My Maddie is 2 1/2 and we just recently started having a worse problem with this. I have a large fenced back yard, but have an X-pen in the grass that we take her and put her in to go potty. Sometimes we will also just open the door (she waits until released) and let her out to potty and also just play around outside. The problem is that sometimes, when we are in a hurry, if it's rainig outside, or if it is dark outside and we need to use the pen, there is NO WAY she is going to come and let you pick her up. She is not very treat motivated, so that doesn't help. She will come look at the treat in your hand, but she's not coming near you to get it. If you squeak a toy, she wants you to throw it for her to fetch. Not come to you to get it. She seems to just be very smart and seems to know when we want to pick her up to take her out or on the rare occaison when we are going to be gone longer, to put her in her wire crate (that she freely goes into to take a nap and to sleep in at night)
How do I teach her to come to me when called and let me pick her up? She has really never been good at this even when it is something she wants to do, like go for a walk. She will bow down and dance around and dart around. She looks like a boxer in a ring! Finally she will stop and let you pick her up to put her harness on. The only time it's not a problem is when someone is at the door and she runs to the door and waits to be picked up so you can open the door and see who's there. Or if you say the word "ride" she runs to the door to the garage and stands there until you pick her up and take her for a ride in the car. So, I know she gets it! |