{"id":827,"date":"2016-02-19T10:52:04","date_gmt":"2016-02-19T10:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelabradorsite.com\/?p=827"},"modified":"2025-05-09T11:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T10:46:15","slug":"proofing-your-labradors-recall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelabradorsite.com\/proofing-your-labradors-recall\/","title":{"rendered":"Labrador Recall Proofing – Or How to Get A Really Reliable Recall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Teaching your\u00a0Labrador that \u2018here\u2019\u00a0 or \u2018come\u2019\u00a0 means they must run towards you, is relatively simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or is it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can easily teach dogs to obey the recall in the safety and calm of the home or garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\u00a0labrador owners are\u00a0often very upset and confused when the dog\u00a0disobeys<\/em>\u00a0the recall signal when they are placed in a more distracting and tempting environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They cannot understand why their dog ignores the recall whilst playing with other dogs for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And they are worried that they have a \u2018disobedient dog\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In actual fact, \u00a0their dog is not disobeying at all,\u00a0 it’s just that they have not yet learned to generalise the command “come”.\u00a0 That is to say,\u00a0 the dog does not understand that the command \u2018come\u2019 \u00a0has the same,\u00a0 or indeed any,\u00a0 meaning in the new situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is recall proofing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The way we teach the dog to generalize is through a thorough system of \u2018proofing\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"labrador<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

And the second and longest part of teaching the recall lies in this proofing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also sometimes referred to as dog distraction training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any good recall training program will include detailed instructions on proofing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a quick summary of the basic principles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proofing your Labrador’s recall command<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Effective recall proofing takes time.   It is not something that you can achieve in a few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To give you an idea of what is involved in proofing your Labrador’s recall, I suggest you start by making a couple of lists on a sheet of paper.   Divide your page into two columns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n