How To Train Your Dog To Respond When You Call

This what Emma does when called, well what she is thinking anyways. LOL

"Oh, Im tired, I just want to sleep. Maybe if I wine and roll around on the floor mom will think I am to cute and I whont have to do it."

'Oh no. The mean voice, I guess I better stretch for a few minutes and then slowly make my way over"

"Oh, hey there's a smell, whats that? Lets fallow it"


Yup, I have a hound. LOL. She's actually fairly good. She just turned one, so for a 1yr old hound she's fairly good. But I excepted the fact that a hound will never have a solid recall or be trusted off leash, before I got her

"Start by going into the house, and calling the dog by his name. Once he or she arrives at your feet, give them the treat."

As I mentioned on another forum, the problem I see with this article is that it gives the impression that it's acceptable to teach a person to constantly repeat themselves to get a dog to obey: "Spot! Here Spot! Spot, Come! Spot! Good boy!"

Dogs should learn to obey the FIRST time they hear a command, not the second, third, fourth, ect...

Ever seen a person getting their dog to sit for example where they "Sit, Sit, Fido sit, sit..Fido sit! Good boy!"?

The dog doesn't know the command "sit" it knows "Sit, Sit, Fido sit, sit...Fido sit"..that last "Fido sit" is the dogs cue to obey...

The same applies to the article you posted, if you training the dog to come and calling it until it comes to you then it does not know "Spot come".

It knows Spot! Come Spot! Spot, Come! Spot! Good boy!".

I agree Serena. In addition, that author leaves out a lot of important information about teaching the recall. It says that when the dog comes, give a treat. That's great. But what if the dog doesn't come and you've used the command, "come?" What happens is that that command becomes meaningless. You cannot give a command and risk the dog blowing you off. You have to be able to enforce a command right away. So, using the word, "come" and having the dog not come is going to teach him that he doesn't have to come. In other words, my way is enticing the dog to come by other means, running the other way, making fun noises, patting your thigh, but NOT using the word, "come" UNTIL the dog is obviously coming and not more than 2 ft. from you....then say, "come." That associates the act with the word. Or......have the dog on a long line so you can enforce the command.

Exactly, it all goes back to the basic rule...Never give a command you can't enforce...

I notice most of the dogs I am hired to train for the most part have been trained improperly...I'll ask them to show me the problem, and 95% of the time the problem is the same..The owner is training incorrectly and the dog is doing exactly what is was trained (incorrectly) to do.

The first rule of teaching a dog the verbal name for ANY behavior.

You may NOT say the name of the behavior unless the behavior is HAPPENING at that moment.

This is a mistake SO many people make in trying to "train" their dogs.

For example.

Suppose you were escorted into a room full of about 20 chairs. Most of them were white, but there were a few red ones.

A person comes into the room and says to you MUMETFALL. You, of couse, look confused because you have no idea what MUMETFALL means. Then this person comes closer, and says in a louder tone, MUMETFALL. You still don't know what it means, but you may be feeling uneasy by now.

Suppose then this person takes you by the collar, shoves you down in a red chair, and shouts MUMETFALL!!

You probably get the picture now that when this person says MUMETFALL they want you to sit in the chair, but you are overwhelmed, anxious, and not enjoying this at all.

NOw suppose you walk into the same room, with the same person. Suppose this person waits for you to sit down. Person comes to you with a smile, says YES! and hands you a dollar bill. Hey. Not bad.

So you, being a smart person, get up and sit in another chair. Bingo. Another YES, smile, and another dollar bill.

Now you get up and you sit in a RED chair. OH WOW...the person CHEERS, pats you on the back, and gives you a TWENTY dollar bill.

How fast are you going to find another red chair to sit in? Next time you sit in the red chair, the person says, YES...MUMETFALL.

Now what does MUMETFALL mean? How fast will you rush to sit in the red chair? And how will you view the quick approach of the person?



It works the same for your dog.

You may not NAME the behavior if the behavior is not happening.

Great Redyre! Exactly. First reward for the behavior, until it's catching on well...then attach a command. Get consistancy and then treat randomly.(or some other schedule of reinforcer) You explained that well.

I've found that getting people to not use a command until the behavior is shaped is SO hard at times. I think that in the back of the minds of most people is the idea that a dog should already know "sit", "down", "come", etc.

Working with people is so hard, working with dogs is so easy! *L*

For recalls, I do a lot of "games" where the dog races back and forth after a toy or treats. I toss a treat, when the dog gets to it I run the other way and call the dog's name - and then praise like crazy AS THE DOG COMES TO ME. This is one of the things that so many people fail on too - they think that the praise starts when the dog reaches them. But the actual behavior starts as soon as the dog heads towards them, and that needs reinforcement. When the dog reaches me, I throw a treat past me (for my competition dogs, I throw it through my legs as I face them) and then I run the other way away from them and the game continues.

Even my chows love this game. I start this when the dogs are very young and let them grow up knowing that coming to me is a lot of fun. My young chow has a beautiful recall, even off-leash outdoors (although we have not yet proofed against moose .. that is going to be a hard one!). My shepherds rarely need a leash.

Did I mention I live out in the boonies? *L*

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

Yes, those are great games. I did something similar with Lyric. I'd throw a piece of mozerella cheese diagonally away from me and when he would get it, he'd naturally start coming toward me, and I'd quickly toss another piece in the opposite direction....diaganally from me, back and forth very fast, non-stop and excitedly.

I think it's important too, to know when to use an excited voice and demeanor and when to use a calm one. When we want our dogs to come to us, for instance and they're looking like they just might...that's when to use quick, short, happy sounds. It doesn't have to be anything in particular. It can be clicking with our tongues, "yip yip yip" or several short whistles, or clapping our hands...anything that energized and intensifies a behavior where you want them to move fast. If a dog is interested in a squirrel and is all focused on it, that is NOT the time to use an exciteable tone because it will intensify that behavior which he is probably about to engage in. That's when you use a low, drawn out sound, possibly, "Noooooo." Or "leeeeeeeve it." (but low, calm, firm) As soon as he give you attention and takes one step toward you, then brighten up your sound and intensify that behavior. In other words, exciteable, short, anxious sounding tones will tend to exentuate a behavior and low, calm, drawn out ones will tend to slow or stop a behavior.

When people want a behavior to stop, they often get angry and anxious. Their tones are not calm and they're intense. This will cause the dog to do the opposite of what they want. And not only is this about the voice, but our body language too.

Anyhow...there's all kinds of things which can assist in training. It's not just particular things we do, but our demeanor and relationship with our dogs.