Successful emergency recall!

[Marie and Hoka]

Reminder to train for recall in some wayl:

Hoka is 10 months old.  My son accidentally left the gate open overnight the other night, and I of course was totally unaware.  A neighbor luckily saw him leaving the yard and sent me a text. 

He had of course, been just standing in front of his "girlfriends" gate hoping for some playtime. (neighbor dog)

I pulled out the "command" I have been practicing for months, yelling "Treat, Hoka, Treat!" My total chow hound came tearing back to me immediately. He was given a bunch of awesome treats.  I don't actually practice this as a recall, but just that if I say "treat",  you will always get a treat.  Since Hoka is all about the food, this worked for him.  I did the same for my last doodle.  

[Denise L. McCall]

Marie, how is Hoka with your meals in your house?  My Berne doodle, Sophie, will let you eat with no problem, she'll just go lay down, but Daisy the golden doodle is almost on top of you to get your food, if you walk away from your plate, or do not put a baby gate in the kitchen door, she will most surely hop up and gobble everything up!  I had gotten her at 10 months and her previous family must have thrown people food at her constantly, I have no idea why she is this bad.  I do not give her any of my scraps because of this (well I do give them left over pizza crust when we have it) but she is completely nuts with food, if you have any advice, please let me know. I was too slow in putting my baby gate in the kitchen door the other night (a neighbor knocked on the door) and I had a large skillet sitting on the stove with beef stroganoff and she wandered in there while I answered the door and hopped up and literally ate almost the whole pan!!!  :-)  If anyone else has advise also, please chime in !!!

[Marie and Hoka]

So far we are doing fine with people food around Hoka.  He has actually been very respectful, but we are now empty nesters which has helped. The kids were easy marks. If Hoka shows interest in my food,  I hold up my hand like a "stop" and he backs off.  I try to always feed them after myself, like Doggie Dan recommends.  He is totally obsessed with his own food, trays and antlers, but leaves us alone. So far so good for now.

Our previous doodle, Tinker,  was a terrible counter surfer.  With him, we had to be 100% good about keeping things off the counter for a period of time and he would forget for a bit. I have fly-cover domes made of metal that I used to cover things with to keep him away as well.

[Denise L. McCall]

I will try and use the treat command as you do, I have a very stubborn little lady, getting her to come when she is outside unleashed is a bear, my other one who is only 7 months, comes right away, I guess they all have different personalities, but I'm not sure what I am doing wrong, maybe because she likes food so much that is something that will redirect her brain when I'm calling her, I will keep you posted on my progress. :-)

[Deb's Yarrow and Schatzi]

The Monks of New Skete teach that the family dog should be present in the kitchen during the preparation and eating of the meal. I never had to tether Yarrow, but they suggest tethering the canine family member to the leg of the table. After a few challenging days, the pup will learn that he or she will be fed only after the family and that there is no use in whining, barking or begging. Once they get the drill, they forget about mooching.
Shiloh on the other hand is an incorrigible mooch her and has shown tendencies to counter surf. I basically make sure I never leave temptations around and when she sticks her nose up under my arm to get her nose near my plate, I just say hello, give her a kiss and tell her to good lay down. At first I would have to get out of my chair and take her to her lay down spot in the kitchen. She's really catching on. We've had her 2 months now. Also, it helps that our table is counter height, otherwise it won't be waaaayy more challenging because they are such tall dogs.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Great job! Yes...a recall of any kind, is absolutely a must! Especially if it can save their lives.
We found, everyone uses " come " for their recall command. It can be quite confusing in a dogpark. So we integrated" bump. Into our training. I yell" bump" and Enzo cones running and " bumps" my held out fist with her nose. She is so far from a chow hound, that we use lots of love, hugs and affection for her reward. She occasionally will take an offered treat for it.

[Texas Doodle Mom and Molly Rose]

I like this "bump" idea! I use "treat" as my emergency recall, but luckily have not had a true emergency yet.

[Deb's Yarrow and Schatzi]

My last dog, a Newfound cross, knew the names of most foods... cookie, pizza, fish, cheese... If she was really ignoring my recall I would have to say, "I have BREAD!" I know, bizarre and embarrassing. But she would do anything for a morsel of bread. With Yarrow, I decided that I didn't want to shout out 'cookies' as my neighbour does. So, after watching and learning from trainer Zack George, I call 'Yarrow ' and as soon as she stops and turns to look at me I immediately say an enthusiastic 'YES' which secretly means, 'come to me right now and you'll get something delicious AND cuddles and kisses! It works very well.

[DJ & Chance]

I've found that "cookie" works best as a recall word for Chance.  I don't really give him cookies but rather a healthy treat and he is very food motivated.

[Jess & Stewart]

As ironic & horrible as this is, if I turn away from Stew and say "bye Stew" he comes tearing after me. I'm guessing it taps into his psyche that he won't be able to come with me :(. I wanted to originally use "monkey" but he's never responded to it as well as "bye".

It seems to work, I just need to reinforce it when we're in the NJ country and Stew is off leash in my dad's fenced in yard. I've dropped the leash and tried recall in the parts of my dad's yard that aren't fenced in and he stays close but with all the woods around, I never want him to catch the scent of an animal and run.

He's never off leash in the city & I will probably never let him off leash unless we are somewhere fenced in.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Hooray for your emergency recall success.

[Michele Kiss]

Agree - instant recall is the BEST thing we have taught Fenway. Our trainer taught us to use a repetitive, excited phrase until he runs over (kind of like how with horses you you chant "andale! andale! andale!" - something like that.) 

We use "aussie! aussie! aussie! (over and over)" and he will come SPRINTING towards us. We use an awesome reward that he never gets at any other time (e.g. leftover filet steak!) He drops ANYTHING he's doing when he hears it. 

Definitely makes you feel secure that you can get them back in case of an emergency! 

[Kris and Sawyer]

I use "treat" for emergency recall as well. Sawyer gets the occasional people food treat. I know, bad mommy. Mostly it is my husband and kids that do it. I've always worried that he would start "begging" but thankfully he's very polite. Haha. He just sits closely by you if you have food, and if a crumb should happen to fall, he's right there. We always say, he doesn't beg but he's very opportunistic. :-).