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Old October 1st, 2005, 06:56 AM
Rockblind Rockblind is offline
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Problem's with HERE Command

I am having issues that when I issue the command HERE when the pup is off leash, example in the house and or backyard. She sits and looks at me. I try and praise her telling her she is a good girl to get her to come to me. No luck sometimes. If I make a move in her direction she goes into a gallop running all over the place figuring it is a game. Any suggestions? Usually I will walk away and when she is calmed down I put the leash on her

Thanks RB
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Old October 1st, 2005, 09:40 AM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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Quote:
She sits and looks at me. I try and praise her telling her she is a good girl to get her to come to me
NEVER try and teach recall to a dog off leash. She obviously doesn't know what the command means. By trying to teach her to come while off leash, you are teaching her she doesn't have to come to you, especially if you're telling her she's a good girl for NOT coming.

You cannot let her off leash until she comes reliably. Get a very long line - like a lightweight nylon clothesline and let her run around. Then call her, and give her 3 seconds to comply, then reel her in. This will teach her what the word means. Immediately let her go play again, while keeping the end of the rope within reach. If a dog learns that "come" always means the end of playtime and fun, they will be reluctant to come.

When she does come to you on her own, praise like crazy and even give a treat, throw a ball for her, etc. Once she learns that coming when called means treats, praise and toys, she'll be more eager to comply.

As to your other post, I highly recommend obedience classes!
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Old October 1st, 2005, 09:47 AM
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Lissa Lissa is offline
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Don't let her off until you know she is going to come to you. Have you tried giving praise and treats when she comes?

As a puppy, I kept my dog on a leash a lot and bought a long line for practicing outside.

Try to make youself really fun and exciting so she wants to come to you.

How old is she?

Do not ask her to come when you know she is not going to listen to you. For my dog, I started using "this way" or "let's go" (in conjuction with hand signals). So it wasn't really a command. But to be with me, he had to follow. I also use the word "close", if I want him near me but don't expect him to heel or come and sit in front of me. I find a lot of people say "here" or "come" liberally without really enforcing it or meaning it. "Come" means to come right close and sit in front of you.

If your pup is ignoring you, she might not understand the command. But in any case, she needs to be on-leash so you can "enforce" the command and show her what to do.
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Old October 1st, 2005, 10:15 AM
ILoveMutts! ILoveMutts! is offline
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This is what I've been doing to teach Leon to come: I put him in a sit/stay using a cookie as lure, walk to a distance and then say come. He always obeys when there's a cookie involved but I haven't been as successful without a lure and/or in the presence of distractions.
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Old October 1st, 2005, 11:04 AM
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StaceyB StaceyB is offline
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I won't repeat what has been already said. I would get enrolled in a positive training class so you will have an experienced trainer to help and guide you to success.
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  #6  
Old October 3rd, 2005, 10:09 PM
LoNScamp LoNScamp is offline
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I have made come a game with my dogs. As soon as I get them I start by bending my knees a bit, putting a big smile on my face, calling thier name in a really upbeat manner and had "hitting" the front of my legs in rapid succession and giving them tons of praise when they reach me. It has proven most successful, it doesn't matter what they are doing they will stop and come with their tails wagging. With Lola I don't need to say come, as soon as I start to hit the front of my legs she comes. It used to be a real game with Kaos and I, she would be in front of me I would call her name and start hitting my knees and she would come running back with a doggies smile on her face and her tail moving a mile a minute. I always do this at least a half dozen times on a walk. I don't use treats when working with dogs other than to teach leave, so the praise and petting is enough.

This process also helps to teach them to come when it is said in a normal tone of voice. If by chance they hesitate, I will use now or here to reinforce it which doesn't happen too often.

I would never let a dog off leash unless I knew thier recall was solid. One of the most important things to remember when teaching recall is never ask your dog to come to you if you are going to do something the dog doesn't like i.e. cutting its nails, putting it in a crate before you leave etc. Go and get the dog in these instances. Come should always be a positive thing.
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Old October 4th, 2005, 08:25 PM
Rockblind Rockblind is offline
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Well I have signed up for Obedience training. That starts on the 26th of Oct. As far as the here commands goes, I could bend down and give alot of praise, she will sit there and look at me! Not all the time but from time to time.
Hopefully at my first class I will bring that up as a problem I am facing.
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Old October 4th, 2005, 08:33 PM
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StaceyB StaceyB is offline
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Thats great. I am sure they will cover come in the class but you may want to ask anyway.
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  #9  
Old October 5th, 2005, 01:25 PM
jo-anne jo-anne is offline
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this will help u i promise

How To Make Your Dog Come To You
Every Time You Call Him!

