Perhaps
the single most important command to teach your dog is the recall, or to come
when called.In order to teach a
reliable recall, however, we must build a good foundation.
Let’s say
your dog chases a cat across a busy road.You are in a panic because you envision him being hurt.When he finally returns, you are
angry and scold him for chasing the cat and running in the street.Here is what your dog learned from the
situation: Chasing the cat was a lot of fun, but returning to you was no fun
because he was scolded.He has no
idea why he was scolded but this situation will quickly teach him not to come
when you call him.
Building
a good foundation for “come” means you must teach your dog that coming to you
is always a wonderful thing.No
matter how mad you are and no matter how frustrated you become, you must always
ensure you praise your dog heartily anytime he comes to you when you call him.
Building
a good foundation also means preparing for teaching a structured recall by
doing several random recalls during the day.These are best practiced at home at first where there are
very few distractions.Encourage
your dog to come to you in any way you can without using the word “come” just
yet.Make kissy noises,
squeak a squeaky toy or run the other direction.When your dog does begin to come to you and he is already on
his way, you may now say your dog’s name followed by the command “come”.When he gets to you, lots of praise and
a high value food reward.This is
the best time to reinforce the command and teach your dog that coming to you is
always a blast.
The
one thing you want to avoid is rendering the command “come” useless.Before the recall is reliable in a
situation with little to no distractions do not try to use the command in a
situation that has distractions such as at the park.If you shout to your dog to “come” without being in a
position to enforce it, he learns that “come” means nothing.We also want to avoid labeling the
wrong behavior.If you tell your
dog to “come” and he is running the other direction he may learn that “come”
means to run away!
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