We’ve all probably seen a dog that refuses to come when called. She might run up to you and then, when she is almost within your grasp, dart away again. Some dogs treat this like a game, not realizing that sometimes, when you are calling for them to come, you are doing it because there is something dangerous in the area.
Come is one of the most important commands your dog will ever learn. Being able to recall your dog and knowing that she will immediately return to you not only makes it easier for you to let her off of her leash when walking, hiking, or at the park, it also means that if you ever see her running towards something dangerous, you can prevent her from becoming injured, simply by calling for her to come.
There is a difference between whether or not your dog will come when she is on a short lead and when she is off the lead. Dogs know when they are on leash and you can immediately tug them away from something if you ever needed to. Your dog might be perfectly happy to return to you when she is on her short leash and then become very difficult to recall when she is not on that lead. This means that you will need to slowly and carefully build up a foundation for recall. How do you do this? With a longer and longer lead.
Most dog owners keep their dogs on relatively short leashes, so they have plenty of control over how far their dog can go while on the leash. When walking around your neighborhood, you likely want your dog on a short leash, so they cannot run into the road or into people’s yards. When you take your dog on a hike, however, or to the park, put them on the longest possible lead that you can find. Not only will this give them far more freedom to explore and run around, it will also allow you to practice the come command, while being able to follow through.
It is important, in any kind of training, to be able to follow through with your command, even if the dog does not immediately respond to it. If you call her to come back, and she does not come, you can always reel her back in with her lead.
This follow through will teach her to come every single time she is called, no matter what she is doing and how far away from her she is. As you practice this command on a long lead, here are some other tips to help you with your training:
1. Don’t poison the command
It’s very important that you do not use the command to always call your dog to do something she does not want to do. If you always call her to come and take a bath or take something out of her mouth or put her in her crate, she is going to stop responding to the command.
Make sure responding to the come command is a positive experience for your dog, especially while building the foundation for recall.
2. Try to use a different word.
If the word “come” has already been poisoned or is used too frequently in normal talking, you might want to pick another word. This is usually much easier than trying to change the negative association your dog might already have with the word “come.”
