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Great job Lido! I LOVE watching dogs’ responses!

I would not recommend giving a dog a treat when he doesn’t promptly respond. Upon him coming over to me, though, I would use an upbeat, happy voice and verbally praise him. While I have his attention, I would attach his leash and begin asking for hand touches so I can reward and encourage his willingness to do what’s asked of him.

Throughout this day, and following days, I would want to reinforce our connection so I’d heavily reward him with many treats (or his favorite toy) each time he chose to be near me without any prompting.

Once this behavior is well established, I would attach a long leash and ask for him to stay. I take 2 steps back and excitedly call him to me. Each time he enthusiastically responds, I enthusiastically respond with multiple treats in quick succession. I continue to increase the distance by taking 2 steps backward and calling him to come to me.

If he does not immediately come to me, I hold (not pull????) his leash. Once he stops pulling, I reinforce it verbally with a “YES”. I wait for him to choose to look at me. Then, I’ll toss a treat a few steps in front of him, and tell him to get it. I continue to loosely hold the leash and reward him each time he steps closer to me. As I practice the game with him, I vary the amount of steps I take and the duration of our recall game. Each success continues to heavily reward him.

Before I allow the dog off-leash outside, I practice in the house. First, at short distances, then at varying distances. Once I have the dog’s favorite toy or high valued treats, I test him outside with the leash clipped but laying on the ground. If I know my treats are going to be his primary motivator outside, I’ll take him off-leash for a short time and practice recalls making sure to quit before he loses interest or enthusiasm in the game.