how do you make your puppy come when called
 

Hi everyone, how do you teach the come command when calling your puppy? My five month puppy is so stubborn, I'm trying to teach her to potty in the back yard, and its not going well. Trained her on puppy pads indoors. So every time she's in the backyard, and I call her to come, she won't. How am I suppose to start her on being a therapy dog, if she doesn't even respond to the come command? Any advice???

I'd highly recommend an obedience class ASAP, but here are some ideas.

You have to make coming to you the most exciting thing in the backyard. And that's not easy. You're competing with a lot of fascinating odors and fun things to explore that she doesn't see very often.

Before I wised up and took an obedience course, I had one person hold my dog and I went 10 steps away, pulled out a favorite toy and said COME. When he got there, I rewarded with a game of tug of war -- or with a favorite treat.

Work to where the person doesn't have to hold her. Anytime you say COME, you want the dog coming to you for a favorite toy or a great treat.

A more commonly taught method is to teach come in conjunction with sit and stay. But that's where an obedience course would come in handy.

Good luck!

I would suggest a puppy class. I would put her on a leash and have one person hold the leash and stand pretty close to her and say her name and then say come and treat her when she does and do that a few times then move back a little do it again a few times then continue doing that. You need to practice a lot.

Bella has never been a good one to come when asked. When I went to get her, her previous owner showed me how she got her to come to her. LOL Act silly. I'm thinking not. When I want her to come to me, I expect it. But I have never seen such a stubburn breed when it asking for her to do that. LOL I'm just glad I did my research before getting her. Good luck.

I, too, used the treat method. Bella comes when we call her and she gets a treat.....she is very food modivated. I actually use her puppy food as the treats, carry them in my pocket. We don't ever take her off leash as we are in a campground, but have purchased a long long leash so she thinks she is free and only use it when my hubby and I are together, working her. Good Luck, remember treats even in the house.

A reliable come command can and often takes years to develop. She is just a puppy yet, and a puppy obedience class is a great thing to take for you both.

Try using a happy lilting upbeat voice for the Come command. When she comes immediately make a BIG deal of her obedience. Happy praise in your voice. Good girl! Good come!! And treat her with her fav reward (use food and or her fav toy).

In the backyard have her on lead, let her go out to the end of the lead, then say her name and the Command COME. If she ignores the command, gently pull on the lead towards you.

Repeat 5x at least in one short session. Try multiple sessions a day.

The way I "trained" Tatiana (and my late cats) was by calling their names for meal times. Tatiana has scheduled meals three times a day. So she gets this "drill" three times a day. She comes running happy and excited.

Now, she runs to me happy and excited whenever I call her name. When it's a non-meal call, I get her plenty of petting and affection when she comes to me, so there's positive reinforcement.

It's funny because she recognizes her name (like it's a command). Oftentimes, people would ask me what her name is. When I tell them, they would talk to her,"Hi, Tatiana!" She would perk up, and look directly at them. People would say,"Oh, she knows her name!" Well, she thinks it's meal time or petting time. :)

Food treats and toys are great motivators.

Princess was easily trained with food and treats.

Elvis, well he's my shadow.

Having said that Scoobers still fails at recall so my best advice would be obediance classes right away and consistancy.

If your dog eats well it will be easy. Puppy class is the best to teach YOU. My dog will come 90% of the time @ 16weeks old. Sit,stay,lay , fetch and drop the ball or toy.And go to your blanket. Took 3 weeks constant training which is only ~5min 3-4x a day. And one day obediance. But I have trained animals before. They will teach you trick that are all 4 paws on the floor first. So they won't jump on you. Damn potty training is the hard part with this one. I hate using a pee pad

Been there...still there! Ian will sometimes ignore me when I can him, but when I ask him if he wants a treat, he will come flying to me!:rolleyes: (He has us in training!!!)

You've gotten some fantastic ideas! Always use positive rewards! One word of caution. Never ever use your come command if you aren't in a position to follow through and have her come. If you do, you are teaching her that come means to ignore you and do whatever she wants.

Bentley was so stubborn too. Even when I would clap and whistle and slap my legs he would just stand there and stare. I saw a video that said you have to make it fun for them. So I would run and yell come and of course he would chase me. I would stop and then give him a treat. I repeated this several times. Then I would take a break and when he wasn't paying attention I would walk a few feet away and then say come and he would come and again I would give a treat. Now as much as possible I say Bentley to get his attention then come and act all excited like come, come on baby, woohoo in a high pitched voice lol and he comes running and I reward him.

I think the most important thing is you have to make them want to come like some have said show him his favorite toy or give him a treat EVERY time for a while until the command is solid.

I hate to admit it, but I stand at the door and yell, "TREAT." He comes.:D

I love that you admitted that it's so freaking cute!

You can't have a therapy dog until you have an obedient dog. They don't train themselves. Find someone who has trained dogs for obedience trials not someone at PetSmart or PetCo. You can go to the AKC website and do a search for clubs in your area that can get you in touch with someone near you for some training classes.

As was mentioned the come command has to be very exciting to the dog and met with a big encouraging reward when they do come. I would take the dog out on a leash for now and walk him around the yard until he has finished his business.

As a starter, put your dog in a sit and then say "stay'. Oh, yes, the sit and stay have to be taught before the come. Once you have taught your dog to sit and stay you can attach a 6' leash and while your dog is in a sit/stay walk a few feet away and call come. If your pup does not stay you must patiently put him back in the sit until he understands stay. When you call his name and say "come" he probably will be more than happy to come to you. If not then give a gentle tug on the lead to encourage him to come. Gradually you will be able to move farther and farther away as you do this exercise. Always with a big reward when he does this. All of this is done in baby steps. No one task is learned in a day. Repetition, persistence and a great deal of patience with passionate encouragement and reward are huge in training dogs.