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How to Make Your Dog Come When You Call

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. 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.The reason for this is that the yelling is going to negatively reinforce your doggy not to come. He’ll be thinking the word “come” means “you are in big trouble”. In fact, when he hears you call with an angry voice he might even run further away because he thinks come is the word you use prior to punishing him.

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. 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. Call him over by saying “come” in a cheerful, happy 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. First one of you can call and then reward your dog for listening and then the other repeats the training. Once your dog consistently responds to the come command inside the house he is ready for further training outside.

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. 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. 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. 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. Stay with this step of the training until he is coming every time you call himIf this is going well, you can now try to get him to come when he is off leash.

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. However, if he is not responsive, now that he has that additional freedom of movement, you will need to go back to the leash training and work with the dog some more. In the happy event that your dog is coming every time you call, he is now ready to try off leash training outside the yard.

You are ready to try calling your dog while he is off leash and outside your yard. This is a much tougher test of getting your dog to come on command. 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. The good news is you have every day to play with and train your dog, so keep if you keep at it using these positive reinforcement tips, you will have a dog that does come on command.

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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Published on post date

October 5, 2009 under category

Dogs And Family
Tags: come on command, get dog to come, how to train your dog to come on command, train your dog to come on command

Comments

4 Responses to “How to Make Your Dog Come When You Call”

goals on October 24th, 2009 12:04 am

This is a nice post with have a good article.I think if my dog is honesty when i call him he was fast run for me .
Karen @ Dog DNA Test on October 28th, 2009 1:15 pm

My son got a dog from the Humane Society this week. I will send him your “come on command article”. Getting a dog to come is the beginning of obedience and positive dog training. Thanks.
Nancy@Deshedding Tool on November 7th, 2009 3:47 pm

As a dog owner of several “rescued” dogs over the years, I can agree to how important it is to use positive dog training. Our dogs did not have the best treatment before coming to us, so it took a lot of patience, gentle but firm voice, and LOVE but they all eventually responded to our requests to come when we called!
Rachel@ dog dna test accuracy on July 23rd, 2010 2:55 pm

I have always been told that positive dog training works the best. Positive reinforcement still lets your dog know that you are in charge without confusing him about what your intentions are.