Many people have probably seen a guide dog with its harness off, running around and playing during its rest time, but as soon as it hears its name, it immediately returns to its owner. It would be great if most dogs could do the same.

It is our common interest to see more and more well-behaved dogs on the streets, in dog parks and anywhere else. Our foundation would like to contribute to this by sharing our experiences in training guide dogs. We cannot cover everything in these articles, and we cannot replace visits to dog schools with them, but rather recommend them. Safety is important 

Safety is important

A dog let off the leash is truly safe only if it can be recalled. In other words, when the owner calls its name, the dog immediately comes back to them. This is crucial because walking and hiking with a dog that can be recalled is a pleasure, and it also helps avoid dangerous situations. For guide dogs, it is especially important that they always obey when called by their visually impaired owners, which is why we pay great attention to this during their upbringing and training. At our foundation, we start practicing this from a very young age, throughout the first year of puppy raising, and they reach a high level in this area as well.

Here is “Cetli” so we don’t forget 

We asked our trainer, Darinka Farkas, to talk about recall and to bring along the one-year-old Cetli, who has recently been training with her.

Darinka emphasized that teaching recall requires patience.

We can’t say how quickly or slowly the dog will learn, the main thing is that it’s worth practicing every day. The length of the learning process depends primarily on how strong the relationship between the dog and the owner is, and how consistently the owner can treat the dog,” said our trainer. 

Darinka’s advice for teaching 

When training a dog, I make sure that when I say the dog’s name, it pays attention to me. 

If for any reason she doesn’t pay attention, I use some kind of sound to get her attention. Then I need to react quickly to what she does and praise her, as this is the fastest way for the knowledge to be ingrained.

The reward is important: ‘I say her name, Cetli, come, and as soon as she arrives next to me, she immediately gets a treat and verbal praise,’ said Darinka.

This is important so that the dog learns that when it hears its name, it should pay attention to the owner because that’s when the reward, petting, and praise will follow.

How long should we reward?

“It’s best to start teaching recall in an environment with minimal distractions, where the dog’s attention isn’t diverted by too many things. This could be an apartment, garden, or dog park. Later, you can try it in the street, if it’s a quiet, calm place. As the dog becomes more reliable in recall, you can gradually introduce more distractions,” said our trainer.

The question arises as to how long we should reward the dog. “The experience is that rewarding after recall is always useful, whether the dog is a beginner or already trained, because there are so many distractions that can become stronger if the dog isn’t rewarded,” said Darinka.

There is more good news!

Starting today, you can donate 1% of your tax to the training of guide dogs through the NAV online platform by logging into your client portal here. 

Another good news! If you provide your mailing address, we will send you our guide dog calendar for next year in the thank-you letter!

Our tax number for the 1% donation is: 18449149-1-05

Please support the training of guide dogs with 1% of your tax!

You can read more about our 1% tax information here.