Teaching to "come"......

[DukesMommy]

Lucie is the first dog I have had that I have to teach to come..All my other dogs have always just come to me when I call their name, with Duke if I want him somewhere specific I just snap my fingers and point to where I want him and he goes there.
When I call Lucie, if shes running in the house and I don't know where she is, she will come to her name. But if she is looking at me and I say "Lucie, come here" she just stares at me, or runs off.
How do I teach her how to come to me??

[QuickSilver]

Try it with a treat in your hand.

[sugarbritches]

yep i ditto the treat, spike comes every time already and hes only about 4 months old.

also, use one word dont say *come here* say *come*, that sometimes can confuse dogs.

[Rockdiva]

Originally Posted by DukesMommy

Lucie is the first dog I have had that I have to teach to come..All my other dogs have always just come to me when I call their name, with Duke if I want him somewhere specific I just snap my fingers and point to where I want him and he goes there.
When I call Lucie, if shes running in the house and I don't know where she is, she will come to her name. But if she is looking at me and I say "Lucie, come here" she just stares at me, or runs off.
How do I teach her how to come to me??

I am very curious to the responses you get because I have had this problem with Wookie and he is about to turn 3!!! He will come if I have a treat and that is it! I have tried and tried and tried to teach him, working with treats, gradually taking them away, etc. He does ok if we are sitting there in 'play' mode working on it, but let him get outside! He won't come even for a treat then! It is so dangerous! I hate it, I don't know what else to do!

[Charlies Mama]

Originally Posted by Rockdiva

I am very curious to the responses you get because I have had this problem with Wookie and he is about to turn 3!!! He will come if I have a treat and that is it! I have tried and tried and tried to teach him, working with treats, gradually taking them away, etc. He does ok if we are sitting there in 'play' mode working on it, but let him get outside! He won't come even for a treat then! It is so dangerous! I hate it, I don't know what else to do!

Oh my gosh. I know your pain!!! Charlie does the same thing. If we're in the house and I can't find him, I yell for him and he comes. BUT when we're outside, he will not come up to me to save his own life!!!! And the treat thing doesn't work either. I have to chase him down. Which works only half the time. ugh!

[camile]

Originally Posted by DukesMommy

Lucie is the first dog I have had that I have to teach to come..All my other dogs have always just come to me when I call their name, with Duke if I want him somewhere specific I just snap my fingers and point to where I want him and he goes there.
When I call Lucie, if shes running in the house and I don't know where she is, she will come to her name. But if she is looking at me and I say "Lucie, come here" she just stares at me, or runs off.
How do I teach her how to come to me??

I am interested in your answers too inside she will come to me but then back up when I reach for her. She started out wanting to be picked-up all the time WHAT HAPPENED?

[zaknnana]

I have the same problem with Lily so I am very interested to see what the suggestions are for this. If she does come to me even in the house she won't let me pick her up usually she acts like it is a game always with a treat or not!! She is completely out of control outside and will not come to me no matter what kind of treat I have.

[QuickSilver]

Hm. Okay, this is what worked for me, in more detail.

I took Thor to a park and kept him on a very long lead, 25 feet. I sat on a blanket and let him explore, and every time he came back to me, I gave him a treat. Outside, it should be less obvious whether you have a treat or not. You have treats with you, but will you give him one or not? Only you know! If I actually called to him and he returned, I gave him two treats. I also used small pieces of bacon for maximum temptation.

Ultimately, I took him off the lead and let him roam as he wants, periodically returning to me for his treat. Sometimes I'll walk around the park, but the same drill. We practice this several times a week, and it's lots of fun for both of us.

I've also seen "come" practiced with two people. One person hides, and then calls to the dog, and he has to figure out where they are. Or the two people stand about twenty feet apart and the dog runs back and forth between them, collecting his treats.

I would make it purely positive to begin with. However, now that I have Thor trained, if he doesn't return when called, I go get him and it's the end of park time.

Some people say that the "come" command is so important that you should only use it if you have something positive for your dog. If you are planning to give him a bath or take him to the vet, go get him, so he sees coming to you as 100% positive.

NEVER scold your dog after he comes to you, no matter how late, since that simply trains him not to come.

Also, if you are outside and you don't want to chase after him: get down on all fours and make some high pitched sounds. Your pup will likely come investigate. Or start walking away from him to turn the chase game around.

