The most important command that you can teach a dog is COME. Most dog owners teach it without much problem, but often, its a loose command that translates to come over here and pay attention to your person for a second. However, you want your dog to come to you 100 percent of the time and and give you 100 percent of its attention...not just come when you are yelling bloody murder or when there is nothing distracting it. What do you do if you have a dog (or two, like me) that is not really interested in coming when called, or only comes when there are no distractions? You cant punish the dog and expect it to want to come to you. We never want to punish our dogs for not coming, or when they FINALLY come, or it will poison the word. It makes sense then that we would only use this command in the most positive of ways. I have two dogs, who when I first got them, would not come when called and even ran away when I said the C word! For them it meant that the fun was over, or they were in trouble. So youd better run or the game was over! They had been taught that COME usually meant, its time to put the leash on and leave the park. I needed to re-define it and make coming fun and exciting for them, so that I could rely on the command. To start fresh I broke COME into three parts and worked on them individually.
These three parts or three Rs, as I like to call them are:
Recognition, Recall and Release.
Name RECOGNITION is something a single dog owner might not give much thought to, but for those of us who have multiple dogs, it is necessary to preface all commands with the dogs name. Some trainers dont encourage the use of the dogs name, but I think it is very important. The name is really the foundation of all commands. You need to get the dogs attention before you tell it what to do. To establish name recognition, I call my dogs names out separately and throw treats at them for looking at me. Looking at me, on cue, is all they have to do to get a treat! Do this three time a day, for five repetitions for a few days or a week. This might seem simple or silly to some, but for people who have dogs who dont pay attention when called, this is the first step toward bridging a recall. (Doing five times takes about five minutes, three times a day). The most important thing about name RECOGNITION is that it gets your dogs attention. You want to have, or be able to get its attention at all times. Repetition of this assures that your dog will be well practiced in looking to you for the next command. You can use it to bridge all the obedience work you will be doing in the future. It is easy and can be fun if you keep it dynamic and set up a scheduled time to practice. I keep a bowl of treats in a candy dish that I can get at easily so Im more apt to practice. If you are concerned with your pet gaining weight, cut back on its meal size appropriately.
Next is the RECALL game. The dog might already be coming to you (in anticipation of a treat) when you call its name. That is great, but at this point it needs to be happening without you saying COME! However, if the dog isnt already starting to head your way when you say its name; then simply throw it a treat for looking at you when you call it and then show it a second treat. It should start to head your way for more treats. Now give the COME command. When it reaches you, say GOOD COME making a big deal out of it...then give the dog the treat. Do this three times a day for five repetitions. You can even do it while walking on leash and combine it with the name recognition. Call the dogs name...take a step back and lure the dog with a treat. This doesnt take much time and is an easy way of strengthening the bond you have with your dog. Dont worry, eventually, you can just call the dogs name and when it looks at you, say COME and treat it when it gets to you. Right now we are concerned with establishing a fast and consistent recall. The whole point of calling the dogs name and luring it to you is to teach it that great things come from you! The reason you want to say COME when the dog is already on its way to you, is so you have a 100 percent success rate. Repetition of good behavior is what we want here. We want COME to be a 100 percent automatic knee jerk reaction. If COME has been poisoned by a bad experience, or the dog is just so used to hearing it and not responding this will re-condition the word to have a new value.
Name RECOGNITION is something a single dog owner might not give much thought to, but for those of us who have multiple dogs, it is necessary to preface all commands with the dogs name. Some trainers dont encourage the use of the dogs name, but I think it is very important. The name is really the foundation of all commands. You need to get the dogs attention before you tell it what to do. To establish name recognition, I call my dogs names out separately and throw treats at them for looking at me. Looking at me, on cue, is all they have to do to get a treat! Do this three time a day, for five repetitions for a few days or a week. This might seem simple or silly to some, but for people who have dogs who dont pay attention when called, this is the first step toward bridging a recall. (Doing five times takes about five minutes, three times a day). The most important thing about name RECOGNITION is that it gets your dogs attention. You want to have, or be able to get its attention at all times. Repetition of this assures that your dog will be well practiced in looking to you for the next command. You can use it to bridge all the obedience work you will be doing in the future. It is easy and can be fun if you keep it dynamic and set up a scheduled time to practice. I keep a bowl of treats in a candy dish that I can get at easily so Im more apt to practice. If you are concerned with your pet gaining weight, cut back on its meal size appropriately.
