Recall is the only command that can save a dog’s life. Everything else is a matter of convenience; this one is a matter of safety, because it is the only thing standing between the dog and the road at the moment something gets out of hand.
This article explains how a reliable recall is built with a Cavalier, step by step, and why it most often breaks down precisely with the owners who try hardest.
Why it is easy to build in this breed
The Cavalier was bred to be beside people. Unlike breeds that worked independently, its natural instinct is to come back — that is the greatest advantage you have.
But there is a flip side. This is a dog with a pronounced hunting instinct in miniature: a cat, a bird or a scent trail leading across the road. A Cavalier that sets off after a scent stops hearing, and that is exactly why it needs a solid recall.
The first rule, before all others
Recall must never end in something unpleasant.
This is the one rule that ruins everything else if it is broken. If you call the dog and then apply flea drops, clip on the lead and head home, bathe it or scold it for running off — the dog learns that being called means the end of the fun.
In practice that means:
- for unpleasant things go to the dog, do not call it
- if you have to end the walk, call the dog, give a treat, let it go back to playing, and only take it on the third or fourth time
- a dog that comes back after ten minutes of running off still gets praised — you punish the last thing it did, and that was coming back
Choosing the word
Choose one word and do not change it. The dog’s name is not a command — the name gets attention, the recall word comes after it.
If the word you have used is already spoiled, because the dog has spent years learning it can be ignored, take a new word and build it from scratch. Repairing the old one is harder than teaching a new one.
Step by step
1. Indoors, two metres. The dog is looking at you, you say the word in a bright tone, it takes two steps — big praise and a treat. Several times a day, half a minute each.
2. Indoors, from another room. The dog cannot see you. Same treatment.
3. With mild distraction. Someone else in the room, the television on, a toy on the floor.
4. Outdoors, on a long line. A line of five to ten metres, on the harness. The dog is sniffing, you call. If it does not set off, do not pull it but move away running backwards and call again — moving away from a dog draws it in, moving towards it stops it.
5. With real distraction. Other dogs, the park, smells. This is where most owners rush, and this is where it breaks.
6. Off the lead — only in a fenced area, and only once the dog on a long line comes nine times out of ten.
The reward is not always the same
For recall you do not use an ordinary treat from the bag. You use what the dog loves most — a piece of boiled chicken, cheese, something it gets exclusively for this command and for nothing else.
Once the command works, the reward is not withdrawn but becomes unpredictable: sometimes a treat, sometimes a game, sometimes just praise. An unpredictable reward holds the behaviour more strongly than a constant one — the dog keeps trying because it does not know when the best one is coming.
In the Cavalier, which is highly sensitive to tone, voice and cheerfulness are worth almost as much as food.
The commonest mistakes
- Calling more than once. If the dog does not come on the first call, repeating teaches it that the first call means nothing. Call once, then change your approach — crouch down, run backwards, clap your hands.
- An angry tone. No dog runs towards someone who sounds angry.
- Skipping steps. A dog that comes indoors does not come in the park. For the dog these are two different situations.
- Taking the lead off too soon. A free dog that does not come is practising exactly that — not coming.
- Calling when you know it will not come. Every call the dog ignores weakens the command. If the dog is chasing a cat, do not call — go and get it.
A game that works better than an exercise
Two people stand about ten metres apart and call the dog in turn, each rewarding it on arrival. The dog runs back and forth and learns that coming is fun in itself.
With the Cavalier this works exceptionally well, because the breed loves attention more than most rewards.
May it be let off the lead
This is a decision to be made honestly, not out of wishful thinking.
Kavalir is not a breed to be let loose beside a road, nor anywhere it could get onto the road. The hunting instinct and small size mean one moment is enough.
Letting the dog off makes sense on fenced ground, in open country far from a road, and only once it comes reliably under distraction. A long line is a good middle ground — the dog has freedom, you have control.
Conclusion
Recall is built gradually, from the house to the park, with the best treat and a bright tone, and you move on only when the previous step works nine times out of ten. One rule holds all the rest together: after coming, nothing unpleasant ever follows. The Cavalier naturally returns to people, but it is also a dog that sets off after a scent — which is why it needs this command more than it seems.
Related
- Cavalier puppy training: the first month
- House training a Cavalier puppy
- Socialising a Cavalier puppy
- Nipping and chewing in Cavalier puppies, and damage at home
- How much exercise a Cavalier needs each day
- Cavalier care — an overview of all topics
- Puppies for sale from a kennel with health-tested parents
