Teaching our dog to "COME"...
The Come command is incredibly important if you
ever want to take your dog outside to play off-leash.
Getting your dog to come to you upon command is
very simple to teach, but it is going to take
you a long time to train your dog to return to
you reliably while he is heavily distracted by
something else (i.e. playing with other dogs).
With some dogs, this can take weeks while others
may take years. I would also like to point out
that I make a difference between the Come command
and the "Here" command that is used as recall
in competitive obedience. When I ask my dog to
come to me, I usually do this in combination with
his name (Andy, come!) and I really don't care
how he comes and where he ends up as long as it
does not take too long and he gets close enough
so I can put on a leash. In competitive obedience,
I want him to run towards me in a straight line,
at lightning speed and I want him to stop and
sit right in front of me, looking into my eyes.
(I will add a section about training competitive
obedience within the next few weeks). Most of
us however don't care about this level of precision,
so let's talk about how we can make our dog come
back to us in an everyday situation.
Getting our dog to come back to us in a few simple
steps:
| Step 1 |
Get your treats and your clicker (in case
you use one of those).
|
| Step 2 |
Make sure your dog can focus exclusively
on you, avoid any disturbance. Training
indoors or in your backyard is a good idea.
|
| Step
3 |
Stay a few steps away from your dog and
get his attention by calling his name.
|
| Step
4 |
When your dog looks at you, take few steps
back, call your dogs name again and slap
your hands onto your thighs, then take a
few more steps back.
|
| Step
5 |
When your dog starts moving towards you,
say the Come command in a friendly and encouraging
manner followed by a "click" (if you use
a clicker) or a friendly "Yes!" and then
repeat the Come command as long as he is
moving towards you.
|
| Step
6 |
When he gets to you, praise him and feed
him his treat.
|
| Step
7 |
Gradually increase the distance between
you and your dog and repeat the first six
steps. If you and your dog are doing a good
job, he should soon walk towards you as
soon as you move backwards and call his
name. At that point, start fading the slaps
on your thighs and stop moving backwards.
If your dog is already paying attention
to you before you call his name, don't call
his name and go right to the Come command.
Your dog should soon walk towards you just
after hearing the Come command.
|
| Step
8 |
Gradually introduce some distraction to
the occasion. Start with asking some friends
or family members to be with you when you
train and then gradually increase the level
of distraction by training in more public
locations or with other dogs around.
|
Keep in mind: You have to be the
most interesting stimulus for your dog when you
train the Come command. If your dog is focused
on something else, the lesson won't work! If you
are practicing with your dog outdoors, always
pay close attention to your dog's behavior so
you can spot potential clues about whether he
is getting too distracted. If you believe that
there is a good chance your dog will not obey
your command, don't call him and stop the exercise.
Instead, calmly walk towards him to get him (or
lure him back to you with a treat or toy). We
don't want our dog to think that our commands
are only "suggestions", but we really don't want
to enforce them through positive punishment measures
either. That should only be an option after we
have spent many months (if not years) of training
and relationship building with your dog.
Absolutely avoid: It can be extremely
frustrating when our dogs bolt and don't come
back when we call them. I know from my own experience
that there is a great temptation to be *really*
mad with our dog when that happens, but the absolute
worst thing we can do is to punish him on his
return. Coming back to you has to be fun and the
most rewarding thing in the universe for your
dog. If he returns to you and gets punished, your
dog will eventually learn that coming back to
you is not so good after all. Remember? Dogs don't
think logically and only associate their very
last action with a consequence... Your dog does
not realize that you punish him for ignoring your
calls, he is going to think that he is punished
for coming back.
What if ?
Q: My dog does not walk towards me when I call
him and walk backwards.
A: Keep on calling his name, show him his favorite
toy or let him sniff on the yummy treat in your
hand before you try again |
