Train A Dog To Come
It’s important to train a dog to come, as in certain situations it could just save your dogs life.
Remember that you dog won’t understand what “come” means until you teach him. Unfortunately many owners inadvertently teach their dog not to respond to the command “come”.
The “come” command is always linked with your dogs name, For example “Fido, Come”, so it’s also important that your dog has learned to respond to it’s name.
In the beginning you dog will be responding to the tone of your voice, so use a light happy tone for the “come” command.
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It’s also really important that your dog only associate good things with the command to to come. Never use the command to call you dog when you want to reprimand it or for things the dog doesn’t like . For instance don’t use the come command to call you dog and then perform and unpleasant task like trimming his nails.
Train your dog to come, starting in an enclosed environment such as inside or in a fenced area of your yard. Choose a spot when there will as few doggy distractions as possible.
Training a dog to come can begin on or off a leash, although you will be working towards getting you dog to come when off the leash.
Train a dog to come the right way
At the start is important to have the ability to get you dog to comply with the “come” command.
Otherwise you will be teaching your dog to ignore the command. This a mistake many owners make. They either allow the dog to ignore the command or allow something bad like a reprimand to happen when the dog does come.
If you thought that coming to your owner meant you were in trouble or something you didn’t like was going to happen, would you come?
When you need to reprimand your dog and it’s only ever worth reprimanding your him if you catch them in the middle of a behavior you don’t like. Go to the dog. If you need to trim you dogs nails, go and get the dog. Don’t use the “come” command.
Its not to late to teach your dog to come
If you have been making these mistakes, it’s not too late to train your dog to come. Choose another word for example “here”, “front” or even “come here” which to a dog is different to “come”.
To train a dog to come you need to get your dog to respond to your command. You can begin off the leash. Start next to you dog, take a few step backwards calling “your dogs name, come, good boy”.
Open you arm as you call. In most dogs, the chase response will get your dog to come towards you as back away. When he comes to you, take hold of his collar and reward him with praise and a treat or favorite toy.
If you are using a food rewards (often a good way to begin) to train a dog to come. Hold the reward close to your leg and have your dog come to you get the treat rather than you holding it out to the dog.
That way you teach you dog to come in close and not just to come within 3 feet of you and stop. This also the reason you should take hold of the dogs collar when they come, to teach your dog that he needs to come in close to you to get their reward.
If you dog does not follow and come to you off the leash after a a couple of tries you will need to begin to training on the leash.
With the leash attached (and you will eventually need a longer leash), back away from you dog and call “Fido, come, good boy” in a happy excited up beat tone. Gently tug the leash to get your dog moving in the right direction.
Take up the slack on the leash with out puling on it, don’t haul your dog in like a fish on a line. If the dog veers away from you, you can apply some gentle pressure to get him back moving in the right direction.
Keep training sessions short and repeat the lesson two to three times a day. As the dog learns the the command, practice at greater distance, then off the leash. Gradually reduce the food rewards to every second or third time and over time eliminate any food reward.
Once your dog has mastered the “come” command at home practice the command away from home where there are other distractions. You may need to reintroduce the leach during your initial training sessions outside an enclosed environment.
You must be in control of your dog at any training session, so that your dog learns to obey every time.