Teach your dog to come on command! (Presented in fine detail!)

Teaching the come command is one of the most important if not the most important commands to teach your dog. If your dog ever gets loose and starts off toward traffic or is likely to get just plane lost, you will have to have a strong come command or "recall" to prevent disaster. This is a lesson that can begin as soon as your puppy comes home at 8 or 9 weeks old. It is actually an advantage to do it then because you can still outrun your pup if he goes astray during training. As a matter of fact, this is the time when you can show your dog that you can out run him and catch him at will so he better listen! My largest dog "Smoke" can run 35 to 40 MPH but still thinks I can out run him! If you are working with an older dog, use a leash and a long rope about 30 feet long is good for this exercise.

Start with teaching the dog his name. Dogs don't identify with their names like we do. Rather it's a signal that you, the pack leader, is about to give a command, so pay attention. When you say the dogs name, say it in a firm but non threatening tone. A tone that will allow for a range of volume so that you can say the name in normal voice for indoor use or you can shout it across a field without significantly changing the sound of the name so the dog will always recognize your signal to him.

Here are some tips for names by the way... Choose a name with 1 or 2 syllables that ends in a vowel sound. It helps the dog recognize our alien speech pattern. My dog's name is "Ironmaster's Fire Up The Grill" or "Smoke" for short. But day in and day out, it's just plain "Mo". When I draw out the O sound at the end, it makes his recall sound like a wolf's howl, which is how wolves call each other over vast distances. And if you haven't read any material on how our domestic dogs still posses many traits from their wolf ancestry, read up! It will give you many insights as to your pet dog's behavior. Any vowel will work A,E,I,O,U, or Y.

Now that you have thought of a name to signal your up coming commands,wait for a time when the pup is alert, has not eaten for a while so he is a little hungry (it make s the treats that much more appealing) and at a time when he has recently gone potty. Be sure you are relaxed and in a good mood as well. Your dog is very perceptive and can read the slightest twitch of your facial muscles even the ones you don't know about. So be sure you are in a positive frame of mind. Position your dog in front of you in a confined space with no distractions and be quiet for a minute. Try to corral yourself and the puppy in a small space like a lit closet but where there is nothing fun for him to do or interesting for him to see. Sit down and keep your back to the wall or in a corner. Have a small quantity of treats ready. Its OK if he wanders around a bit but he stays in reach and cannot get behind you. If this space is not easy to find, use a collar and leash to keep the dog in your grasp, but find a corner so he can't get behind you. Sit on the end of the leash so your hands are free.

Do nothing briefly to let a little boredom set in, then say the dog's name in a firm but non threatening way. As soon as the dog looks at you, give him a high value treat. What do I mean by a high value treat? Something he really likes!! Not some lame piece of kibble, I mean something special! Like meat! But not a big piece. just enough that he is finished eating it in one second. Giving a dog something that takes too much time to consume breaks the rhythm of the training. Also don't use anything crumbly because the crumbs become a distraction and the dog won't pay attention to you when he is sniffing all around for crumbs. There is a special way to give the treat also. Put the treat in the palm of your hand and have it there in advance so you can give it to the dog immediately when he does the behavior. As soon as the dog looks at you in response to you saying his name, give him the treat. Timing is everything!

Use both hands to give the treat. Have the treat in the slightly cupped palm of one hand and the other hand, palm down, hovering 3 or 4 inches over the treat. When the puppy takes the treat from the one palm, his head is between your hands, like a puppy head sandwich! Your other hand is automatically in position to pat him on the head. It's better than treating with one hand because the first time you substitute a pat on the head for a treat, you are coming at him with high hand descending down to his head instead of a underhand motion coming up with a treat. The difference usually makes the dog back up so he can keep his eyes and nose focused on your hand in order to find the treat. You are trying to reach behind his ears to give him physical praise and the farther you reach, the farther back the dog's head goes until he backs up completely and it just results in confusion.

When I say pat on the head I really mean a good scratch behind the ears, and rub his neck, and love him up good, but very briefly. So at first give the treat and pat on the head with lots of praise! This technique makes it easy for you to decide in the future weather to give a treat or just a pat on the head. Either way you use the two hand method so the dog never knows what he will get. Then say his name again, as soon as he looks at you, give him the treat and pat on the head. Keep doing this for about 3 or 4 minutes. Then take a break. Don't make your training sessions too long. Puppies have a short attention span and small stomachs that might get upset with too many treats. In stage 2 you will give the treat 2 out of three times that the dog gives you the correct behavior. First time give a treat, second time just a pat on the head, third time a treat. You eventually wean the pup from getting a treat every time. Face it, you cannot carry treats with you all the time.

