Help! My teenage dog won’t come back!

‘FENTON, FENTON. JESUS CHRIST, FENTON…’ We’ve all seen the video of the labrador chasing deer while his human desperately tries to call him back. But what we’re all not super keen to admit is that we’ve all had our own Fenton moments. Luckily most people’s don’t involve a massive herd of deer (and aren’t recorded on camera for our eternal embarrassment). But we’ve all been Fenton’s human, panicking because our dogs are completely ignoring us while running towards people, dogs, wildlife, livestock, traffic…

For most people those Fenton moments come when our dogs hit adolescence at about 5-7 months old and there’s a very good reason for this. Teaching recall to your puppy is generally pretty easy. Puppies aren’t super confident so your puppy won’t really want to stray far from you. If you let your puppy off-lead when they’re tiny (which I don’t recommend) they’ll probably come back when you call them. But that can easily lure you into a false sense of security that becomes a massive issue once your dog becomes a teenager.

Why your teen dog’s recall has got worse

When dogs become teenagers their brains go through massive changes. Suddenly the world is much more tempting and distracting than when they were a puppy. Instead of sticking close to you for safety, your teenage dog will confidently run off to explore on their own. A lot of people find their puppies always come when they call them without needing any training. Unfortunately, those people haven’t trained a recall, they’ve just relied on their puppies natural desire to stay close. So if that’s you then I’m afraid you’re gonna actually have to do some training.

Even if you put in lots of work training recall with your puppy it’s normal for them to stop coming when you call them when they become a teenager. They’re still going to be really distractible and want to explore and that can often mean they ignore when you recall. Teenage dogs also often forget things they learnt when they were a puppy so your dog may genuinely not remember you ever taught them a recall. What they remember can vary massively from day to day so just because their recall was perfect yesterday doesn’t mean it won’t be terrible today.

Teenage dogs just want to have fun

If you want to be able to call your dog away from playing with dogs you need to offer a more fun game

Adolescent dogs are ready for a party and will always choose the easiest way to have fun. Unfortunately that’s often playing with dogs, chasing wildlife or jumping up at people. This can make recalling your teen dog difficult, but it doesn’t have to. Ultimately training a recall is just about being really fun to be around. If you provide the party then your dog will want to come back to you.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when training recall is just giving their dog a tiny treat when they come back. Let’s be honest, that’s boring. Why would your dog choose not to play with that dog, chase that squirrel or steal that sandwich if all they’re getting in exchange is a tiny treat plonked in their mouth? Luckily it’s really easy to turn that treat into a game. Throwing it for your dog to chase or catch is much more fun for your dog. You can also scatter treats for your dog to sniff or play fetch or tug with a toy. Anything that you can do to be more fun will massively improve your dog’s recall. And as a bonus, you’ll have more fun on your walks too.

Practise makes perfect - so don’t let them practise

If you call your dog and they don’t come back the only thing they’re learning is that ignoring you is fun. So ideally you only want to call your dog if you’re pretty sure they’ll come back. But obviously if you don’t call your dog when they’re causing chaos you’re likely to annoy people and you’re risking your dog getting injured or injuring a person, a dog or another animal.

If in doubt, keep your dog on a lead so they can’t run off.

This is where management comes in, you want to prevent your dog running off so you’re never in the situation where they don’t listen. But if you only have your dog on a normal lead they don’t have much space to run and enjoy their walk. You also haven’t got much space to practise recall if your dog can only be about two metres away from you. This is why long lines are awesome. They’re longer leads (from five metres but can be up to fifteen or twenty metres) that allow your dog more freedom while you’re training recall. Your dog has more room to sniff, run and play but you can feel safe knowing you won’t have a dreaded Fenton moment.

Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter