Come When Called

Come When Called

Teach Your Dog To Come When Called

Have you ever called your dog only to have him look directly at you and then turn and run the
other direction? One of the most frustrating things to go through is to have your dog play
keep away from you when you need them to come to you at that moment. This may happen in
the back yard, at the dog park, or worse, in front of a street. We yell at our dogs to come to
us, and then if they don’t come, we get mad at the dog. The dog is doing nothing more than
acting on what it feels is the best thing to do from their point of view in this scenario. The
dog does not think he should come to you because you are nice to him and feed him. The
dog just knows that coming to you at this time is going to end the fun. In reality, you have
trained the dog not to come to you. If the dog does not come to you, he gets to go do
whatever he has his mind set on. Maybe it’s saying hello to the neighbor’s dog or going
through some trash. If he comes to you, he will be yelled at and be taken away from the
interesting things.
The dog should think that coming to his owner is one of the greatest things to do in the world.
You should surprise your dog with good things when he comes to you. You should start with
thinking of things that your dog enjoys. Remember that you can control the things that your
dog has access to. Most dogs enjoy going on walks, rides in cars, sniffing interesting smells,
eating treats, playing with toys, praising and petting, playing with other dogs, just to name a
few. Now show him that coming to you gives him access to these things that he enjoys doing.
In order to do this we first teach a cue “Come” that means come to me when you hear this
word and good things will happen.

Start Training
First place a 6 foot leash on the dog and get a few small rewards (treats). Go to an open
place in your home that is quiet and boring to the dog. Hallways with all doors closed are
great for this initially. Say “Shep Come” in an excited voice. Your dog should look at you and
come running. When he starts to come to you, say “Good” and then give him the reward and
praise. Now do this in many areas in the house. Once your dog is responding well, change it
up a little. Place a few treats in your pocket with your dog not seeing you do this. Now wait to
your dog is not paying attention to you in the home, say “Shep Come”. Shep should come
running if you have done enough training in the first scenario. Once Shep comes to you say
“Good”, reward, and praise. Shep is now learning when he hears his name and the word
come, that running toward you is a good idea for him. You have now created a basic
foundation for the “come cue.” Now it is time to start to train in distraction.

Distraction

At this point, when you say “come” inside the home, your dog will come to you to receive a
reward such as liver treat or piece of cheese. Now take your training outside with a long line
(25-50ft light rope) attached to the collar. Wait until your dog is sniffing around not paying
attention to you and then say “Shep Come.” If he looks at you and starts to move toward you
say “Good.” When he gets to you surprise him with something fun. This can be a treat, a
game of fetch, or good tug of war session. (Tug of war should be played in certain ways
depending on what your future goals are for the dog; consult a trainer about appropriate tug
of war). After a quick reward, release the dog with “Okay” and let him go back to what he was
doing. This way coming to you did not take anything away from the dog. The same scenario
applies at the dog park. Call them and when they come to you, reward with a treat, and let
them go back to playing. Then when you need to leash them and take them home, they will
come running because you have rewarded many times and let them go back to playing.
Anytime that the dog does not come, say “ah, ah” and then step on the long line and go get
your dog by the collar and bring him to where you called him from. When there is a situation
in which your dog will not respond to the “come” cue, he must have a leash or a long line
attached. The dog should not find out that he has a choice to come to you until he his
trained. Anytime the dog hears the come cue and finds out it is his choice to obey or not will
set you back in training. If you find yourself in a situation where your dog is running free and
will not come, at a dog park for instance, then that’s perfectly fine, just don’t say “Shep
Come.” If you think he will not come to you then don’t give the cue when you are in the
beginning stages of training.
If you find yourself in a situation where your dog is off leash and they give the “I am about 2
seconds from bolting away from you” look, then just walk off in the other direction. Remember
you are pack leader, not a follower. Do not get in a habit of chasing your dog and don’t put
yourself in that situation.