Welcome to our “Detraining Your Pet” series, where we help you “detrain” your pet from those naughty or boring bad habits and get them back to being the best boys and girls.
Sound familiar? You’re at the dog park and your dog strays too far. So you call your dog’s name and ask him to “come”. But you might as well have shouted “Keep playing”, because they have no intention of coming back to you.
If you know this situation all too well, we have some tips to help your dog learn to come when called. It’s not an easy command to master, but it’s one of the commands every dog should know.
Knowing “Come” could save their lives
Of all the commands your dog should know, coming back to you when called is arguably the most important, as it could save his life. Whether it’s keeping him from running into traffic, getting too close to a cliff, or avoiding an aggressive animal, getting your dog to stop and walk back towards you could save lives. lives.
The goal is to teach your dog that coming back to you is better than anything else he might do. Hopefully your overpowering “come on” dog will stop you from doing things like chasing him for three blocks when he decides a squirrel looks like a fun new friend.
Do you need a new word for “Come”?
If you’ve tried to train your dog to “come” but your command is completely ignored, it’s possible that “come” no longer makes sense to your dog (or never did!). So, before starting new training sessions, it’s a good idea to change “come” to a new word. You can try “here” or “back” or something fun that no one else at the dog park will call “hug”. Just make sure you don’t use the word for anything other than asking them to come back to you.
Try not to repeat your command word over and over again during training sessions as this may cause the word to lose its meaning to your dog. If they don’t respond to your command, it’s time to end the training session and try another day.
Remove tempting distractions
A high school student trying to do their homework with a party around them would have a really hard time concentrating. It’s the same situation for your dog. If they’re trying to learn a new command and there’s a lot of fun distractions around them, the practice session probably won’t be very successful.
Start your workouts indoors, where it’s quiet and there are fewer dogs, squirrels, flying discs, etc., to distract them. Start by getting your dog’s attention with applause, a toy, or a treat. When they start walking towards you, say “come” (or your own cue word) in an excited, happy voice. Reward them with lots of praise and high-value treats or their favorite toy when they come your way. After doing this a few times, say “come,” then show them the treat or toy. This way they are looking for a reward when you say “come”.
Repeat these steps at further distances and you should eventually be able to say “come” from another room. Once they’ve mastered this, try adding distractions like other people in the room, other pets, or something else that entices them to play instead of coming towards you. It’s important that they master the “come” inside with distractions before you move outside. There are many more distractions out there and some are potentially dangerous if your dog doesn’t come back to you.
Stay safe when training “Come” outside
When moving your training sessions outside, it’s a good idea to keep your dog on a leash until you know he’ll come back to you and not run off on his own. adventure. Start in a quiet place outside with few distractions (i.e. not the dog park). Repeat the same workout you were doing indoors and once they’ve successfully followed your command, move to areas with more and more distractions.
When you’re ready to try an off-leash workout, make sure you’re in a fenced-in area so your dog will stay safe if he suddenly forgets what “come on” means. Using high-value treats they don’t usually get or a favorite toy can help keep their attention on you.
Coming back to you should always be a good thing
It is important that your dog associates with positive things. If your dog is off the leash and won’t listen to you, especially when you really need to, try saying “come on” and walking away from him. If you run after them, they’ll probably think you’re “chasing” and keep running away. But if you walk or run away, they’ll (hopefully) chase you instead. You can also use this starting technique to practice “coming”.
Even if they run away from you, they should be rewarded for coming back to you. A successful “come” should always be rewarded, even if he was initially mean by running away. You want coming back to you (even if it takes time) to be the best thing and always a good thing.
You also don’t want “come” to be inadvertently associated with a negative experience for your dog – for example, saying “come” and then he has to leave the dog park, take a bath, or go to the vet. This will teach your dog that sometimes “coming” is not a good thing. In these situations, go to your dog and put him on the leash — don’t ask him to come to you.
Training (or retraining) your dog to “come” will take some time, maybe a few months. But it’s an important skill and it will be worth it in the end. Remember that coming back to you should always be one of your dog’s favorite things and be greeted with lots of praise and positive reinforcement.
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