How to Make Your Dog Come When You Call
30 Aug 2009
Is your dog trained well enough to come the first time you call? I used to always get frustrated, because I had a dog that only came when she felt like it. If your dog doesn’t come when you call do you start getting mad and yelling with an angry voice? 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. Yelling the word “come” in an angry and loud voice will be like teaching him that “come” means the same as “trouble”. A consequence of this misinterpretation might even mean he will run even farther away when you yell at him to come.
If you use the positive techniques of training, you make it fun for your dog to come when you call.The affection and praise and rewards you give your dog for good performance will teach him far better than any negative techniques. By giving the positive reinforcement of praise and rewards your dog learns to associate coming when you call with good things.
- It will be best to begin the training inside your house, so there a less distractions from focusing on you. Call him over by saying “come” in a cheerful, happy voice. As soon as he does, give him tons of praise (don’t be afraid of overdoing it), some petting, and a treat. You can enlist the help of someone else in the house to train the dog to come. First one of you can call and then reward your dog for listening and then the other repeats the training. After your dog has consistently responded to the come command inside the house, you can take the training outside.
- Using a leash, bring your dog outside and start working on the come command. 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. After he comes up to you, be sure to immediately reward him with praise, some pets and a reward. Be sure to reward and praise him for his actions, but don’t get angry if he doesn’t immediately get the idea. You are now ready for the next step-trying the training with a longer leash.
- Your dog will feel less controlled by you when walking on the longer leash. Because of this he may feel a little more independent and ignore you when you call him to come. For a dog that is ignoring your call to come as you are walking him, quickly change direction and start walking away-this will get his attention for sure (as the leash will remind him he needs to catch up with you) and when you call him now he will run up to you for the praise and reward you will be giving him for listening. Stick with this training step until he is listening and coming each time he is calledNow your doggy is ready for a bigger test-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. Start the off leash training just as you would the previous steps-call him and if he comes over immediately give him his praise and a reward. If the freedom of movement has undermined his responsiveness you just have to go back a step and work on that some more. If your doggy has already gotten the idea to come every time you are ready for the hardest test yet.
- Now it is time to try walking with your dog off leash outside the yard and calling him over to you. Unless the doggy is already well trained to come, he probably won’t pass this tougher test. Your dog has truly learned to come on command when he listens to you amongst the distractions that are outside the yard. He may not be perfect yet, but keep practicing-the more effort you put into the training the better the results. You are with your dog every day, so you will have plenty of opportunities to train him the way you want things to be.
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