Does Your Dog Come When You Call?

August 24th, 2009 at 11:51am

Do you have a dog that is already trained to come on command? For me, when my dog didn’t come when I called was a very frustrating experience. Do you find yourself yelling at your doggy to come, and getting angry when he doesn’t? Well, I am here to tell you not to do that if you want to train your dog to come on command. 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”. As a matter of fact, the yelling may even make him choose to run farther away-this is really frustrating (I know).

For the best results, use positive reinforcement techniques to 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.

So that he doesn’t get distracted when learning to come, begin the training inside your house. Using a happy upbeat voice (this is important) call him to you saying “come”. Give him lots of affection, praise and a treat as soon as he come to you. 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. 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. If your dog is not paying attention to you when you command him to come, give a tug on the leash to get his attention, and walk backwards until the dog runs 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.

With a longer leash, your dog will feel your control less as you walk along. So, now when you call him, he may be feeling a little more independent, having more room to cruise and all, so it may tempt him to ignore your call command. 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. Keep working with him on the longer leash until he comes every time you call. Now you are ready for the next step-off leash recall.

Try this in an enclosed yard, so if you can’t get your dog to come on command off leash, he can’t run off somewhere. 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.

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.

I hope these tips prove useful to you. Just click here for more helpful advice for obedience training and problem solving for your dog. BehaveDoggy.com.

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