During the year (Oct to May) I am very busy as well. So I try and incorporate the recall into daily activities. (I have 3 dogs) If you are sitting around the house, put a long line on your pup. (after the kids are in bed,) what I did was as my pups wandered, and I noticed they were interested in something, I would recall them. If they didn't respond right away, I would reel them in. I would reward them when they came. when they came reliably-
That turned into incorporating the recall into my yard work. Outside when I do my yard work I keep treats on me. I wait for the dogs to be doing something, and then I recall them. When they come quickly I reward them. (I can trust them off leash to come, but you could also do this outside with the long line. When taking your dog for a walk, let him sniff, or just trot ahead, then call him back, and reward.) I also practice the recall in the evenings. I place them some where in the house, their mat or anywhere they have room to run to me. I recall them and give them a treat when they come. I also did it when I was just walking around the house, I'd go to the bedroom and they would stay sitting in the living room, I would all them and they would come running and reward.
I always use the very best rewards. Also, when you begin distractions, I use my husband. He comes into the room and just stands there, then he moves his arms, then he moves all around, then he makes noise. They are learning to ignore him and come to me. You can also play a game with your dogs mat. Have them on the mat and then recall him, run away from him and let him catch you, then reward, be unpredictable, act silly, he will love it. Hope this helps. Remember you only have to do this for about 5 minutes a couple of times a day or even once a day during the week and more on the weekends

Don't put the sit and the recall together until BOTH are rock solid as individual exercises.
To many recalls FROM the sit and the dog will start anticipating and break the sits.
If the dog is across the yard from you just act like a fool. Make noises, jump up and down, get the dog's attention WITHOUT saying come or the dog's name.
When the dog starts coming towards you give a happy come command. Mark and reward AS he's coming in. That tells him all the behaviors in the come command are reward worthy. Not just getting to you.

Looks like I'm going to have to put all this on hold now. Marco has injured his left rear foot or leg today playing with my son. I'm getting ready to take him to the vet right now.

 Quote: Kory Fox

Looks like I'm going to have to put all this on hold now. Marco has injured his left rear foot or leg today playing with my son. I'm getting ready to take him to the vet right now.

Oh no! Please let us know.

Any news, Kory?

bump

I don't have enough time to explain at the moment but it's alot worse than I expected, but it looks like hopefully he won't have any long term effects after surgery which is supposed to be in the morning. I'll explain later this evening if I can.

Surgery!

Oh, I hope all is well. I know a lot of people here will be concerned and eager to hear results.

Turns out I don't have to go where I thought I did, so here's what happened.

My wife was sweeping and Marco decided that the broom would be fun to attack. So she told Payton, our 10 year old son, to grab the leash and put him in the crate. Before Payton could get to him, Marco did the head bow play thing and then jumped straight up in the air, all 4 legs off the ground which he does alot. Problem was this time his butt was basically right next to the couch so when he came down his left rear paw scraped the front of the couch and caused him to land wrong. He yelped several times and then wouldn't put any weight on it. The x-ray shows that he has a tibia crown evulsion. Basically that means he broke the growth plate. It's very clear on the x-ray. I'd say It's on about a 70-80% angle from where it should be. The orthopedic surgeon said that he won't know for sure until he gets in there tomorrow but it looks like the upper tibia is un-injured so he should be able to put a tension or pressure(can't remember which term he used) band in and he feels confident that Marco will heal fine and have no long term effects from it. But there's no guarantees and if the upper tibia is damaged, he may not grow correctly and would forever have problems.

On a side note, the vet was shocked that he didn't have any problem with her messing with his knee. She said she couldn't remember another dog with this injury that wouldn't scream in pain when that area was touched. She also said that an adult either wouldn't or most likely wouldn't sustain this type of injury because the growth plate is fused to the bone by then. Just a freak injury that's going to cost me a small fortune.

oh shit , just when you were starting to have some fun .

now you are really going to have to use your imagination to keep things moving forward with his limited mobility .