Koro came through when it mattered most!

One of the easiest ways to teach a dog to come to you is to play Hide 'n' Seek. But first you have to teach Fifi to stay, which isn’t hard at all. Just hold up your hand in a "stay" gesture, say, "Stay," in a serious tone of voice, and keep giving her delicious treats as long as she stays, while also saying in a chirpy voice, "Good stay!!" Start with very short stays—just a few seconds and then build up to longer ones. Release her by saying, "OK!!" but DO NOT give her a treat when you release her—only during the actual stay.

Once she can stay reliably for 10 or 15 seconds, you can start playing Hide 'n' Seek, which is REALLY fun and a great way to teach "the recall." Show Fifi that you are in possession of a container of luscious treats and tell her to stay. Go into the next room and quickly hide—someplace easy, like behind the door or behind the bed. Then call out, "Fifi, come!" She knows you’ve got the treats, so she will come looking for you. As soon as she finds you, say, "Good come!!" and give her a treat. Then repeat and repeat and repeat. You can hide in a closet, up on the kitchen counter, under a blanket—get creative. It's loads of fun.

Then take it outside and practice "come" in a safe area. Try running away from Fifi while yelling, "Fifi, come!"—her chase instinct should kick in, helping her to practice the recall until it becomes second nature. Continue dispensing treats. Gradually increase the amount of distance and distraction in the environment, and try hard not to tell Fifi to come if you don't think she is going to, because that would just be teaching her that "Come" is optional, which it most definitely is not.

Always carry treats with you, and give her one every time she comes to you at first, even if you didn't call her. Later, you can gradually fade the treats so that they aren't integral to her cooperation. The most important thing of all is this: Don’t ever, ever, ever scold her when she comes to you, no matter what she did just before you called her. So even if she is ripping apart your most expensive article of clothing, if you call her and she comes to you, she must get enthusiastic praise and a warm welcome! Coming to you should always be a reward in and of itself if you want her recall to be reliable. The reason for this is obvious—a dog who won't come to you can get lost, hurt, or even killed.

The most terrifying experience that I ever had with the recall was on a train in France 25 years ago. I had my first dog, my beloved shepherd mix Koro, with me, and we had both stepped off the train briefly (I thought that she might need to relieve herself and was more likely to do it off the train than on it). In retrospect, it was probably pretty foolhardy of me to take her on such a long train ride. But, be that as it may, the next thing I knew, the train was starting up again before we had reboarded! I tried to lead Koro quickly back up onto the train, but then—horror of horrors—she slipped her collar! Ice water coursed through my veins as I fixed Koro (whose recall was not what it should have been) with an intensely serious look and said, "Koro … come!" Well, Koro came, and I picked her up and tossed her onto the train with just enough time left for me to scramble up onto it too. Lesson learned!