Teaching Your Dog to Come

Teaching your dog to come is not hard  but it does take lots of practice.  The goal is to have your dog come to you reliably under any and all circumstances.  That’s what makes it difficult.  Dogs are constantly faced with all kinds of distractions.  They hear things, see things, smell things — many more things than we notice — and any one of these distractions can lure your dog away from coming to you when you call.  Yet this dog training command is vitally important.  Having your dog come to you promptly on command, no matter what he’s doing, can save his life.

You can begin teaching your dog to come with a long leash in your living room or any other big area in your house.  It’s good to start working on his recall in a confined area so he is most likely to want to obey you.  It makes things easier for both of you.  You want to begin teaching him the command with as few distractions as possible around you.

In the beginning all you need to do to is to say “Come” and move away from your dog.  You can praise and encourage him to come toward you.  As he approaches ask him to sit.  Then reward him.  Repeat this exercise and you are on your way to teaching your dog to come.  When he begins to do this exercise reliably you can increase your distance away from your dog to 8-10 feet.  Tell him to “Come.”  If he doesn’t stop what he’s doing immediately go get him and back away with him to the original place you called him from.  Tell him to sit and then praise and reward him.  Repeat the exercise from 8-10 feet with him coming when you first call him.  He should be coming on his own.  You can slowly increase your distance away from your dog.

Once your dog is reliably coming to you when you recall him from 10 feet or more you can start to make a game of it, sending him back and forth between yourself and another person.  You can bounce a ball for him to get, bringing him to you with the Come command.  Make sure your dog always connects the Come command with positive things.  Don’t use “Come” to get your dog to come to you to have his nails clipped or to get a bath.  Use other command works for things your dog finds unpleasant.  “Come” should always be pleasant so your dog will not hesitate to go to you when you use the command.

You should also practice using the Come command under more difficult circumstances to “proof” your dog, such as when he is excited and interested in doing something, or trying to get at something he can’t reach.  Your dog is less likely to listen to you at these times so this is a good test of how well he will obey the command.  He may ignore you so you may have to repeat the exercise several times.  When he does Come when you call him during these difficult tests you can let him have what he wanted as a reward.

Once your dog can do these exercises reliably at your house it’s a good idea to try them at other indoor sites, such as a friend’s house to be sure your dog will safely come in other places.  Afterwards you will be ready to start trying them outdoors in a fenced yard, still on leash at first.

Eventually you will use longer leads and go to places like parks where there are lots of distractions.  Only when your dog is doing reliable recalls on long leads in enclosed areas will you move on to trying teach him to come to you when off leash. It will take a lot of practice before your dog is doing the recall reliably and ready to work off leash in open areas but that time will come.