My mother and I were walking the dogs when we were approached by two off-leash dogs that had gotten loose.
This was in rural Wisconsin, where it’s fairly common to see off-leash dogs.
These two were so happy! Racing, smiling, spinning their tails, sprinting and darting as thrilled dogs do.
They were enjoying their free-for-all!
Then, their owner came wandering down a driveway, yelling at them to come back. We even turned and walked toward him so the dogs would follow us.
He was not happy. He grabbed their collars and marched them to their pen.
As we walked on, I heard the dogs yelping multiple times.
It was a distressing sound, and it gave me a bad feeling.
Of course, I have no idea if the man had actually handled the dogs roughly. The dogs were probably yelping for not wanting to be in their pen.
Still, the experience got me thinking about teaching dogs to come when called and how many of us make a lot of silly mistakes.
Mistakes people make when calling their dogs
1. Coming when called ought to always be gratifying for the dog, not unpleasant. (You don’t call your canine before crating him or before trimming his nails, do you?)
2. We ought to only call our dogs when we are 99 percent sure they will obey. Otherwise, we are teaching them coming when called is optional. (If you know your canine won’t come, just go get him.)
3. We ought to only call our dogs once, not two, three, four or five times. Otherwise, we are teaching them to wait for the fifth or sixth command.
4. We need to remember to reward our dogs when they obey us in purchase to reinforce good behavior and increase the possibility they will come when called the next time.
5. We ought to never, ever punish our dogs for running off. As hard as it is not to get frustrated sometimes, we just have to take a deep breath and avoid them from running off again in the future.
What not to do when calling your dog
Here are a couple of examples of when not to call your dog:
Calling your canine before putting him somewhere he doesn’t want to go. in some cases I call my canine before putting him in our extra bedroom for the night. He doesn’t want to go in there; he wants to be in our bedroom with us. instead of calling him, I ought to just go get him and gently guide him to the spare bedroom for a treat.
Calling your canine before “rewarding” them with something he doesn’t like. I know someone who calls his dogs before picking them up, which these dogs don’t enjoy. The dogs go to him anyway, because they are such good dogs, but their body language says they don’t like what is happening. Sometimes, they run off and pretend they don’t hear him.
Calling your canine before ending the fun, like before leaving the canine park or before heading inside from the yard. instead of calling your dog, just go get him. Or, make sure to reward him with a highly valued treat or toy.
But shouldn’t your canine always listen to you, no matter what?
Ideally, yes.
That’s why “Come!” ought to only be used when you know your canine will listen.
Practice in controlled areas such as in the house, in a fenced area or while your canine is on a long lead. With time and success, you ought to slowly increase the challenge.
I’m sure numerous of you can practice “come” successfully with your canine off leash and even with distractions as I finish with Ace. 2018 update: Ace has passed away.
Setting the canine up for success, saying the command just once and then gratifying him with highly valued food for obeying is the best way to reinforce the recall. Make it a fun game so concerning you is way better than sniffing that tree or chasing that other dog.
Then, if an emergency does happen and you should take a chance by calling your canine to keep him safe, hopefully he will obey because coming when called has been reinforced so numerous times.
Coming to you best away should always be fun and positive for your dog.
With my dog, I try to make a game out of it, giving him all sorts of praise and playing tug or letting him chase me.
And just so I’m clear, I’m also lucky to have a canine that naturally wants to stick close, and I’m thankful for that. Some dogs are much, much much more challenging than Ace and possibly shouldn’t even be off leash.
Don’t forget food rewards
Finally, don’t underestimate the value of real meatballs, pieces of hot dogs, pieces of chicken, etc.
Some people say their dogs aren’t very food motivated, but many people don’t work on training with real hamburger in their pockets.
If you give your canine a real meatball every single time he comes when called, don’t you think he’ll have a pretty good recall?
That’s not a joke. That’s one of my top training tips.
Now, thinking back to the man at the beginning of this post … his dogs were so pleased to be free. No wonder they did not want to come when called. He simply returned them to their pen.
If you take away anything from this post, it is this:
Coming to you ought to always be much more gratifying for your canine than not.
Now I want to hear from you.
What are your top suggestions for getting a canine to come when called?