What method do you think works best to teach a 99.9% reliable “come when called”?
I really *really* want my dog to have a reliable come so that I can bring her camping, to the park, and in the backyard without her on a leash. (She will never be alone while off leash, obviously.)
I have heard of so many ways to teach this to a dog, but what do you KNOW works best. My questions for you (you don’t have to answer them all)…
1. Can your dog come when called ALL the time? (99.9%) How did you teach him to?
2. Do you think training a dog to come to a whistle works better?
3. Do you think a dog training class / personal training would work?
4. What are the steps you took to teach your dog come when called?
Anything else you want to add. Thanks.
Oh I wanted to add that my dog does come to me a lot of the time… 70%. She will come when inside 100% of the time. In the backyard, she comes most of the time. I know for a fact she will not come to me when she sees a squirrel or is playing with another dog. She *rarely* comes while outside of our backyard (park, etc.)
attach a 20 ft line to their collar. That way when they’re out and you give the come on command, if they dont respond you merely step on the line and reel them in. Reward is always the best policy never scold your dog when they come to you even if they made you chase them. ALSO take a choke chain (collar) with you. A lot of time if they hear that jingle (you toss it their direction to get their attention) they assume theyre on a leash and come right back. another good idea is to be way more exciting than whatever has their attention. Bow down or get on all fours if you must, call loudly in a very high pitched happy voice, wave your arms that way they think youre playing with them and come right back every time!
I teach all my young dogs to come when called by ALWAYS giving a treat for correct behaviour.
But they are a living thing and NOT a machine so they’ll be distracted by squirrels etc.
I use a happy voice and never a whistle.
It helps to attend obedience classes and the dogs enjoy it as well as agility classes where they have a load of fun and you’ll get a lot of exercise.
I use a whistle and yes, she comes back all the time. The whistle is a unique sound and i found it a lot easier then calling her especially if she is on the other side of the field or other dog owners are calling their dogs at the same time. I tried on leash at first. Whistle, she came, reward with a treat (i used chicken pieces). When i was confident with her on lead i got my sister to stand at one end of the field and me at the other. I whistled, she came running, i reward with a treat. It didn’t take her long to associate the whistle with a treat. I swap what the treat is round though so she doesn’t get ”bored”. Each time comes i will occasionally reward her and sometimes i don’t. That way she will never know if she is guaranteed a treat so she’ll have to come every time to see (if that makes sense). She learnt it pretty quick and she does come back when whistled. If you don’t want to use a whistle then use the same technique but to her name.
Yes, my dogs always come when called, but to be honest I don’t use formal recall very often. I only want to use it when I have something excellent with which to reward them (as opposed to using it just to call them in from the backyard or something), since this is quite an important command and I want to be sure that they’ll obey when I use it.
They don’t always respond to informal recall, though, which is when I just call their names. One of them always comes running when I do this, but the other sometimes ignores me. I don’t mind too much because I think of formal and informal recall as being distinct, and if I really needed the dog to obey, then I’d just use the formal recall (“____, come!”) instead of informal (“_____! Hey, _____, get over here!”). By my own definitions, formal recall must be obeyed, and it is always is, while I want do want them to obey informal recall but don’t really expect the same responses as I get with formal recall.
As for how I taught them, we practiced at home and in various training classes. At home, I followed this article, I think:
http://www.dogtrainingbasics.com/come.html
We played the “restrained recall” game a lot. It’s like playing ping-pong, but the dog is the ping-pong ball. As for in training classes, let’s see. At the positive training facility I prefer, we did different exercises, such as dropping the leash and running away from the dog while calling out “____, come!” In the PetSmart course, we practiced in aisles and such. Because dogs need to learn to obey recall in all locations and situations, yes, I do recommend bringing your dog to a training class. It lets you teach your dog to obey in a distracting real-world environment. If you know what you’re doing, though, there’s no real need to attend a class solely for this purpose, because you can just practice in real-world environments on your own.
As for the whistle, I think it depends.. What if someone else is using a whistle? How will your dog know to respond to you, not to them? But on the other hand, the whistle is so much easier to hear than words and carries better than a shout does, so it can be very valuable. I think that verbal recall is a little more important and should be focused upon, but you may also choose to teach your dog to respond to a whistle recall, too. Then you can use both, and you can choose which one to use depending on the situation.
As for your dog’s occasional disobedience, it sounds like it’s because you’re expecting too much from her. She obeys 100% of the time indoors — good. That’s a very easy place in which for her to obey, because she’s wicked used to it, there’s no tempting distractions, etc. She obeys less frequently outside because sometimes, there are things that are more tempting than listening to you. That’s why you have to up the ante and make your rewards better. You want to teach her that no matter what, it’s ALWAYS more worth it to obey you than it is to ignore her. Is there a squirrel? Who cares, your reward is better! Another dog? No biggie! But it takes time to work up to that, and really good rewards (hot dog, chicken, steak, liver, cheese, etc.). You have to take very small baby steps. In the backyard, she usually responds — unless there’s a distraction. So you work up to distractions like squirrels gradually. Eventually, she’ll be able to respond even when there’s a distraction like that. When that’s perfected, you can move to a totally empty park without distraction, then veeery gradually increase the distractions (like having just one person in the distance, then maybe a little closer, then a dog in the distance, a little closer, a little closer, etc.).
1. One dog yes. The other, no.
2. YES YES YES!!!!!!!! My Spaniel comes 99% of the time when called to the whistle. The only time she hasn’t come is when my brother threw a tennis ball into water. The other dog is not whistle trained and comes 90% of the time.
3. Urm possibly. I wouldn’t say any specific type of training, but certainly training.
4. Let my dog off her lead when she was 11 weeks old- first walk- and kept calling her to me. Never had any issue with recall. Introduced the whistle at 6 months, first peep and she’s spun round on the spot and heading back my way.
Get yourself a whistle and some tasty food- something your dog NEVER gets- use it solely for recall. With a long training lead peep the whistle, straight after call your dog when she comes, which she will because you will be pulling her in, give her some tasty treat and lots of praise. Keep working on this, twice a day for 10 minutes and she will soon associate the whistle with come.