Praise Must Always Accompany Sound, with one exception

.That is, when a behavior is being addressed after the fact. When you have discovered a behavior that occurred outside of your presence, this would be the only time the sound shall be presented without verbal praise. The details are covered later in "using sound to break bad behavior."

To teach your dog the "recall" or "come" command, we must first create a phrase, and select a "key" or "cue" word in that phrase.
Example: "your dogs name, come, good boy". In this phrase, we shall select "come" as our "key" or "cue" word. The objective is to create a brief sound exactly on the "key" or "cue" word. The phrase must be spoken with no pauses, commas, or breaths in between words.
The phrase must be spoken quickly, in an even-tempered tone of voice. The sound will be applied ONLY on the second and fourth requests. In other words, give him the opportunity to respond correctly on each first request. The second command must be accompanied by sound. The next request would be treated as a first request. You'll see later.

The first instance of any phrase you will use must be presented without the accompaniment of sound. If your dog should respond properly to this first request, "your-dogs-name-good-boy," praise him immediately-even before he begins to move. Any response, the twitch of an ear or tail, a shuffle of a foot, a brief glance, any reaction at all, to any command, always requires spontaneous, instant, continuous praise, for however long your dog is thinking about your request, (even if he' thinking of leaving!)

Continue praising constantly until your dog comes all the way to you, even if it requires that you move backward as you continue to speak praises and coax, even plead or beg, (but not to repeat the command phrase). As long as you are moving backward and he is coming forward, he's still coming. In this example, let's say the dog properly (maybe coincidentally) performed. However, that does not mean that he will always respond.
Remember, a conditioned reflex means that your dog has ABSOLUTELY NO CHOICE BUT TO RESPOND PROPERLY! Later, when you are done with all of the intricacies involved, test it out like this: Find yourself and your trained dog in a comfortable situation, like yourself sitting in your easy chair and him snoozing by the fireplace. Ask him to come in the proscribed manner. When he gladly jumps up and sticks his big wet nose in your face, tell him he's good, and tell him he's free. Let him resume his leisurely pursuits and call him again.

Repeat this until maybe on the fourth or fifth occasion that you call him, he believes there is no point to getting up and coming all the way over to you just so you can tell him he's cool and that he may resume his pursuits. Just as soon as he refuses your trivial request to come to you, follow the procedure to make him come. Remember; any time that your dog does not respond the first time you ask him to come, regard this as a major behavior problem and take the appropriate action to remedy the situation. So now we must try again to set up the situation whereby your dog refuses to perform a request.

Once again, repeat your (1st request) "dogsnamecomegoodboy". If he does not spin immediately to respond, instantly repeat the phrase with the accompanying sound: your (2nd request) "dogs-name-COME-good-boy", this time, using the can, by giving it one brief, hard, downward shake, (not a rattle), and only on the "key" or "cue" word, in this example, COME.
Let the sound from the can emphasize your "key" or "cue." word, not your voice. Your voice must always be used in a calm, even-tempered, never commanding or authoritative tone. If any response at all (even an obvious attempt to run away) occurs, instant praise, once again, is required. For this example, let's say your dog chose to continue away from you. Immediately repeat your phrase without the accompanying sound; your (3rd request) "dogs'-name-come-good-boy".

At this point, you might figure that the dog would not respond. While this may be so, we do not know for sure. Observation is required. He may have experienced the desired conditioning from even just that one instance of presenting the "key" or "cue" word in association with the sound. For this reason, we presented our command on this, your third request, without the conditioning sound. If any response occurred, again, even a seemingly negative response like running further away, praise is required.

If you're certain your dog is not responding, on this, his third request, the request will then once again be repeated, for the fourth occasion, this time, while presenting the sound from another direction, preferably beyond your dog, and exactly timed to occur with the "key" or "cue" word. .