The recall is one of THE most important things we can teach a puppy. When a young puppy first joins your family, he has a natural instinct to follow you. I use this instinct to train my puppies to come when called. We spend a lot of time in the yard working and playing off leash. Every minute or so, I quickly move away from my puppy while saying, "COME!" and then I ALWAYS give my puppy a treat for doing so. I feed him a treat, take hold of his collar (because it's good practice and prevents the "catch-me-if-you-can game") and then let him go play again.
I do this A LOT! Multiple times a day, every day until my puppies know that when I say the word, "COME," it means they will get a treat and a scratch under the collar EVERY TIME. I start by calling my puppy to me from 2-3 feet away. Then I progress to 6 feet, 10 feet, 20 feet until finally my pups can be running on the opposite end of my acreage and come running from over 300 feet away. Every. Single. Time.
