Does your dog come when you call? Does she come every single time you call, or only when it suits her fancy? Growing up, we had two dogs: one who was loyal almost to a fault and would come to anyone who called his name. Watching him try to decide who to go to when many different people were calling to him was pure comedy.
The other dog was a little more aloof. She disliked visitors, disliked all other dogs except for her brother, and would only come when some people called her. Specifically, she would avoid going to my father, no matter how many times he called her. We’d watch her skirt around the edge of a room, look back at us from the doorway with both a look that was both mischievous and delighted, and then bolt upstairs and out of reach.
When we eventually took these two to obedience classes, the teacher observed her behavior of knowing disobedience when my father angrily told her to “Come.” After watching her not go to my father a few times, his command getting progressively angrier each time she disobeyed, the teacher asked, “If someone was yelling at you like that, would you happily run up to them?” The answer was, obviously, “Of course not.”
Fear is far from the only reason a dog doesn’t respond when it’s told to come. You might have observed your own dog dashing up to you and then, when they’re just outside of your grasp, zipping away again. It’s become a game for your dog.
Whether your dog thinks you are playing a game or whether they sense in your tone that you are angry or upset and therefore they avoid you because they want to avoid punishment, there are ways that you can remedy this situation.
When teaching your dog to come, you want them to feel rewarded only when they have actually arrived in front of you and are waiting patiently for your next command. It should be in your dog’s best interest to always come when called. Not only does this make your dog safer, as you can quickly remove her from dangerous situations, it helps to reinforce your authority as the master and should make it easier to teach her other commands.
How Do You Do It?
- Put your dog on her leash. Having your dog leashed provides you more control over her. If she was off of her leash, she could run far out of reach and make it difficult for you to really teach her the importance of coming when she’s called.
- Tease her and then run. As you are backing away from your dog, use your happiest voice and tell her that she is a good dog or good girl. Because she is being praised (and because she is on her leash), she will continue to come towards you. This reinforces the idea that if she comes when she’s called, she will be rewarded with praise.
- Turn and walk away from your dog. Still telling her to come, followed by praise, turn away from your dog. She will probably immediately run around to the front, trying to figure out what you are doing and responding positively to being praised.
- Don’t misuse the “come” command. If you want your dog to continually respond positively to the “come” command, you should never follow up that command with something angry, abusive, or mean. Always keep in mind how you would react if you were being called over.
