Dog trainers sell recall as the foundation of everything — treats, whistles, a six-week course — and the dog still stops to consider its options.
Change the measurement, not the dog. Say its name only once it has clearly turned and is heading back; mark, reward, and log the result. Our field researchers report a recall rate of 100 per cent across 340 trials, a personal best for every participant. In the remaining trials the dog’s whereabouts were not recorded, as the dog had not technically been called.