Training guide
Puppy Recall Training: Come When Called
How to teach your puppy to come when called: choosing a cue, recall games, adding distance and distractions, using a long line safely, and keeping the cue something your puppy loves.
Short answer
Teach recall as a game. Start indoors with no distractions, reward your puppy every time they come to you, and make coming back the best thing that happens.[1][2][3][4] Add distance and distractions gradually, use a long line on a harness outdoors, and never call your puppy to scold them or only to end the fun.[1][2][4][5] VCA notes it can take many weeks or months before a puppy comes reliably around distractions.[1]
This guide fits you if you want your puppy to come to you happily when you call, at home and on walks.
Look elsewhere if you need the other everyday cues (see Puppy Basic Obedience) or help with pulling on the leash (see Puppy Leash Training). If your dog keeps running off in unsafe places, keep them on a lead or long line and ask a qualified, reward-based trainer for help.[4][6]
Why recall matters
A reliable recall helps keep your puppy safe. If they ever escape, it makes it more likely that they come back before they get into harm’s way.[1][3] No recall is perfect, though: keep your dog on a lead wherever a vehicle or a large animal could cross their path, and only let them off-lead in secure areas.[1][4][7]
Choose your cue
Pick one short word, such as “come” or “here”, or a whistle, and keep it consistent. Make sure everyone at home uses the same one.[1][2][4] VCA suggests a word your dog won’t hear in other situations,[1] and the RSPCA advises sticking with your chosen phrase rather than trying other words when the first one fails.[5] Dogs Trust suggests adding a visual signal too, such as opening your arms wide, in case your dog can’t hear you.[4]
Start with a recall game
Sources differ on when to add the word. VCA and the AKC add the cue only once your puppy is already moving towards you,[1][7] while Blue Cross and Dogs Trust use your dog’s name and the cue from the start, with your dog very close.[2][4] Either way, start close, keep it easy and reward every time.
Games that build recall
Ping pong. VCA describes tossing a treat a few feet away, saying your puppy’s name as they eat it, then tossing another to your other side, so they learn to turn the moment they hear their name. VCA then adds the recall cue to the same game.[1]
Catch me. With your puppy on a lead, get their attention, then run a few steps away or backwards as you say the cue. Dogs love to chase.[3][5][7]
Find me. Once your puppy knows the game, call them from another room, or from behind a tree in a fenced garden.[1][7]
Teach the collar touch
Add distance and distractions
Make it harder one step at a time: first more distance, then other rooms and the garden, then mild distractions, such as calling your puppy while they sniff something.[1][2][3][5] If your puppy doesn’t respond, the step is too hard for now, so go back to an easier one.[1][2]
Some dogs find it harder than others. Blue Cross notes that dogs bred to work closely with people tend to keep an eye on their owners, while more independent types, such as terriers and hounds, are more drawn to sounds and smells,[2] and the AKC makes the same point about terriers, sighthounds and scent hounds.[8]
Taking recall outside
Before your puppy’s vaccinations are complete, practice at home and in the garden.[2] Outdoors, practice only in a secure, fenced area or with your puppy on a lead.[1][7] Once recall is reliable at home and in the garden, practice on walks with your puppy still on a lead, in quiet places first.[2][8]
Using a long line
A long line gives your puppy more freedom while keeping them safe. It is easier to manage than an extending lead and less likely to tangle.[2][4][5] Attach it to a well-fitted harness, not the collar, to protect your dog’s neck, and use it only well away from roads.[2][4][5][8] If your puppy ignores you, don’t drag or pull them in: guide them gently with the line, or go and collect them.[4][5]
Keep the cue something your puppy loves
Never scold a recall. Don’t tell your puppy off when they come back, however long it took, and never call them to scold them. Telling a dog off for a slow return only makes them avoid you.[1][2][4][5]
Don’t only call to end the fun. If the cue always means the lead goes on, play stops or you leave, your puppy learns not to come.[1][2][5] Make most recalls practice: call, reward, and let your puppy go back to what they were doing.[5][8]
Don’t repeat the cue over and over. If your puppy doesn’t come after the first call, help them instead: run the other way, calling happily, or go closer with a tempting treat.[2][4][5] Avoid calling at all when you think your puppy won’t come, unless it is an emergency.[4][5]
Pick your moments. Blue Cross suggests not calling your puppy away from things that are hard to leave, such as sniffing or playing with other dogs, until training is well established.[2]
Recall in adolescence
Many young dogs come back less reliably during adolescence, because there is so much else going on for them.[9][10] Blue Cross suggests a long line on a harness, and going back to practicing where there are fewer distractions; it is usually a temporary setback.[9] The Puppy Training Schedule by Age explains what else to expect in this stage.
When it is not working
- My puppy comes, then darts away when I reach for them
Check Whether being held has come to mean the fun is over.[1][3]
Try Practice collar touches with treats until being held is a good thing.[1][3]
- My puppy only comes when I show food
Check Whether you always show the treat first, or only ever reward with food.[2][7]
Try Sometimes call before showing the reward, and vary rewards once recall is reliable: games, food, attention.[2][5][7]
- My puppy ignores me in the park
Check Whether you moved to a big distraction too soon.[2][5]
Try Go back to quieter places, use a long line, and use higher-value rewards.[2][4][5]
Sources
- Training Your Puppy to Come or Recall on Cue (opens another site)
- Dog recall training (opens another site)
- How to Train Your Dog to Come When Called: Step-by-Step Recall (opens another site)
- How to train your dog to come back when called (opens another site)
- Teaching your dog recall (opens another site)
- Basic training for puppies (opens another site)
- Reliable Recall: Teaching Your Dog to Always Come When Called (opens another site)
- Is My Dog Ready to Be Off-Leash? (opens another site)
- Adolescence in dogs (opens another site)
- Managing your puppy through adolescence (opens another site)
- Normal vs. Abnormal Puppy Behavior (opens another site)