Come when called...
 

Sunny will come when called when she is inside about 65% of the time, but outside she will not. There for awhile she was when she heard the treat bag russled, but now...eeeh, not so much.

How did you get your Yorkie trained to come, when called by his/her name?

I am sure over time, with age, she will get better at this, but it seems like she has taken a few steps back where this command is concerned. She can sit and "leave it". She has those commands mastered by about 75%.


I have this whole week off from work, so we are doing Puppy Training 101. Lol
Bobbi

Come when called is hard, and that she doesn't when she's outside is not surprising, there are SO many distractions. But as you know, it's so important safety wise. The only way we ever made it work was treats, practice, and love. Happy, Happy, Happy. Make it a happiness when Sunny comes to you when you call her, love and treats. That's the only thing that ever worked for us. BTW make sure the treats are very small or you will have a fat dog, LOL. Learned that one from our trainer, sometimes you can trade out tiny pieces of white cheese, I used LF string cheese. Sprocket loves it and will do just about anything for cheese. Even if he is sick. Patience it takes time but it's so much fun. Treats and love, treats and love, works on dogs and men. :p Both are trainable, treats are different that's all.:rolleyes:

Recall is sooo important. I practice with Jackson a few times a week still at 3yrs old -- I went and bought a light 50 foot line, let him go out exploring, and use "here" or "Jackson, here" as our command and always treat him. I also randomly give him a treat if he chooses by himself to come up to me, or walks near me, or checks in, etc.

You can also begin when in the house or in a secure fenced in area. Sit on the ground with her as if you are doing a training session. Reach over her head, grab hold of her harness, let go, and treat. De-sensitize her to the motion of your hand reaching for her so she does not run.

In the beginning stages, NEVER say "come" or "here" or whatever your command is and then immediately pick her up and bring her away from the fun. Let her come to you, get a treat, and then go run off again. If they learn coming when called always = something unpleasant (such as a bath, leaving a fun place, getting brushed, etc) they will learn to ignore it. I notice a lot of people don't even realize they are doing it: "Rover, come here" *grabs for bath* "Come on, Rover" *starts cutting nails*, LOL. you get the gist. Always make your command word a positive one.

Also, don't over-use the phrase. A lot of people will say "Come!... come. Come! come come come!" Dogs don't understand English in the way we do obviously. And "comecomecomecomecome!" means something completely different than just "come". Set them up for success! - try not to let them fail. Try only saying your command when you KNOW they are going to come, in the beginning, so that the word doesn't become useless.

In an emergency situation, you could always get down on the ground yourself. Usually dogs will think you found something interesting and come over to check you out (as we are not usually on the ground on their level).

Check out YouTube channel zakgeorge21 and kikopup for two really informative training channels. :)

I use Gerber's Graduates Puffs (for kids). Took mine a few days to really like them. If I want to get them to do something for sure, I'll throw in a piece of chicken every 5th or 6th treat, so they don't know what's coming!

Excellent advice above. The only thing I'd toss out is a favored toy sometimes works as good as treats if you've got a toy-motivated dog.

All good advice! Thank you!

Bobbi

this one will not come no matter what i asked this same question about a year ago she just will not come vet said she is hard headed i tried everything
so she still does not come she will sit till someone goes get her we also got a light 50 foot line so she has to be tied out at all time

Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and what is best for your baby, you have to have protection for her. But don't give up, someday it might just "sink" in. Good luck.:D