Thanks La P. I wondered how I could do that...I never scolded him when I did finally catch him, I had heard that when you do that they will never come because they will connect scolding with coming to you...:)

First...WELCOME to YT!!! :)

I will say that with my cocker, I had "training sessions" with her every day for a few weeks...I left a long leash on her and when I would tell her "here", and she didn't do it, I would tug on the leash. I would keep saying "here"and tug if she wouldn't do it until she was finally by my side. I kept doing it. over and over and over again. Just persistence, I think. and now, even if she knows she is in trouble, she will come to me when I call her.

Maggie (my yorkie) is still in "training" LOL yorkies are very stubborn LOL. but she is catching on. sometimes I think it is easiest to train puppies when they are about 10 months old or so, they tend to have more of an attention span. I do work with my dogs a lot...and it has taken Maggie a while to learn a lot of commands but now we have sit, down, and dance. "here" is still be worked on :) I think that and "stay" are the 2 hardest. "here" is hard because if they don't think it is worth their time to come to you, they may have better things to do :) "stay" is super hard because they get so excited...they just want to run around LOL

the other commands have been very easy for me to teach maggie. just these 2 are proving to be a toughie.

but the leash trick did work with my cocker. I honestly haven't used it much on maggie. I guess I should try my own advice ;)

Otis is 3 and still doesn't come very well. He has the terrier instinct and wants to play and hunt while he's outside. 9 times out of 10 I have to go out and get him out of the yard. I swear if he could choose to be an outside dog in the summer, he would. All the wonderful smells and neighbor dogs. He's better in the winter, or when its raining. The treats that he really does tricks for aren't very good for him, so I need to search for a better solution. Maybe cheese, he loves cheese.

I agree with just about everythin the TJDMOM has said except....I would reward with a treat. I am bringing my girls for training now and the one thing the trainer said was reward and praise! Eventually you can wean off the treats.....If you call them to you and you don't have anything for them as a reward they won't want to come to you. Yorkies (as we all know) are stubborn little devils and have a mind of their own. I have been working with the girls for 3 weeks now and they are doing pretty good with the sit/stay, waiting for their treat and their barking. The "come" is a little more difficult. But, they are getting it. They do really well inside but, with the horrible weather we have been having I haven't worked much outside with them...today is the day we are going out to do our training....

YORKIES STUBBORN ??? NEVER HEARED OF SUCH A THING :lol tears

I would reccomend doing a training class. I did mine at Petsmart, it works great. Or you can get a training book.

Piper just sits and looks at me like I'm stupid when I call him. We're going to puppy lessons, so if I learn the trick I'll let you know.

One day i called him, and i was sooo positive with him.. he was doing the stubborn thing, but then there was a glimmer of hope... he looked at me and I saw his tail wage lol i kept calling him with the highest happy voice i could and he came. It was when i saw that tail wag i knew i had him. And its very hard not to cold them but i try to stay positive and play at least for the first minute.

I apply the same concept to my son as well, because he got jealous of all the happy praise that Ryo would get. I saw a TV program that showed the technique that TJDmom was talking about. It worked great with a long lead

Another training example: my Ryo knows down. so then i read somewhere you could teach them to also put their heads down. So i would tell Ryo down, then take my finger and say "head down" while i gently pushed his head down when he was in the down position. when his head poked up i would gently push it down again. I did that only one time for 10 minutes.. the next day my son told him down, then said head down and BOOM! his lil head went down and i was amazed it only took one ten minute session the day before!. With repetition you can teach them anything