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Originally Posted by SoCalyorkiLvr I like the hitting your head w/the newspaper comment!! I liked the "making a fool of your fat self" as that would be me! I think mommy needs more training!  |
My thought also...
I've got Chewy to be pretty reliable off-leash (there's still incidents). But for the most part, he respects my command "come".
This has taken a lot of work. The first rule is to make sure that you never use your dogs name, or the "come" command to lure them into punishment. Come should always be rewarded with praise and treats and goodness. There's no way to appropriately punish a dog for running away.
To chase is a game.
To punish them once you catch them is confusing. They have no idea why they are in trouble. They might think that it's for getting caught (and losing the game), and they will work harder next time to not be caught.
Beating a dog for failing to come on command (especially on the first off-leash experiment) is counter-productive. Try going to a large park once you have mastered "sit" and "stay". Thereafter, place your dog in a firm stay and slowly pace away. Once you think you are at your dog's limit, wait three seconds and command "{name}, COME!". Your dog will then HAPPILY run to you and recieve their treat. Praise "good come, good boy / girl / name".
Repeat this as often as you can for weeks. Do it in the house (at dinner time, for example). Never use the word in such a way that you will have to repeat yourself, or in such a way that it's optional. For example, if my dog's playing with something, I would not say "come" untill he notices I have a treat and is already coming toward me. Of course, I forget this all the time, but we have to do our best for our little friends, right?
Once your dog reliably comes, you can take it into the real world. Go on a long flexi lead and let your pup have the run of its length. When they are busilly sniffing some neighbor's door step and you are ready to move on, call their name and hold up a treat...As they begin to come to check out your treat say "name, COME!" in a happy voice. Eventually they will learn to drop what they are doing when the command is issued.
I also do "come" drills when we go to the dog park. It only takes five minutes a day for me to reinforce the msot important command in his vocabulary. If it takes a million times, it is still worth it. This command litterally saves the dogs life.
One example being that My door one night had not properly closed. I was shocked to hear screatching tires and my dog's barking outside. I ran to the door, discovered it was open, and chewy was nowhere in sight.
"Chewy COME!" I yelled twice. I could hear him coming from blocks away. When he finally appeared, in a full run as happy as could be, I gave him lots of treats and praise.
A dog trained to come where only punishment is used, would not have done this. Come should be a happy word that is drilled in through firm training.
Good luck and have fun!