In Part 1 you established your recall cue and laid a strong foundation with your amazing parties. Here are the next steps.

Adding challenges

Now that your dog has a strong, positive response to the cue, and is immediately whipping his head around and following you, you’re going to start calling him away from distractions.

Make a list of situations that are low, medium, high, and EXTRA HIGH level distractions. An example list might be:
Low: Just walking around the backyard, playing on his own with a toy, walking down the sidewalk with no one around.
Medium: Playing tug with a family member, sniffing out fallen kibble under the couch, watching another dog across the street.
High: Sniffing a gopher hole, greeting a favorite guest who’s just arrived, greeting a new dog.
EXTRA HIGH: In the middle of playing with a favorite doggy friend, eating cat poop, chasing a rabbit.
Practice calling your dog to come around low level distractions. Make sure to follow the rules of recall!
Once you’ve practiced around a variety of low level distractions, consider your list of medium distractions. Consider the question: “Would I be willing to bet $20 that my dog will recall from this medium level distraction?” If the answer is yes, go for it! If not, avoid using your sacred recall word, and keep building up that history of successful recalls.
Repeat step 3 as you progress to high and then EXTRA HIGH level distractions. Don’t worry if it’s taking your dog awhile to become reliable in those more challenging situations. Just keep building up that successful history.

How to avoid undoing your training

It is so, so important that you avoid calling your dog to come if:

you’re doubtful that he will actually do it,
you don’t have a high value reward for him when he does come, or
maybe you do, but then you need to follow it up with something unpleasant.

Your dog will quickly lose reliability if you don’t follow the rules of recall - because he’s learning that the cue is not important, or worse, it predicts something bad.

If you need to do something unpleasant (such as giving your dog a bath or locking him up before you leave the house), you should go and get your dog, instead. Clip a leash on to lead him to the bathtub, kennel, etc. If he is already in a habit of avoiding your reach, then leave a leash on your dog’s harness and collar (only when supervised), and pick up that “drag leash” when you need to lead him.

Keep this in mind when you are calling your dog to come into the house from the yard, or to leave the park. If your dog doesn’t want to leave, you call him, he comes, and then you take away his fun… you’ve just punished him for coming to you! So practice calling him toward the door/car, giving him a BIG reward, and then letting him go back to have more fun. Do this way more often than you actually take him away.

If your dog is not yet trained to come when off leash, he shouldn’t be fully off leash - however this is where long lines are a lifesaver. They allow you to give your dog enough freedom to exercise and play, without losing control. Retractable leashes are also an option, however they should be used with caution as they can be dangerous. (It is difficult to pull your dog back to you when he is on a retractable leash, and the cord getting wrapped around limbs can cause burns and cuts. Dogs should not be allowed to play while one is attached to a retractable leash.)

What if he doesn't come?

At some point, despite your best intentions, you will call your dog, and he will ignore you. Here's what to do:

Get closer to your dog, and try to get his attention by bending down, talking to him, or gently tapping him on the back/side.
If you think he will be successful, call him again when you are closer. Back up and have him follow you away from the distraction. Reward him when he follows - even though it wasn’t ideal, in the end, he did the behavior and you want to keep the positive association strong.
If you can't get his attention, but you need him to move, gently but firmly use his collar, harness, or leash to move him away from the distraction.
Don't punish your dog, or he will learn to avoid your approach.
If possible, recreate the situation to give him another chance to be successful. Reward greatly if he is!
If you have multiple failures in similar situations, that means that you need to back up in your training and better prepare your dog. Go back to easier levels of distractions. For example, if you were calling when your dog was in the middle of playing with another dog, practice calling while play is winding down or they’re on break. Or if you were calling when your dog was getting petting from a guest, have your guest stop petting as soon as you call so the choice is easier for your dog.

This video from Emily Larlham/KikoPup talks more about developing a reliable recall via positive reinforcement, and gives some extra tips.

Do I have to use treats forever?

No, but you should continue to reward your dog with something that he values, most of the time. That doesn’t have to be a treat - it can be play, a chase game, sincere and enthusiastic praise, or a rubdown or other petting that your dog really likes. (If your dog says “meh” about petting, then it doesn’t count!)

There will be times that you really don’t have anything your dog values. If you’re rewarding your dog 90% of the time, that history of reinforcement will carry you through, and he’ll still come when you call the next time after that. But if your rate of reward drops too low, your dog may very well decide that it’s no longer worth it. (Would you continue going to work Monday through Friday if you only got paid sometimes?)

Can all dogs be safe off leash when hiking or in public?

In a word: no.

If your dog is aggressive toward other dogs or people, they should not be off leash even if there’s only a small chance that another person or dog will appear. The fallout is too dangerous.

If your dog has a high prey drive, they may not reach off leash reliability in nature - though here are links to training through this issue.

If you have a scenthound or similar dog who is highly motivated to follow scents and tracks, they too may not be reliable off leash.

All these dogs can still get exercise and decompression walks thanks to a long line (and possibly a muzzle).

If your dog is just an impulsive adolescent, keep training and give him time to mature! It’s common for dogs in the 6 - 24 month range to struggle with recall.