[abock]

Here's what worked for me: Use some cheerios (or other tiny treat) and drop one in front of his nose. Walk a few steps & say "come" and drop another cheerio a bit in front of him. Keep doing this so that he is following you. Then, stop, say "come" and drop the cheerio right in front of you. Once he does this reliably, say "come" but give him verbal praise & pet him tell him how good he is. Only give a treat every OTHER time he comes. THis is called intermittent reinforcement and is scientifically proven to create a lasting behavior. Continue to do this process every day until he does it like clockwork. this is how I also taught my 5mos. old to walk on the leash and not pul,too. Now, she comes EVERY time I say come whereever she is in the house! Of course, I still give her treats for coming (sometimes). good luck!

[Karrie]

Originally Posted by QuickSilver

Hm. Okay, this is what worked for me, in more detail.

I took Thor to a park and kept him on a very long lead, 25 feet. I sat on a blanket and let him explore, and every time he came back to me, I gave him a treat. Outside, it should be less obvious whether you have a treat or not. You have treats with you, but will you give him one or not? Only you know! If I actually called to him and he returned, I gave him two treats. I also used small pieces of bacon for maximum temptation.

Ultimately, I took him off the lead and let him roam as he wants, periodically returning to me for his treat. Sometimes I'll walk around the park, but the same drill. We practice this several times a week, and it's lots of fun for both of us.

I've also seen "come" practiced with two people. One person hides, and then calls to the dog, and he has to figure out where they are. Or the two people stand about twenty feet apart and the dog runs back and forth between them, collecting his treats.

I would make it purely positive to begin with. However, now that I have Thor trained, if he doesn't return when called, I go get him and it's the end of park time.

Some people say that the "come" command is so important that you should only use it if you have something positive for your dog. If you are planning to give him a bath or take him to the vet, go get him, so he sees coming to you as 100% positive.

NEVER scold your dog after he comes to you, no matter how late, since that simply trains him not to come.

Also, if you are outside and you don't want to chase after him: get down on all fours and make some high pitched sounds. Your pup will likely come investigate. Or start walking away from him to turn the chase game around.

VERY good info here!!

I'd like to add:
1. Practice, practice, practice

2. Just use one comand word - "come"

Do not confuse your baby with comon' or come here, or any other words. I use "Bailey, come!" - and magically she comes every time. If I'm playing, I'll say comon' Bailey, she may or may not come - but that's okay, there's no expectation with anything other than "come".

Good luck!!!

[DukesMommy]

Thanks for the suggestions!
I'll have to start getting more tricky with her with the treats. When she figures out I have treats with me she wont leave my side, and she gets so excited it's hard to get her to focus on anything else.

[wemple2]

Teach her to sit and stay first, then come will be a lot easier. From the sit, stay give the come command. It's hard to get a Yorkie that's running around crazy to just stop what they're doing to learn to come. Once learned, they should come, no matter what they are doing, or where they are at. Good Luck!!!

[JoeyP]

"Come" is a foreign language to Yorkies I have found
it doesn't compute
esp when they are outside or doing something they like doing

But you need to make it clear that coming to you is always going to better or in their interest

You also need to do this early and NOT get into the rut of calling their names over and over again without them coming because Then their name becomes only background noise and never means anything to them

You can't train them inn the house to come to you and then expect them to come when they are outside
You need to train them with all the distractions present from the start
Take them outside. have someone take them away from you on a lead
In increasing distances
Call them with a treat in your hand
and have the other person let them go

see if they come to you

[Hoggbond]

We have two yorkies. I've taught both of them to come by either calling there name, or whistling works a little better.

I was told somewhere, that every ten times you ask your dog to come, 9 times should be with great praise, and this is true.

If they don't come, and you get mad at them, they will associate not to come, because their getting in trouble.

My trick was at first to constantly have a treat. They caught on very fast, knowing if they come, they get a good treat. It has to be an interesting treat they gobble up right away.

Eventually, maybe for every 10 times, only give them a treat 8 times. Keep lowering this. I don't think they should be ever completely off treat's though.


When they don't come when your first doing this, which is quite normal, get really close to them, maybe a foot or two away. Put the treat right up to their nose, and lead them a little. Eventually they will be stampeding down the hall to you.

[Hoggbond]

I just read the reply above my previous reply, which i thought was good also. Never get in a habit calling there name or whistling constant, if the dog is not coming. The puppy will associate this with nothing. If they don't come from a certain distance, get in close, even if it means a foot away. Then eventually increase the distance.

When they come constantly, thats when you can yell from across the yard.

If they are really stubborn, which our dog Tico was alittle. Put them on a long lease. If the don't come, give it a tug, until they start coming. I found this also worked for him.