The name game is a fun and easy way to not just teach your dog his name, but also to teach him that when he hears his name, good things are going to happen for him. This sets your recall training off to a great start, because he'll already be motivated to come to you before you even start teaching him to.

The First Week

The first week of recall training is all fun and games. Fifteen to twenty times per day, you're going to associate your dog's name with treats and fun. Every two days, you'll raise the criteria for reward.

First 3 days: Call his name, and no matter what he does, go give him several treats, repeating his name before each one. Repeat 15 to 20 times per day.

Next 2 days: Call his name, and only give him the treats if he (at least) looks at you. If he doesn't look at you, say “Too bad!” and make a big deal about going to and giving the treats to someone else, like another pet or family member — you can even pretend to eat them yourself! Repeat 15 to 20 times per day.

Next 2 days: Call his name, and only give him the treats if he comes to you. If he comes before the fifth day, have a big stinkin' party with lots of praise, smiles, treats, and some play. If not, do the “too bad” routine as above. Repeat 15 to 20 times per day.

By the end of the week, with very little effort, you have a dog whose name is just as good as his conditioned reinforcer.

Adding Commands

Now that your dog is happy to come to you when he hears his name, it's time to start adding some formal commands. As usual, the commands themselves aren't that important, but being consistent is. You'll probably want to teach your dog a verbal command, like “come,” “here,” or “front.” Your dog's name should precede a verbal command, i.e., “Rover, come!” You might also want to teach your dog a “come” hand signal and a “come” whistle. To jumpstart the acceptance of each command, start each of them off with a week of the name game, with the new command filling the role of the name.