There were few things that made me more nervous than picturing Sweet Baby L slipping her leash and running off into the distance with me trailing desperately behind. I knew that if I was going to have a healthy relationship with my new pup, it would be important for us to master some basic commands that would allow her to live her best life without kicking my anxiety into overdrive.

The recall, or “come” command, was one of them. Like most commands we set about learning, I was daunted by the recall. It seemed so important from a safety perspective, but also felt almost impossible starting out? Like, how would she ever learn to come when she was called? She had no interest whatsoever in returning to me when there was a whole world out there to explore.

I’m happy to say that in the end, we were successful!

Here’s the process that worked for us:

• Start inside. At the beginning, it was all about baby steps. Just getting her to look at me when I said, “Sweet Baby L, come,” was considered a big victory. Once she started to understand what the recall was and coming to me when called, I’d separate myself a small distance from her. I’m talking a-few-feet-small. From-one-side-of-the-room-to-the-other-small. By keeping things inside, and contained to a small space, there was no risk of her running off while learning this new skill.
  
• Graduate to the outdoors, but keep things close. For us, this meant taking her to our roof deck so we could practice outside where there were more distractions, but still work within small distances. We kept her leash on for this, letting it drag behind her.
  
• Introduce a long leash. Once she was coming when called on her short leash, we started with bigger distances. Still working on the roof deck, we used a 30ft leash. Once she was able to handle the longer distances on the roof deck where she was still in an enclosed space, we took the big step of moving away from our confined spaces.
  
• Practice in the open. Using the long leash, we made our way to an empty parking lot near our apartment. It was a MUCH bigger area, so we could work on recall from farther and farther away. The space was enclosed on three sides, but not entirely, so there was an added element of worry here for me. We still used the long leash during these sessions.
  
• Look mom, no leash! After several weeks of practicing in the parking lot with the long leash, we picked an early morning when it was still quiet and practiced sans leash. I was amazed at how far we had come (har har) since we started training on recall. She was coming back from clear across the parking lot almost every time we called.
  
• Moving to the park. The first time we let her fully off-leash in the open dog park was still nerve-wracking for me. Would she get too excited to remember the recall? Would there be too many distractions so that she wouldn’t know where to find me? Would she forget everything entirely? No, no and no, thankfully. Are there times she doesn’t come immediately when called? Yes. Do we still practice every day, whether we are inside or outside? Yes. I believe recall is too important a command to not master completely.

A few other tips that helped:

• Treats, treats, treats. Sweet Baby L knows when she comes to us, she will be rewarded.
• Never use recall when I need her to do something she doesn’t like (ie getting in the bath, or a car). Negative associations aren’t helpful.
• Stay committed. I’m definitely guilty of giving up too soon when we are having an off day, but the consistency was really key for us here. We practice every day and I believe that’s made a huge difference.