The Dish by Darcy

“How do I train my dog to come to me? I say “come” and she looks at me like I’m nuts or she runs away and the game of tag is on while I chase her all over the yard. Oh, she makes me so mad!”

Ah, the old runaway recall! It’s really a good one to know. Before we start the true recall, let me give you a great way to get a stranger’s dog to go away from you and your dog, it’s never failed me yet. Yell in a hugely rough, I really mean business voice, “COME!” “COME!” “COME!” If you lean or step toward the dog as if you’re going to try to catch them, they leave even faster. The dog will not come but run the other direction. Try it; I hope it works for you, too.

Our old neighbor’s cute little dog used to “run away” all the time. She was really just going across the very busy street to the park. One day I found out why Lily liked to run away and not come back. She’d gone to the park across the street again and her owner was right behind her. Boy was he mad. I could see it in his cold calculated long legged steps and the smoke coming out of his ears was a dead give away. “Lily, come!” “Lily, COME HERE!” he yelled at her. Lily ran to hide behind me. We had a long chat that afternoon about why dogs don’t come to mad people who spank dogs and we did some training on the spot. He stopped being mad, stopped spanking Lily and Lily came to him almost every time after that. Lily forgave him. He forgave himself and learned to love his little girl.

Recalls are easy. If I asked you to “come here to me” and I give you a yummy piece of candy, a dollar, or I made you feel good about yourself, you’d be more inclined to come here the next time I called, wouldn’t you? Sure you would! Dogs are the same. The reward for doing what is asked of us has to be a good one for the repeated behavior to stick tight. I’m sure I wouldn’t come to you again if you were handing out old pieces of black licorice (everybody has their favorite, that’s not mine). Unless you were really, really interesting and fun to be with, I would not come to you if I thought you were handing out licorice. But if you were handing out fives, tens, chocolate, and you were fun to be with, I’d return to you again and again faithfully. Dogs are the same. Occasionally provide excellent rewards for my doing something you want me to do and I’m inclined to keep coming over there simply because you asked me to.

I like to start recall training in a smaller area or room, no leash. My living room or kitchen is perfect. Some trainers will tell you that you should do this or do that and “do it right” or no success. I don’t disagree with the other trainers about that; I just don’t do it that way. I’m not positive there is a right way to train a recall. If you’re training for obedience competition where your dog has to come to you without fail, sit in front of you in a perfect sit and wait for your next command, you might want to get some professional local help. If you simply want your dog to come to you when you call her, keep reading.

To set the recall training up to win, please hand feed your dog her daily diet. It’s a great way to bond with your dog, too. Every bite, every morsel of her daily food, hand feed. When you give her a bite, say her name. “Lucy”.  Every time, every bite. Say her name in all tones of voice, loud, soft, whisper, yell, sound mad, sound happy, sound sappy. Your dog will learn quickly that her name means something good is going to happen. When you say her name, it’s a good thing, rewards follow. And someday when she runs out into traffic and you have lost your mind screaming “Lucy!” at the top your lungs, Lucy will turn and run back to you, no bodily damage and with a smile on her face.

Here’s something else that will help the training go more quickly. During dinner, take a few steps backward, dog comes to you for the bite, say “Come” and give the food. Next time, skip backwards a little faster, say “Come” and give
the food. You have a wonderful start on the perfect recall.

Ok, off leash recall. Start in a small area, no leash, collar on. I like to use martingale style collars. You have favorite treats or dinner. I like to start by sitting down cross legged. For some reason, my dogs always think something interesting is going to happen and start watching me or come over to sniff me. Hey, you have cookies! You’re an interesting person and I’d like to spend some time closer to you. Wait for your dog to make the first move and reward accordingly. This is a recall so you want to give the treat when the dog is coming toward you, not going away or finding something else to sniff. I like to give the dog some time to see how they would like to play this game. Does she come to you right away? Treat. If you say her name, will she come to you? “Lucy”. (She will if you’ve been hand feeding dinner!) Try it. If you meow like a kitten, will she be curious and come to you? Treat. Take your shoe off; did she come over to see what you’re doing with it? Treat. Try anything to get your dog to come to you. And reward.

This is important. Start saying “Come” or “Here” or whatever word you want to use for the recall. Start the word right away, your dog is coming toward you and is going to get all the way to you, say the word. “Come.” It won’t mean anything to the dog yet but it will soon. Dog is coming towards you, wait for it, you want the dog to come all the way to you. “Come” put your finger through the collar and treat. Let go. Do it again, get her to come to you. Play the game.

Graduate to another room, then outside…on leash to start when you’re outside, please. Don’t say your recall word unless you’re sure your girl will get all the way to you. If you start yelling come and she goes the other way, she’s learned that come sometimes means to come to me and sometimes it means she doesn’t have to come to me.

Set her up for success every time. Dog is coming towards you, “Come”, finger through the collar and treat.

When your dog is coming to you with great frequency, trade the treat for a toy, a game of tug, or a run. Then next time, give the treat again. Mix it up. Your dog loves to be surprised. Treat this time? A run through the grass? Toss a ball? Pet me? Scratch my neck? All rewards. All wonderful rewards. One day, your dog will come simply because you said her name or the word “Come.” When that time comes, you don’t need a reward every time. I still like to tell them they did good, “You are the smartest dog on earth!” They seem to like that.

DO NOT call your dog to “Come” if you cannot 100% guarantee that she will come to you, get all the way to you so you can put your finger through her collar. Trust me, it’s the perfect way to get your dog going the other direction or not getting any response at all. And no spanking or being mean when you make that mistake. That does not help.

Be consistent, be positive, soft hands and soft eyes, train constantly, laugh, relax, and have fun. Training dogs to come is easy. You’ll start in a small area off leash, then outside with a leash, then outside without a leash, then hide from your dog in the grass or bushes and when they find you, laughter and rolling around on the ground. Dogs love to have fun. Many of the expert trainers are wonderful; they have incredible ways of teaching. Find someone you love local to you if you need some help and read every book in the SitStay library, we carry only the best. You will find the way to train that fits you and your dog best.

I like the relaxed, consistent method of training and to date, the dogs I train enjoy me and they do what I want most of the time. If you can get your dog to do what you ask of them about 85% of the time, forgive the rest. Hey, a girl has to do her own thing every once in while. We don’t all have to be perfect.

We just have to love each other. That’s the fun of being a SitStay Dog!