Does your dog come when you call when he's off leash? How did you train him? My pup knows the "come" command but ignores me when presented with more interesting distractions. I'd like to take him to the park without having to chase him around!

Go to the Victoria Stilwell forum; there is a user on there with a great method for teaching recall, and there are currently two threads going on the subject at the moment. One of my dogs has great recall, and I honestly can't remember how I trained her. My other dog is a recent adoption with terrible recall, so I'm in the same boat as you. Anyway, here are the links to those two threads:

Victoria Stilwell - View topic - Teaching a Dog to come! GRRRR

Victoria Stilwell - View topic - How to teach Recall positively

There are also several more threads discussing some of the other issues you've brought up, so you can get a wider/more indepth instruction on what to do.

I'll admit...I don't have a history of having good recall with my dogs.

I'm determined with my recent adoptee to have a good reliable recall. The method I'm using is what I learned in class:

In the house: use a whistle--blow the whistle, if Tanner responds immediately, treat; if he ignores me, do nothing. Repeat.

On-leash: build a strong "come" with distractions.

On-long line: continue to build a strong "come".

Nice Luck.
Maybe giving him a treat when he comes, every single time would help.

There are also Truckee Meadows and other dog training classes you can go to.

I would suggest going to some kind of a dog training class.

Hi, I've found the best way for a dog to learn recall is to be trained with a very long rope at first maybe 20-30 feet. When you have him outside- have the leash on him and don't let him get too far away- you need to step on the leash when you say stop- they learn quickly with only one or two jerks. After they learn the stop command- then you can work on come. When you say come gently pull on the leash so they are forced to come to you. Every time without fail you need to offer praise and a treat (keep them small to avoid a full belly or weight gain) When the dog seems to understand come with the tugging on the rope- try it without the tug- when they master that, gradually eliminate the rope (sometimes use it and sometimes don't) However always offer praise and a treat when the dog comes. You need to do this continually for a year. Then they will come without fail- at this point you can offer praise or a treat for coming- always reinforce good behavior. Pam

First, tie a collar around your dog's neck and connect to a 6m long leash then the dog training could be started.
You as the trainer must SUDDENLY call it's name and then follow with a command "Come". If your dog obeys, praise him enthusiastically and then let him move around freely again.
After sometime, repeat step two again. Do this several times and note that at first your dog might come upon being commanded, but might get bored and soon do not follow your instruction.
If your dog starts to disobey your instruction, you could give a pull (but remember DO NOT jerk as it may hurt your dog) and at the same time, ask him to "Come". You could repeat a few times if your dog does not respond, and again NO JERKING. When your finally comes over, praise him or even give him a treat.
Repeat this dog training several times a week but remember DO NOT OVERTRAIN as this may make your dog feel disgusted and it would then stay with you all the time which would defy our purpose of training. So, you should stop the training everytime after you have succeeded 4 or 5 times.I hope it does the trick.

Dog training for the dog LOVERS