Does Your Dog Come When You Call?

Do you have a dog that is already trained to come on command? I used to always get frustrated, because I had a dog that only came when she felt like it. When your dog doesn’t come do you start yelling and repeating come over and over? If you are yelling at a dog that won’t come, I’ll give you a great reason to stop doing that. Here is the reason why:  All this will do is negatively reinforce the dog to not come.  He’ll be thinking the word “come” means “you are in big trouble”. As a matter of fact, the yelling may even make him choose to run farther away-this is really frustrating (I know).

It is much better to use positive reinforcement training and get the good results you desire.You do this simply by giving your dog lots of praise and affection and some treats when he performs as you want.  It is much easier to get your dog to come when he always has had a positive experience for coming to you.

• So that he doesn’t get distracted when learning to come, begin the training inside your house. Ask him to come over to you with an upbeat and cheerful sounding voice. Give him lots of affection, praise and a treat as soon as he come to you. If any one else is around when you are training your dog to come, have them help you. Stand on opposing ends of a room and take turns with calling the dog to come. Take the training outdoors, once your doggy has gotten the idea to come when he is called.

• Before you go outside, put your dog on his leash. For a dog that isn’t paying attention, just give his leash a tug and walk backwards to get him to run up to you. Now that he’s come, you can give him praise, love and a treat-all great rewards. Remember, only praise for good results, and don’t be angry or impatient when he doesn’t listen immediately. After you have gotten your dog to listen and come while on the short leash, the next step is to try it with a longer leash.

• Your dog will feel less controlled by you when walking on the longer leash. It is possible he will feel less responsive to you, and not pay attention to your call at first. If he doesn’t respond, you can give a tug on his leash, and start to walk in opposite direction so he’ll have to follow, and call again with a happy cheerful voice and offer praise and a reward when he does come on command. Stay with this step of  the training until he is coming every time you call him. Now you are ready for the next step-off leash recall.

• You should start this training inside an enclosed yard, so there is no chance your dog will run off and not come back when you call. Work on the off-leash recall using the same methods as on-leash training, namely lots of praise and rewards of petting and a treat for coming when he is called. If the freedom of  movement has undermined his responsiveness you just have to go back a step and work on that some more. Hopefully, your dog is listening and now you are ready for the big test.

• You are ready to try calling your dog while he is off leash and outside your yard. This test is potentially harder for your dog to pass. If your dog will come to you when you call even when free of the leash and while  around the various distractions that are present, you have successfully trained your dog to come on command. Even if he sometimes isn’t perfect, keep working with your dog on this-it is an important element of obedience training. You are with your dog every day, so you will have plenty of opportunities to train him the way you want things to be.

I hope these tips prove useful to you. I have more helpful tips waiting for your for solving various types of dog behavior problems, just click here. BehaveDoggy.com.

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