The "Come" Command!

  Lets take a moment and look at a simple reminder. If you establish a positive association with your dog returning/coming back to you then we are one step ahead of the game.  We all know not to ever punish our dogs when they have come to us, yet this occasionally happens by accident.

Example: You are out in the hills throwing the ball, goofing around, letting him/her play with some other friendly dogs. You call him/her to you and immediately click on a 6ft leash and leave. With some dogs they may view this as a sense of confinement (a negative experience in comparison to out running/playing with the other dogs). Check mark a negative experience on our mental chart. We want to make sure it is always more rewarding to come to us versus what ever else your dog was out doing at the moment. So now lets take the same example yet change the sequences up a bit. Your dog is out playing and periodically you call him/her over to you, reward him/her with their favorite toy, praise or treat, click on the leash and immediately reward them again by releasing them out to play with their friends (off-leash). Now that we have rewarded the come command several times within the play period and established a positive association with returning to us and having the leash clicked on, your dog will start to understand that you  will not end the fun he/she is having when he comes to you. When it is time to leave bring out the Jackpot Reward (extreme lavish praise, a special treat, etc..) this a reward that is only administered in a very special situation. End the play session on a positive note.

  This example does not apply to all dogs, some dogs enjoy being on leash next to their guardians so much they would view the return as a fulfilling experience. This is a very general example!

  This reminder will not produce a reliable recall on its own. If your dog is having trouble coming back to you when called we need to step through a series of tailored recall training exercises to produce reliability. In many cases   (not all) a person needs to balance out the positive association with responding to the command as well as a mild negative consequence for not responding to the command they know and understand. It is best to have a professional step you through the proper do's and don'ts of this important training command. Every dog is different and there for requires specific exercises tailored to his/her breed, history and personality type. A dog will not stop chasing the rabbit to come back for a biscuit, however they will return if they have been properly trained.

                                                                                                                                                                      T.J. Smith