy
• Strong flavoured or smelling

Another great reward for very small pups is just to be cuddled by you and to feel safe.

However, later on when he gets interesting in hunting and chasing stuff,  you may find it helpful if he is used to working with food,  so I suggest you use some food rewards too,  right from the start.

A few dog trainers don’t like to use food rewards.  You can find out why,  and  read more about training with food rewards here:  Training with treats

Say it only once

Repeating commands devalues them and teaches the dog to ignore the command in the future.  Only ever use a command once.   Get that puppy rushing towards you by any other means,  but only use that precious recall command one time only.

That way the puppy will learn to always respond to a single command and you will never need to repeat it.

Have fun with your Labrador puppy!

More help and information

If you enjoy Pippa’s articles, you will love her new book: The Happy Puppy Handbook published  in 2014.

Now available in most countries, the handbook is already a bestseller in the UK.

You can buy from Amazon using the links below.  If you do,  the labrador site will receive a small commission which is greatly appreciated and won’t affect the cost to you!