During the Winter months, although conscientious dog owners will be making sure their dogs get enough exercise, most of us will not be spending as much time outdoors with our dogs as we do in the Spring and Summer.
However, we can still make good use of the long, dark evenings not only to stimulate our dogs’ brains,
but also to brush up on our dogs’ training and so make them better companions when we are out and about
in the countryside again.

There is much we can do in the comfort of our living-rooms………….
dog training while watching television, that can’t be bad! 
So, put the kettle on and fetch your pot of treats……………..

ARMCHAIR RECALL TRAINING
You need: a pot of treats and your dog, with his collar on.

Sit on a chair with the pot of treats beside you. We are going to use the word “yes” to tell the dog he has just earned a treat so begin by saying the word “yes” and immediately feeding your dog a tasty treat.
Do this ten times. I bet your dog is enjoying himself already!
You are now ready to begin.

1. Toss a treat across the room for your dog to run after.
   
   
2. Just as your dog finishes eating the treat call him to you, in an encouraging way, using his name and the word you use
   to mean “come to me”. (For example “Fido, Come! or “Fido, Here!).
   
   
3. When your dog reaches you take hold of his collar. As you take hold of his collar use the word “yes” to tell him
   that the moment he earned the reward was when your hand was in his collar. (It is important to make taking hold
   of his collar part of the recall sequence because in real life we often need to take hold of our dog to put his lead on
   or to hold him while someone passes. We don’t want him to grab a treat and then dash off.)
   
   
4. He has earned a treat and the word “yes” has told him so, but, instead of feeding the treat to him, toss it across the
   room so that he runs after it.
   
   
5. As in step 2, just as he finishes the treat call him again using the words you used before.
   
   
6. Once again, when he arrives, take hold of his collar and mark that moment with the word “yes”.
   
   
7. Toss the treat across the room again.
   (Because your dog only gets the reward when he lets you put his hand in his collar you will find that very soon he
   will be coming back and pushing his neck towards your hand.)
   
   
8. Repeat this 10 times in each session. This gives the dog a chance to work out what the rule is, but leaves him wanting to
   play more. We’ve now made putting your hand in his collar a fantastic game he will want to play again next time.
   When your dog starts to coming back very quickly still use your “Fido,Come” words just before taking hold of his collar,
   because we are teaching him to respond to these words.
   
   
      
   If you think about it, whenever we call a dog, what we want is for the dog to come close enough for us to take hold of
   his collar and for him to stay still while we do just that. We now have a dog that when we say “Fido, Come!” rushes to
   push his collar into our hand. All without leaving your chair! Keep practising this indoors, sometimes with you standing
   up and then play the same game outdoors. If it becomes a really good game for your dog it really won’t matter where
   your dog is when you call him because he is likely run to you to get that collar near your hand! An added bonus is,
   if you play this game at odd intervals on a walk, your dog is more likely to stay fairly close to you….  just in case!
    
   If you dog tends to back away as you reach for his collar it is usually because he thinks you have a treat in your hand
   and is trying to follow it. To solve this, try putting your hand under his chin to take hold of his collar. Alternatively,
   practise by holding a treat in front of your dog in one hand whilst taking hold of his collar with the other hand.
   He will soon stop doing this anyway when he realises the treat is going to be thrown for him.
   

Sue Kinchin MAPDT 00922
Contact : suekinchin@btinternet.com