What do you do when your dog chooses not to "come"?

[Sarah and Joplin]

8 times out of 10, (in the house only at this early point in puppyhood) Joplin will come when called. Other times she stares at me or sometimes will even back away when I call her. I'm not sure what the best move is here. By simply giving up am I not properly showing "who's boss" for lack of a better word? Sometimes I pick her up and say "Come!" and carry her where I want her to come to (hence the reason I think she backs away every so often). Just wondering what you all have done in this scenario, I don't want to make it worse so that she chooses to come 0 times out of 10! :) Thanks in advance for your advice!

[Lesley, Wellington & Bingley]

I find te best solution is to run in the opposite direction! Puppies naturally follow, and so recall training is relatively easy if you tap into this natural instinct.

Im assuming you use food treats to reward her when she comes???? If you vary the type of treat used, you will add incentive to the recall as she won't be sure what she might get (like gambling)... 'perhaps this time it'll be CHICKEN!!! No... oh well - maybe next time!!!!'

I wouldn't force her to come by going to grab her - as you have said this will make her wary of you and she will start trying to avoid being 'caught'.

If only positive reward based methods are used - and we are only talking about a puppy afterall - she will quickly learn that 'come' only equals nice things!

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

We are still working on the "come!" command with Tara, too. I have to agree that the word is over used. We only say "come" ONE time. If she doesn't respond then we go after her-not chasing her but walking directly toward her in a calm but determined fashion. Sometimes she will run or get zoomies but lately she more often stops and lets us get her or comes to us. Then we take her back to the original spot she was in when we said "come", have her sit/stay until we go back to OUR original spot and do it all over again and when she succeeds we have a big celebration and sometimes a treat. Early on this was taught with her on a leash and she got corrections the second time around. "Come" is the most important command and is seems to be the most difficult for a dog to learn. I think it is really against their nature to respond in such a way. I personally think that a treat alone is not enough of a reward for the "come"command. NO treat is as interesting as another dog's backside or a squirrel!! There has to be a relationship built where your dog comes to you because he/she respects you or sees you as the leader- but not out of fear! We have tried many things for the "come" command over the last year and a half and this seems to work best for Tara. Maybe each dog responds to a different method according to their personality. What works for one may not work for another. We ended up mixing "training methods" until we came up with one that works for Tara. She isn't perfect yet and we still need to practice "come" from longer distances but I feel that as long as we continue to see improvement we are on the right track. Keep in mind that our "come' training has always been in a safe, confined area so far, so she isn't in danger if she does not respond successfully. If we just want her to join us but not necessarily "come" we say "with me".

[Linda and Murphy]

Come is a special/safety command. I rarely use it, and if I do, its important. I usually just call his name to get him to come to me, or "let's go". Murphy is now 4.

When we were training, she taught us to use it only when you could enforce it and always with the highest value treat. (whatever Joplin's "cocaine" is. For Murphy, it is cesar dog food in the little plastic container or cheese).
She taught us to use it more as a "saftey" command, not a regular, everyday command.
My safety issues have been other dogs or cars....oh yeah, and that Canadian goose he was swimming to Mexico after.

Hope this helps

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Exactly - that is almost exactly how we use it Linda.

[Linda and Murphy]

I forgot. A game that we played when he was a puppy. (Inside) My son would hide with a treat, and say "Murphy, Come!"
Once he got there, I would call "Murphy, come!" and he would get another treat once he found me...and so on.
Murph loved it, along with the attention.

[sandy b]

Our trainer also said to use "Here" in a happy voice and back away so they think it's a game and they come to you. Always have a treat, hold it down low as you're backing away. . Also we put treats in a little cup so if Max is outside and pretends he can't hear us LOL I shake the cup and believe me he hears the treats rattling and he comes running. Thank goodness he loves treats.