Teach your dog the 'come; command
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
When you first set out to teach your pet dog or puppy to come, there are a few tips and tricks that Im going to share with you, to make it more successful!
I have adapted these free techniques from the outstanding ‘Secrets to Dog Training‘ by Daniel Stephens. You can jump straight to it here if you want to read more.
“Come dog”
Firstly, and possibly the most crucial, is that you should never call your dog over if you are going to do something that he might class as ‘negative’ to him.. Some typical examples are actions such as tethering him up, washing him (if he loathes that!), telling him off, smacking, hitting or generally disciplining him..
Dont call over and punish your pet for running away, when he comes over. You dont want your dog to learn that doing as you say, is a punishment.If your dog knows negative associations when you call 'come', such as he thinks it means 'run away!' or if your dog starts to ignore you, try using a new command that sounds diffferent.
Forget your old come command and teach this exercise using a new, clear word. ‘Here’ is a popular one, as is 'oi', but you can make up any command that suits you or that you think your dog might respond to.
Ideally, your dog should hear this new command, stop whatever hes doing and sit in front of you! For ease of teaching, treat this exercise as two seperate steps.
Both exercises are best done seperatly, till your dog has them completely mastered. When this time comes, bring them together.
“Come sit in front of me”
Start with putting your dog on a short ish leash. Get the attention of your pet and position the treat at nose level. Now walk back 3 or 4 steps with the treat held up.
When your dog is in front of you, stop and raise the treat up a little, so the dog is motioned to sit and wait.
Command him to sit, and when he sits to your satisfaction, give him the treat by lowing it to his mouth. Dont let him jump to get it!
Next time you should do the process while holding your ground and avoiding moving backwards. Try eliminating guiding with food and switch to simply reinforcing a correct ‘come in and sit” command. Doing this helps your dog to accept your praise as a reward.
You can read part two of this article, for free, as my website (that has hundreds of other free dog training tips) here, at dog commands.
