The Reliable Recall
Like many behaviours, the recall is easy to shape but getting reliability can be an issue. In order to get a really reliable recall, you need to be aware of the quality of reinforcers and you have to do a little bit of advanced planning. It is very important when teaching the recall that your dog comes to you when called far more often than he does not. You can only accomplish this if you are aware of the criteria you are setting.
The first step in teaching a reliable recall is to build value for the cue Come. Do this by playing with your dog in a low distraction area of the house. You need to be very certain that when you say Come, the dog will come to you. Make certain that you have extra delicious treats with you. You want your dog to pair Come with really high value rewards: by rewarding him with very excellent treats, he will assign a lot of value to coming when called. High value reinforcers do not need to be food: if your dog is a tug or toy freak, you can easily use these rewards for the recall.
Simply call your dog to you and click as he takes the first step toward you. Dole out several treats and make a big fuss of him for doing such a miraculous job. To get lots of recalls in, toss his cookies for him and call him after he eats his cookie. He should gobble up his cookie and race back to you for the next one.
Now you should have the recall on cue as your dog has learned that coming when called is an opportunity to earn delicious treats. To get reliability for the recall inside and outside your home, regardless of what your dog is doing and what is happening around him, you need to raise criteria. To begin, start calling him when he is looking away. Once he is reliable at coming when he is looking away, call him when he is farther away. Next, call him when you are out of sight. Next, call him when he is laying down and comfortable. Next, call him when he is busy. Next, call him away from his food bowl. Raise criteria consistently but make sure you are reasonable in your expectations: if you aren't willing to bet $50 your dog will come to you when called, don't call him. Remember, he should be able to come 80% of the time at any given level of criteria.
Once your dog will reliably come to you in the house, no matter where you are and what he is doing, it is time to take it on the road. Try the recall in your back yard. Remember however, that you can only work on one criterion at a time. This means that the new environment will be distracting enough, so start at the beginning, calling him from three or four feet away. Gradually increase distance and distractions as you did in the house, making sure you are not setting him up to fail.
Next, ask for the recall at parks and trails. If safety is a concern, have your dog on a long line that he can drag. If at any time you call your dog and he doesn't come, do not correct him. You have simply increased criteria too quickly so you need to reduce the distractions. Normally you will do this by moving in closer to your dog and then after a few successful trials, you can back to building distance.
When you are out with your dog and decide to work on recalls, take a look at the environment before you call him and ask yourself if he will succeed. Consider the distance, whether this is a new location, and what distractions are around your dog or between you and your dog. This distractions may all be small but they will add up quickly to non success if you are not careful.
As your dog shows good understanding of the recall, you will need to move to a variable ratio schedule. This means that you will not feed every recall, nor will the reward be the same every time. It is important in the teaching stages that you do not advertise your food. The point of the variable schedule is to get your dog gambling. He needs to believe that every recall could be reinforced, even if every one isn't. He will not have to guess if the only time you reinforce the recall is if you're wearing a bait bag.
It is also a good idea to use environmental rewards for recalls. If your dog comes when called at the dog park, you can release him back to play. Your dog can exchange recalls for rides in the car, walks, a game of fetch, whatever your dog loves. Once you move to a variable schedule, your dog's reward for the recall will be something different every time: sometimes a great piece of steak, the next a ride in the car, the next nothing, the next a piece of kibble, the next a walk around the block, the next nothing.
You will need to deliver the occasional reinforcer for the rest of your dog's years to keep the recall reliable. Practice calling him away from distractions fairly regularly and every now and then have deliciouls rewards ready for a recall, even if you don't need to recall him. Plant toys and very high value rewards along your favourite walking trail and pull them out of thin air for your dog when he comes. The more you can convince him that any paritcular recall could be the one where he gets that really fantastic reward, the stronger and more reliable his recall will be!