I find that for most behaviors dogs seem to weigh the odds of a treat or reward stemming from a behavior based on it's historical frequency. No really, I saw Smoke with a calculator figuring the probability!! (just kidding of course) But your dog does have a sense that tells him "If I do this behavior sometimes it results in some degree of pleasure for me". So he always does it even if it does not always pay off as hoped. The trick for the owner is to know what that interval is and stay inside it. Also recognize that food treats are not the only payoff. Just plain old attention is a great reward! Attention can be a pat on the head, throw a ball, a quick game of tug, what ever you find your dog likes that is available at the time. Typically food treats are used to begin training because it is the briefest and timeliest way to give the highest value reward.

If at any time during the training the dog does not look at you when you say his name, tug his leash or poke him and get him to look at you. Always be gentle and playful. Training should always be fun for you and your dog. Don't yell, whack or choke your dog! Believe me if you do you will teach your dog to fear you and seek to avoid your company!

There is such a thing a as corrections, we will get into that another time. For now I'll say don't use corrections in the process of teaching a dog to do some thing new like respond to his name, use corrections (properly) to teach him not to do something that he finds self rewarding like scent marking in the house. There are rules here too so don't try it until you know the rules!

Once you have the dog responding to his name by looking at you, you can move on to the recall command. Get a friend to help you. Sit in a hallway so the dog has no choice but to stay between you and your friend. Sit about 4 feet apart with the dog between you. If there is no hallway available, use a long leash with one of you sitting on the handle end. Make sure there are no distractions. Both people have treats ready and use the two handed treat presentation I described above. Which ever handler has the dog farthest away, say the dog's name. The dog should look at that handler. That's good, give a treat and pat on the head just for that. Even though that handler was the most distant from the dog he can still reach the dog because both handlers are only 4 feet apart even if the dog did not move closer to that handler. We just re-established the name recognition. Next which ever handler is closest to the dog, says the dog's name in a firm but not intimidating voice followed by the command "Come!" in the same tone. (you can use any command you like in any language you like especially if you are training the dog only to come to you or those you trust who know the secret commands) But be consistent. Don't alternate between "Come" and "Com'ere" and "here boy", pick one command and stick to it. The dog should look at that handler but doesn't have to move because he is already there! See, he did it! Treat and pat on the head and praise lavishly. Fun isn't it. Now the other handler's turn. The other handler says "Dog's name, Come" The command follows the dogs name immediately. If the dog so much as looks at that handler, that handler will show the treat, pat on the head and praise while using the treat to draw the pup closer to him. Then the other handler who calls the dog waits for the look from the dog then praises and draws the dog near. Gradually increase the distance between the handlers until the dog is crossing the length of the available space. Be careful as you expand the training area as the number of distractions increase. As you increase the training distance you may not realize that you now have included an old sock, a tennis ball, the TV remote, and the potato chip someone dropped under the couch that needs to be investigated, into the new larger training area. Don't get down on the dog if things start to unravel. He only has two more weeks to see and investigate everything, so given the opportunity, he has to check everything out to be a balanced dog. Blame yourself for providing a distracting environment. Back up, move closer together, remove the distractions and keep practicing until the dog associates the word come with a reward provided he comes to collect it.

Then play hide and seek. Have one handler hold the dog while the other handler hides. The handler that is hiding should be the one with whom the dog has the closest relationship. Normally the dog is eager to get back with that person and is struggling to get away. The hiding handler is not far away and there is a scent trail pointing right to him so the pup will not take long to find his master. Peek out from your hiding place so the dog can see half your body and say "the dog's name, Come!" At that instant the holding handler releases the dog who races to find his master. Treat, pat and praise. Repeat using greater distances and more challenging hiding spots. Remember as the days and weeks of short practice sessions continue, cut down on the food treats and rely more on the physical praise.

You have just laid the groundwork for all training to follow. Good Job! But I should warn you of one common mistake dog owners make. Suppose your dog runs off. You call him and tell him to come but he doesn't come right away. You start to get mad, it's natural. Finally what ever distracted him goes away and he decides to come back to you. You are angry that he ignored you the first 10 times you called him. Finally on the 11th call he comes back. Give him praise. Yes, that is what I said, tell him he is a good boy! Don't scold your dog when he comes back to you. All your dog can comprehend is how the last thing he did resulted in his praise or punishment. You do not have the ability to tell your dog that you are happy that he came back but you are mad that before that he was misbehaving. All he will get from punishing him now is that you were somehow mad about the last thing he did. He learns not to come when called. You missed the opportunity to correct him, it's all over. Praise him for coming, go back to recall training and practice again once you are calmed down.