Dog wont "Come"

[machohorn]

My pup is about 10 weeks old. he use to Come when called all the time. Now he just wants to sniff, chew everything. How can I teach him to come every time when called? I have tried treats, talk nice and even hollered at him ( he got to close to the road) but he still ignores me until he is ready. The problem is when I get home I take him out let him go potty, then play, after about 20 minutes he gets bull headed and wont listen please help. Thanks

[Ralph Wiggum]

LOL, that's a tough one! I would say he's too young to be reliably coming. Our pup is 4 months and he's not even close to coming whenever called. According to the instructor at our training class, it's one of the toughest things to teach. Her recommnedation is to only use the "come" command when on the leash for now so they learn that "come" is not an option. They must do it. And keep it 100% positive. The pup is not going to come if he ever gets negative feed back. We work at it be having the dog heel for a bit, then say, "Floyd, come!" turn to our right, and have the dog turn and follow you. You should stop facing the dog and make the dog sit at your feet. Lots of praise when he gets there.

Good luck! I can't wait till ours will be able to do this!!!

[rundrave]

time get a 30ft check cord and lots of praise when you reel him in to you

[LABS4ME]

I agree the leash or check cord is the only time to use the 'here' or 'come' command. Bellering out the command and not recieveing compliance is only instilling that the pup can come on his own terms, and when he's ready.

Let the pup out to do his duties and burn off some energy. Then do 5-10 minutes of obedience drills, then 5 minutes of just plain old fun and no pressure to wind down. Then feed him. Do this at least twice a day. Get in a routine... pups thrive on routines.

I myself never train with treats... my opinion is the dog is doing the command for himself and expects a reward... a dog must learn to comply with commands because you are the master and your role is dominant and his role is submissive.

Also when doing any training of puppies, do so in a quiet area. Puppies are easily distracted and you want to minimize those distractions. Also keep your voice calm and never lose your patience. If you begin to ramp up your voice to get compliance, that will be the tone needed for the rest of the dogs life. If you hit a road block, back up one step in training and let the dog complete that task, end with a lot of praise and call it a session... do not beat a dead horse! If you aren't getting through to him on that session, end it with something he can/ will or did do and end on a hppy note and not a sour note. Playing and Feeding after training is a great positive way to end a session.

Good Luck!

Ken

[machohorn]

The treat thing is only after he does obey his commands. say like 5 sit-stay commands, then little treat throw the ball. the ball is his toy, dummy is for retrieving. all his treat is is a piece of his dog food.. when he wont come is when he is in the front yard (road close) people comming home from work, I am trying to teach his boundries with the road not an option thus the come command. I will try a teather cord. P.S Labs. you are great at giving tips Thanks! To all others another great thanks is in order.

[Andy Loos1432404924]

Exactly what Ken said.

Good luck!

[crazydew]

Macho,

Leash training is a must and will work fairly quick with patience of course. As for the treats if you still feel you have to use them just make sure to wean him off of them by going from every time to everyother time then every 5 times and so on and subsitute praise for the treat and soon his "treat" is your praise only. Good luck and congrats on the new pup.

Chad

[lenny7]

time get a 30ft check cord and lots of praise when you reel him in to you

I've got a 3.5 month old YLM and we're working on recall right now. The check cord method isn't working so well for us. Often he'll just plop down and the only way the check cord would work is if I were to drag him all way back to me, which I don't want to do. I twitch it, whip it, jerk it, and pull it, but sometimes he won't get up.

I finally figured out one way to get him back at that point is to go to him, pick him up and set him back down on his feet, then go back to my original spot and then reel him in with a pleasant and exciting tone of voice. That isn't very satisfying though.

So I took a step backwards in training and only worked on recall in the house for while, with treats. At random times when he was close enough that he'd only have to turn to get the treat, I'd call "Come!" and give him a treat and praise. Then I'd stretch that out across the room, then between two rooms, etc, but only if I KNEW he would come. I can usually tell by his look after I say his name whether he's going to come or not.

Then I started doing a drill I saw in the Sound Beginnings DVD where my daughter and I each have treats and take turns calling "Come" while he races back and forth, collecting his treats as we keep stepping further and further away from him. After a bit we'd only give him treats ever other run, or every third. He loves that game and is pretty energetic about it.

Another drill that I started doing for the Sit-Stay command turned out to be great for the Come command as well. I get him to Sit Stay, then walk away, turn to him, pause a moment while he gets a bit anxious, then call him. He comes on a dead run. I took that outside and have been doing that up to 80 to 100 feet away. It looks like the stress of having to sit there while I walk away is more than enough to make him want to come racing to me when I call.

The trick of course, will be to get him to race back to me like that without having to do a Sit-Stay first, particularly since his Remote Sit isn't too hot.

Finally, having gotten tired of the kids calling "Come" to him repeatedly and without follow through, I told them not to use that command and to only use "Here Boy". That way he can ignore that without taking away from the use of the Come command.

[machohorn]

I try to use very few treats. only about 10 the past 3 weeks. he will sit-stay about 25 feet, I know not much but I just started this about 4 days ago. Does anyone think that by taking him some place else say a field rather then his own yard might help? I was thinking about doing this because it would be more train focused. but then I am alos a little apprehensive about him wanting to chase birds while trying to train. Darn it! forgot how hard it is to train youngens

[lenny7]

Usually I only use treats when first teaching the dog something new but after he's learned the command, I wean him off quickly, but still give a random treat now and again for learned behavior. For recall, though, I had been having such a hard time getting compliance that I started using treats more liberally.

I did start taking our dog to a local park which has a big soccer field and baseball field. If there's no one there, we train and play. If there is someone there (who would cause a distraction), we just play.

This is my first dog so he has to suffer through me fumbling around trying to find my way. I'm learning though, as is he, and together we're getting better.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Machohorn,

At 10 weeks, it sounds like your dog is doing very well. Remember how young he is and don't push it too much. I would highly recommend taking him to some training classes. Having a professional will be of great help, and as a bonus, the socialization with other people and dogs is great! Up in your neck of the woods, I have heard good things about Elk River K9.

[machohorn]

Thanks Ralph, I will check them out.What kind of training do they offer? I would love to send him out for a month or so later but it's a choice of dog training vrs paying for daughters wedding, training wedding, I guess it's 6 of 1 half dozen the other , lol

[Ralph Wiggum]

I've never been to ER K9, just know some people who have gone there.

We started with a local 6-week puppy class that ran us $50 and are now in a 9-week advanced puppy class that is $65. So, it's not all that expensive (although I imagine if you send him off to be trained it will be quite a bit more expensive). Well worth the price for a well-behaved dog, I think! There's too many dogs out there that do as they please. I applaud owners that take the responsibility to train their dog.

[machohorn]

Most of the time he is pretty good , then there is the Meat Head times, Boy thats frustrating. Last night I got him to sit-stay at 35 feet,I had to repeat stay , but he is happy, This weekend the wifey is gone so I will be out in the field quite a bit. My son in laws parents have a lot of land on pelican so I will work him there , see if we can chase up some birds. he loves the water so I am hoping he can chase some into the drink. that will be fun to watch.

[tybo]

Shock collars work but that doesn't work when they are off collar. They know the difference. At obedience class for my dog they told us you could use a check cord and a choke collar/pinch collar. Have him go away and when he gets to the the end say come and give it a pull. Pull him back in. A few times a night for several weeks may help. You could pracyice other obedience work as well. It teaches them that even though they are 20-30' away they still can be controlled. It seemed to work for the most part but he still has his times when he doesn't want to come they are just much less frequent..