Getting our girl to obey the command to "come."

[Glenda & Lizzy Lu]

Lizzy Lu will be 8 mo old next week. All has gone well with her except getting her to come to us. She either ignores the command to come or makes it a great game of "catch me if you can!" We usually resort to a treat of chicken and manage to take her by the collar. At that point she does not resist but it always takes some time to get her close enough to do that. We obviously do not have a handle on making this happen without the chicken. She "sits", "down" and "stays" beautifully. How can we get her attention and teach her to obey the "come" command? We realize this is a safety issue as well.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You need to always have a leash on her when teaching "come"; never give a command that you can't enforce. If you can't enforce the command, don't give it. That just teaches the dog that she can ignore commands without consequence. Get a long line, and keep it on her when she is outdoors and even indoors when you are working on "come". 

[Glenda & Lizzy Lu]

We have a long line and will start working with Lizzy. Thanks so much.

[Wendy and Myla]

Karen is right - you should always have her on a leash when you are training her to "come" and even when you have to pull her to you, give her a treat when she is where you want her to be.  We go away a lot with Myla, so "come" was one of the commands that we wanted her to master.  We worked on it a lot and always used "high value" treats so that when we said "come" she would run to us knowing she would get a really good reward.  It's pretty easy to get her to do that in your yard but gets very hard when there are a lot of distractions (other dogs, rabbits, birds....) so it is, in my opinion, one of the hardest things to train - it takes of lot of time and perseverance.  Myla is three years old now and we still give her a treat when she "comes" to us - probably because she runs as fast as she can to us and sits in front of us with those gorgeous eyes - we can't resist :)  Good luck and if you haven't already, you should join the Training Group - lots and lots of good advice in there!

[Glenda & Lizzy Lu]

We have a lone line and will start working with Lizzy immediately. Thanks so much.

[Pat, Mary & Cooper]

The ''come'' or ''recall'' command was one of the first training exercise we did with our trainer. Like mentioned earlier , it was done with a leash and in a space that had few distractions to begin. 

Always keep it positive and rewarding, have a positive tone , jackpot when she comes to you. Our trainer always made Cooper sit right in front of us and made us touch his collar before rewarding,in the situation where he wouldn't be on a leash and that I wanted to hook it up to his collar. That way he is not running away from me when I'm putting him back on a leash.

Then you can do it outside ,( where the level of distraction is much higher), and keep it playful if she doesn't come the first time you ask. I was recommended by my trainer to wait about 15 seconds to repeat the command a second and last time, so that the dog doesn't think that I will just keep on asking and that he can decide when he wants to listen.

All the great tips she gave us really worked with Cooper , I hope this helps...

[Mary M.]

OK, we're going to work harder on "come ".

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I would start this training in the house.  Let her drag a short leash and have a great reward in your hand.  Pick a time when she's not focused on something else, and call her name using your "fun voice".   The second she starts moving toward you start saying "good girl" and reward her as soon as she gets to you.  I would do this two or three times and then that would be the end of the exercise....but try it again in a few hours.  If she does not come to you and actually moves away you will need to calmly get her and bring her to where you were when you called.  I would not correct her but no reward.  She just needs to learn she's going to end up going there anyway....and if she does it on her own it's more fun.  I would never call her by her name or use the "come" command unless you are prepared to follow through in this way.  When she's pretty consistent in the house you can start outside.  I agree with everyone that until she's reliable you'll need to use a long line.  Go to an area that is safe so that you will be calm and confident...you don't want to be worried about traffic during this training exercise.  Put her on the long line...drop it...relax and wander off just a bit....she should follow.  If she wanders off don't call her at this point just wait (but stay within reach of the long line).  After a few minutes pick up the long line say something like "let's go",  but don't say come or her name yet....she should start to follow you.  This is playing on her "pack mentality" which by nature makes her want to stay with her pack.  When you're ready drop the line and walk away....then call her using what you decide will always be your recall command (the same word you practiced in the house).  I know Doggy Dan uses a squeak toy to get their attention at first....encourage and praise as she's coming toward you....and when she gets to you there should always be a great reward.  I used a tennis ball with Murph because that was his favorite thing...and I used food with Guinness because he was highly motivated by treats.  You can actually vary the reward to keep her guessing.  Once you've worked with the long line and are getting consistent recall, you can drop the long line.  You need to be sure that your recall is always solid even around distractions before you do this.  One thing I learned was to never chase them...it sends the wrong message.  If I was were I could go and get them I would.  If not, I would turn and walk or run away....that's enough for most dogs to want to come to you. 

[Allee & Sue]

And use a happy happy roast beef voice when calling. It works!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

all excellent advice  All that I would add is that I have another word for "come" when I want Roo or TIgger to come to me, but I cannot enforce it. I use "lets go".  I would add that come is THE most difficult command to teach with reliability and needs to be practiced nearly everyday.   At this age you cannot just put the leash on and practice it and then take the leash off, she is too smart and will almost immediately realize that no leash means no reinforcement.  Let her drag a rope around all the time you are with her so that she does not remember she is even dragging one.  Treats for come must be smelly all time winners, small pieces of fish, meat, peanut butter, something she never gets except for coming.

[Moe]

One other tip. When training come we always used treats but the pup didn't get them until I had touched her collar. That way they are used to coming and having you touch them. We started in the house. One person on one side of the room and someone else on the other. We would have a high value treat like chicken and say come, touch the collar then treat. The other person would immediately say come and repeat. After a week or so we would increase the distance. Like one person in living room the other in the kitchen. Then you can move outdoors where there are more distractions. One thing to remember when training is you want the dog to be successful so move in baby steps. If it is not working room to room or outside go back. End the game while the dog is successful, don't wait till they loose interest. You can increase the distance and duration as the pup gets better. When they get really good you can add sit after they come. Makes it easier when trying to leash up. 

This is a skill that takes tons of repetition and practice. My dog is 4+ and we still work on it. There will always be squirrels, bunnies, bikes and loose dogs so the distractions are endless. 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Besides training and all the important ways to train the come command, I play a game with a less stringent approach also. My dog is 61/2 and I still work this into play.

Spud likes to retrieve a ball.  I throw the ball out and when he is on his way back, I give the hand signal and say, " come" in my happy come voice.   

This way, I am giving the command he already is doing. So, we are successful already, I am just reinforcing his behavior.  Simple and easy plus it makes a lot of sense

As others have mentioned, ALWAYS reward the come command. No dog will ever come to you if you are angry or impatient. Really, would you go if someone was upset with you? No, and neither will our smart dogs. 

So, be happy, reward the return-always. 

It is the most important command to ever teach. 

[Kris and Sawyer]

Great advice given. I was just going to add that Sawyer, who's almost 2 years old, still plays the "catch me if you can" game...but only in our backyard. When we are out and he's off leash, he stays right with us and comes on command. If I were you, I would practice with the long leash in multiple places. Our fault because I only practiced with the long leash when we were out. Although I think some of it is because the yard is his and a safe place...if that makes sense. We purposely play chase in the yard but he knows we'd never play chase/keep away when out.