Try singing the word come! If I could get a group of people together and hear everybody singing it at the same time, I bet we would all sound different. Some would be high pitched and staccato; others would be low and drawn out. We would sound like a choir — or maybe a gaggle of geese — I don’t know. The point is, it’s more fun to sing cues than it is to belt them out as commands. It’s more fun for the dog, too.

When I taught my terrier, Ziggy, a recall cue, I used his name. But I didn’t just say it as I normally do when I’m talking to him. I stretched out the end part like this, “Ziggeeeeeeeeee!”. As he was running back to me, I’d add a few shorter bits like this, “zig, zig, zig!”. It wasn’t until I took the TAKL course on Learning About Dogs with Kay Laurence that I learned how animals respond to cadence.

We spend a lot of time hiking, especially since the onset of the pandemic. The forest is full of temptations for a terrier. Although he generally responded well to his recall cue, there were still times when nature took priority. 

Then I came across Simone Mueller’s book, Rocket Recall, and borrowed a very clever idea — turn the “zig, zig, zig!” into a keep-going signal. It worked like a charm! The continuous sound and cadence kept his attention until he arrived in front of me. I kept it exciting by tossing his treats onto the ground so he could chase the pieces and track the scent to find them.  

Now he’s so excited to come when called I sometimes can’t get him to leave my side and explore when we’re hiking. Not a bad problem to have!