Yo-Yo Recall
Basic Manners · 12 steps · by @allison
Your Dog will learn to turn away from food in someone's hand and run to you, first for your happy calls (name, kissy noises, clapping) and finally for 'Come', even with the food right there and nothing in your hands.
**How it works.** A helper holds treats in a closed fist at Your Dog's nose height. You stand a few feet away with no treats and call happily. The fist never opens for Your Dog. The food comes when Your Dog leaves it and reaches you: you hold their collar, and the helper hurries over and feeds 3 treats. The thing Your Dog wanted becomes the reward for leaving it.
**Your helper must be someone Your Dog already likes.** Your Dog will be close to them, and they will hurry toward Your Dog. If Your Dog is wary of people, start with [Being Approached](pushdropstick://plans/being-approached) instead.
**Day one is the long one.** A single rep can take several minutes. Your Dog may try everything that has ever paid: sitting, lying down, pawing, staring at the fist. Keep calling happily and let them work it out. One dog doing this as homework took 20 minutes for 5 reps, offering down-stays the whole time. A few days later he did all 5 in under 2 minutes. Stop after one set and do the next one tomorrow. Many dogs come back and leave the fist almost at once. Some take a little longer, and that is normal too.
**Every arrival gets paid.** In this plan, Fail records how fast Your Dog came, which way they went, or whether you needed your happy calls. It never means Your Dog goes unpaid for reaching you. The only unpaid rep is one where the time runs out: the helper pockets the treats and stands up, and you stop calling. If Your Dog ducks away from your hand at their collar, pay anyway, and spend a few sessions on the Collar plan before the next set.
**On the long steps, Fail stays locked until the time is up**, so nobody gives up on a dog who is still working it out.
**Keep the helper boring.** Fist closed and still, no talking, no pulling the fist away (moving food is more exciting), and never opening it for Your Dog.
**One set per session.** It keeps each rep meaningful, and the night's sleep between sessions is part of how this works.
Training steps
Wait it out, 3 feet away
Setup: The helper crouches with a closed fist of treats at Your Dog's nose height. You stand 3 feet from the helper with no treats.
The helper keeps the fist closed and still while Your Dog sniffs, licks or paws at it. Call happily: name, kissy noises, clapping. When Your Dog reaches you, hold their collar and the helper hurries over with 3 treats. Fail unlocks at 5 minutes: then the helper pockets the treats and stands up.
Success: Your Dog leaves the fist and comes to you within 5 minutes.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Wait it out
Setup: The helper crouches with a closed fist of treats at Your Dog's nose height. You stand 6 feet from the helper with no treats.
This is the long one. The helper keeps the fist closed and still. Call happily: name, kissy noises, clapping, and keep it up as long as it takes. When Your Dog reaches you, hold their collar and the helper hurries over with 3 treats. Fail unlocks at 5 minutes: then the helper pockets the treats and stands up, and that's the session.
Success: Your Dog leaves the fist and comes to you within 5 minutes.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Quick exit
Setup: A new day. The helper crouches with a closed fist of treats at Your Dog's nose height. You stand 6 feet away with no treats.
Same routine as yesterday. Count from your first call. When Your Dog arrives, hold the collar and the helper hurries over with 3 treats, even on a slow rep. If Your Dog heads to you as soon as they see the setup, that's a Pass. For the next rep, the helper can call them over to start.
Success: Your Dog turns away from the fist and heads to you within 10 seconds of your first call, or comes to you before you call.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Quick exit from 10 feet
Setup: The helper crouches with a closed fist of treats at Your Dog's nose height. You stand 10 feet away with no treats.
Same routine, farther away. Call happily. When Your Dog arrives, hold the collar and the helper hurries over with 3 treats. Pay every arrival, even slow ones.
Success: Your Dog turns away from the fist and heads to you within 10 seconds of your first call, or comes to you before you call.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
A new, better food in the fist
Setup: The helper crouches with a closed fist of a food Your Dog rarely or never gets, better than the last one. You stand 10 feet away with no treats.
