Regardless of how much effort you put into training, no dog is ever going to be 100% reliable at coming when called. Canines aren’t robots. They’re like people in that they’ve their good days and their bad days. Occasionally they don’t notice you calling, sometimes they’re focusing on something else, sometimes they misread what you want, and quite often they just decide that they would rather do something else. And, let’s face it, sometimes the dog training we do is either inconsistent or perplexing.
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Take recall training, for instance. There are breed differences in trainability with regards to the recall. Hounds, for example, are infamously challenging to teach this behavior. Some sighthounds, like whippets and greyhounds, aren’t highly motivated by the usual rewards, like dog treats and toys. They often require more creative incentives-furry toys that move quickly or fantastic tasty treats. Scent hounds, such as beagles and coonhounds, tend to be so sidetracked by the smells around them that they can be unaware to your calls.
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This isn’t to say that these breeds can’t be trained to come when called. They certainly can -but you’ll have to be more patient and unrelenting when training them. Regardless of the breed you’ve got, the purpose of training is to ensure your dog understands what you want him to do when you call him and to build a strong habit of coming when called so that he’s less prone to settle on something else.