Next is the RECALL game. The dog might already be coming to you (in anticipation of a treat) when you call its name. That is great, but at this point it needs to be happening without you saying COME! However, if the dog isnt already starting to head your way when you say its name; then simply throw it a treat for looking at you when you call it and then show it a second treat. It should start to head your way for more treats. Now give the COME command. When it reaches you, say GOOD COME making a big deal out of it...then give the dog the treat. Do this three times a day for five repetitions. You can even do it while walking on leash and combine it with the name recognition. Call the dogs name...take a step back and lure the dog with a treat. This doesnt take much time and is an easy way of strengthening the bond you have with your dog. Dont worry, eventually, you can just call the dogs name and when it looks at you, say COME and treat it when it gets to you. Right now we are concerned with establishing a fast and consistent recall. The whole point of calling the dogs name and luring it to you is to teach it that great things come from you! The reason you want to say COME when the dog is already on its way to you, is so you have a 100 percent success rate. Repetition of good behavior is what we want here. We want COME to be a 100 percent automatic knee jerk reaction. If COME has been poisoned by a bad experience, or the dog is just so used to hearing it and not responding this will re-condition the word to have a new value.
NOTE: if necessary you can change your recall word to HERE, if you think it will help things along. For many adopted dogs rescued from bad situations, it is necessary to change, not only the recall word, but also the dogs name to start fresh. I recommend changing it if there has been a history of abuse, or if the dog thinks COME means RUN!
This brings us to the final and most overlooked step, RELEASE. In order to build a good strong COME, that isnt sloppy, you want the dog to stick around and wait for further instruction. To teach the dog to wait until you say it is okay, you need a word that can be used to indicate the exercise is over. Some people use the release OKAY, but that is an overused word and comes up often in a conversation. This could pose a danger that you will say it unwittingly and the dog will take off, when you didnt intend to release it. I use BREAK for one of my dogs and FREE for the other. With two dogs, you must use the name again with the release word in order to strengthen the difference. So to teach RELEASE, you just throw a treat away from you as you say the word and let the dog get it. Eventually, you can let the dog go without a treat, with the RELEASE as the reward, but to start with, using treats is a way to mark the behavior and to create a definite marker. The importance of creating a release word is that it can be applied to anything that is considered an endurance command. You want your dog to understand that you expect it to do what you want, or ask it to do until you say otherwise. When you choose the word most comfortable for you, use it with everything. If the dog is laying down while you are having dinner, because you asked it to...say the word and throw a treat...it will let the dog know that it can get up now. If you have asked the dog to sit until you unclip its leash, then throw a treat and use the command to let it know it can move around now that you say it is okay.
The fourth R is repetition!
REPEAT-REPEAT-REPEAT!
When the dog is coming successfully and knows that it doesnt mean the fun is over, add distractions, like other dogs.
Remember to be dynamic and fun, this will make your dog want to choose you over other stimulus and make it fun for you too!
Training=Consistency over Time!
This brings us to the final and most overlooked step, RELEASE. In order to build a good strong COME, that isnt sloppy, you want the dog to stick around and wait for further instruction. To teach the dog to wait until you say it is okay, you need a word that can be used to indicate the exercise is over. Some people use the release OKAY, but that is an overused word and comes up often in a conversation. This could pose a danger that you will say it unwittingly and the dog will take off, when you didnt intend to release it. I use BREAK for one of my dogs and FREE for the other. With two dogs, you must use the name again with the release word in order to strengthen the difference. So to teach RELEASE, you just throw a treat away from you as you say the word and let the dog get it. Eventually, you can let the dog go without a treat, with the RELEASE as the reward, but to start with, using treats is a way to mark the behavior and to create a definite marker. The importance of creating a release word is that it can be applied to anything that is considered an endurance command. You want your dog to understand that you expect it to do what you want, or ask it to do until you say otherwise. When you choose the word most comfortable for you, use it with everything. If the dog is laying down while you are having dinner, because you asked it to...say the word and throw a treat...it will let the dog know that it can get up now. If you have asked the dog to sit until you unclip its leash, then throw a treat and use the command to let it know it can move around now that you say it is okay.
The fourth R is repetition!
REPEAT-REPEAT-REPEAT!
When the dog is coming successfully and knows that it doesnt mean the fun is over, add distractions, like other dogs.
Remember to be dynamic and fun, this will make your dog want to choose you over other stimulus and make it fun for you too!
Training=Consistency over Time!