Same routine. When Your Dog arrives, hold the collar and the helper hurries over with 3 of the new treats. A new food can bring back a long rep or two. That's normal: keep calling happily.
Success: Your Dog turns away from the fist and heads to you within 10 seconds of your first call, or comes to you before you call.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Quick exit from 20 feet
Setup: The helper crouches with a closed fist of treats at Your Dog's nose height. You stand 20 feet away with no treats.
Same routine, farther away. The helper has farther to hurry, so they can start moving as soon as you have hold of the collar. Pay every arrival.
Success: Your Dog turns away from the fist and heads to you within 10 seconds of your first call, or comes to you before you call.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Quick exit in a new place
Setup: Somewhere you haven't done this before: another room, the yard, a quiet park with Your Dog on a long line. The helper crouches with the closed fist. You stand 10 feet away.
Same routine as at home. New places can bring back a long rep, so keep calling happily. When Your Dog arrives, hold the collar and the helper hurries over with 3 treats.
Success: Your Dog turns away from the fist and heads to you within 10 seconds of your first call, or comes to you before you call.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Triangle: any route to you
Setup: Your Dog sits and stays. You and the helper walk away in different directions until the three of you form a triangle about 10 feet on each side. The helper crouches with the closed fist.
Say 'Free' and start your happy calls. Stopping at the helper first is fine here: the helper stays still, fist closed. When Your Dog reaches you, hold the collar and the helper hurries over with 3 treats. Fail unlocks at 2 minutes. If Your Dog stands up before the triangle is set, just set it up again.
Success: Your Dog reaches you within 2 minutes, by any route.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Triangle with the helper off to the side
Setup: Your Dog sits and stays. You walk 10 feet away. The helper stands about 15 feet from Your Dog, well off to the side, so the straight line to you runs clear of them.
Say 'Free' and start your happy calls. The helper crouches, fist closed and still. When Your Dog reaches you, hold the collar and the helper hurries over with 3 treats. If Your Dog goes to the helper first, mark Fail, keep calling, and still pay when they reach you.
Success: Your Dog comes straight to you without going to the helper, and lets you hold their collar.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Triangle: straight to you
Setup: Your Dog sits and stays. You and the helper walk away in different directions to form a triangle about 10 feet on each side. The helper crouches with the closed fist.
Say 'Free' and start your happy calls. If Your Dog goes to the helper first, mark Fail but keep calling. The helper stays still, fist closed, and still pays when Your Dog reaches you. The detour costs Your Dog time, and the straight route pays sooner.
Success: Your Dog comes straight to you without going to the helper, and lets you hold their collar.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Add your recall word
Setup: Your Dog sits and stays. You and the helper form the triangle, about 10 feet on each side. The helper crouches with the closed fist.
Say 'Free', then 'Come' once in your happy voice. Wait 2 seconds. If Your Dog hasn't started toward you, add your happy calls. Either way, hold the collar and the helper pays every arrival. The set runs 7.5 minutes, about 90 seconds a rep including the setup.
Success: Your Dog comes straight to you on 'Come', without your happy calls.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Only the recall word
Setup: Your Dog sits and stays. You and the helper form the triangle, about 10 feet on each side. The helper crouches with the closed fist.
Say 'Free', then 'Come' once, and nothing else. If Your Dog hasn't started toward you after 5 seconds, mark Fail, then use your happy calls. Hold the collar and the helper pays every arrival.
Success: Your Dog comes straight to you on 'Come' alone.
Advance on: 4 of 5 successes
Now turn anything Your Dog wants into a reward for coming away from it. Dinner on the counter: back away, call them, and when they come, walk back with them and serve it. The door: call them away from it, and when they come, walk back and let them out. The same works for a sniff spot or a friend to greet. Chasing squirrels and other wildlife needs its own plan on a long line, so please don't try it with this one.