I teach an emergency recall. I don't ever use it without rewarding it.

My emergency recall is super-loud and panicked, like the voice you might use if your dog was chasing a deer or running into a roadway. This voice might spook a dog away in real life if the dog wasn't used to it. I reward it lavishly.

I also have a regular call to get the dogs coming my way. I also call "front" when I want the dog to come to me and sit.

 

I have one recall that's... I don't want to say "optional," but I use it when I'm reasonably sure Casper will come, but not positive. For that I say "c'mere." I only use "come" if I am SURE he's going to come (usually if I have food). If there is an emergency, I want to be able to use that command and have him return to me immediately.

 

I've read about the same thing and am considering doing it myself. It seems though that we have inadvertently trained one by saying "where's the dot" lol since she loves the laser. If you say DOT she's paying total attention. The one time when she really took off after some deer or elk or whatever we were running through the woods yelling "Come" and "where's the dot", not sure which one made her come though.
If I do train a second one I'm considering using a dog whistle....

 

Dreizehn has two recalls. Neither are optional but with one he can take his time while the other means, "I need you to get over here RIGHT now!"

 

Emergency recall is a great way to save a dogs life if a situation becomes dangerous. I remember on another forum they said that the emergency recall word/phrase should be something goofy that you'd not use normally like "Duck-duck-goose" or "You're naked" lol. We use "Oh NO!" in a very panicked voice. It's always worked and it gives me a little peace of mind. I'm currently working on that with Ida.

 

You can train an emergency recall with a whistle, it is very useful and IMO mandatory for any off leash dog (recall, not the whistle). This can be done with his food, blow a whistle right before you give the dog his meal. You can train it many ways really but it must never fail, not once. If you feed the dog with a whistle every time chances are pretty good that he will generalize it after a while and respond good enough.

 

I think it's a bit weird, does that mean the dog has a choice for the non-urgent recall? I'd rather teach the dog that when I say "come" you come, no matter what, and you will be rewarded and it's fun and everything. Why have another cue that means "come, but not as fast and only if you feel like it" ?

My dogs know two, but one is an informal recall to call them back to me on walks, and the other is a formal recall where they come and sit in front of me. But they don't get a choice and I expect the same speed and enthusiasm for both.

 

I think it's a bit weird, does that mean the dog has a choice for the non-urgent recall? I'd rather teach the dog that when I say "come" you come, no matter what, and you will be rewarded and it's fun and everything. Why have another cue that means "come, but not as fast and only if you feel like it" ?

The "normal" recall would often not have an adequate consequence of not coming usually due to inability of the handler to create one. People will always at some point break the threshold and effectively teach the dog that it can escape coming exercise as it deems fit. Once dog makes this choice it's downward spiral. Having an emergency recall also helps people not ruin the enforcer which is usually very high value food and lots of it. Usually a whole meal of real smelly and juicy stuff, something you can only enforce one or two times a day.
BUT I may be all wrong... I am of the thought that disobeying any one command has a negative effect on the whole training. This line of thinking is not compatible with emergency recalls. My own "unimportant" recall is just calling dog's name, to let him know where I am.... he lost me a few times and din't like it so I don't have to call him all the time, he knows that I'm not going to chase after him.

 

My recalls aren't optional. I teach the emergency recall in order to get my dogs accustomed to the "panic voice" that might pop up if there was an emergency. Some dogs will spook off of a very loud and overly excited recall. I use mine to habituate them just in case I over-react or one of my family members does. Makes me feel better.

I also over-reward the panic recall just to try to give it extra special umph. If I need it, I need it to work. I want them to know that louder is better.

Obviously if your recalls are dead solid, this might not have any value for you, especially if you know you or your friends/family) won't sound panicked if you need to call them in an emergency.

 

Like lil_fuzzy, I'm also skeptical about the need for a 2nd recall (except in the case of needing a formal recall for competition or something where very specific behaviors are required).

My thought on this is, if a person is able to train a super-reliable "emergency" recall, then they should be just as able to train a super-reliable "regular" recall. It seems that if the ability to train it is there already, why not just work on one recall for every situation? You could practice the same recall word in different tones of voice to make them used to it. To me it just sounds like extra work to train and consistently reinforce two different cues meaning the same thing.


ETA: Upon further reflection on this idea, it makes sense to me to have multiple TYPES of cues for the same behavior (e.g. a hand signal for quiet settings at close range, a verbal cue for general use, a whistle for distance work, etc.)... but little sense to have two of the same type of cue for the same behavior (using the word "come" and the word "here" to both mean the same thing). Where I'm not clear on this is the distinction in defining two different recalls by the sort of reinforcement they receive... if you're willing to practice heavily reinforcing one recall, you won't need another, right?

I don't know if I'm making sense lol. I shouldn't try to explain myself when I'm sick, my thoughts are muddled. But anyway, I'm thinking that adding a whistle to my recall would be a good idea for outdoor use, so I don't have to shout. But I'll reward every recall.