And today I'm going to show you how to do it.

Let's get started by asking this question:

"Is It More Fun To Be BAD?!?"

Believe it or not, your dog thinks it’s more fun and rewarding to run away than it is to come to you.

I'll show you why.

First, let’s think about what’s really going on when your dog refuses to come to you.

Picture this: You’re at the park and you decide to take your dog off the leash for a minute.

Next thing you know, he’s tearing off like a bolt of greased lightening …chasing squirrels and other dogs …and basically having a great time.

Then you call him. "Come!”.

He ignores you so you call again, "You come here right now!”

Then maybe you get a glance or a brief glimmer of attention.

At this point, your dog realizes he has two options:

1. Come to you and sit calmly by your side.

Or...

2. Chase squirrels, play with other dogs, and basically have about as much fun as a dog can have.

Now let me ask you a question.

If you were your dog, which would you choose?

Answer this honestly. You could either obey your owner (not very fun) …or keep running around (fun.)

My guess is you’d go with whatever is the most fun. (I would too.)

And that’s just what your dog is doing.

The only way this will ever change is for your dog to believe that it's MUCH more fun to come to you than it is to run around and ignore you.

Here's How You Fix The Problem
And Make Your Dog Come To You

Before we begin, we need to start out on the right foot.

So many dog owners overlook this first step and then wonder why their dogs won’t come to them.

Are you ready? It’s simple:

You MUST use the right tone of voice when you call your dog.

Sure, this sounds kind of ultra-basic but if this part of the training is wrong, it throws everything else off track.

Anyway, here’s what I mean about using the right tone of voice.

Whether you’re stern or soft spoken, or somewhere in between isn’t really all that important.

What is important is this:

You always use the same command every time, without fail. If you want your “come back to me right now” command to be the word “come”, then you must ALWAYS use that command when you’re training your dog to come to you.
You always use the same tone of voice when giving the command. I believe you should use a brisk and commanding tone (as opposed to a soft and pleading tone) but whatever you decide on, make sure you use that exact tone every time without fail.
The reasoning behind this is that dogs don’t speak English.

They don’t understand our actual words as much as they understand the tone of our voice and the phonetic sounds we make.

You could actually use a word that made no sense at all (like “biscuit” or something) as your "come" command and it would work as long as you always used that word and used the same tone of voice.

But I’m not recommending you use silly words as your commands.

I’m just making the point that you need to always use the same tone of voice and the same command every time because it’s the combination of sound and tone that your dog is responding to, not the actual English meaning of the word.

Teaching Your Dog To Come To You, Step One:

The first place we’re going to start the training is at home in an area your dog is totally comfortable with.

Lots of folks like to start training their dog to come to them in the park or somewhere other than the dog’s daily environment …and this is a mistake.

We need a place with no distractions. And think about it. If your dog won’t come to you at home, how’s he going to respond when you’re out somewhere that’s chock-full of fun distractions?

So we begin at home.

Here’s what you’ll need for this exercise:

Some small, hard treats (like dog biscuits).
A plastic bottle of jar with a lid.
A calm mind and patient attitude.
O.K. – I want you to remember that we’re starting at step one here. And it’s important to start at this very basic level because we’re not only training your dog to come to you, we’re also having to UN-TRAIN bad habits and associations.

For example, your dog may believe it’s more fun to ignore you because he gets to play. We have to UN-TRAIN him and basically “re-program” his belief system.

So even if your dog comes to you sometimes and not others, just go along with this “building block” exercise. You’ll be glad you did, even though it sounds really basic.

Here's What You Do...

First, take the dog bones (or other hard treats) you have and break them up into small bites. (Roughly the size of marbles.)

Then place a few of them into the plastic bottle or jar so when you shake it, the treats can be heard rattling around inside.

It’s very important that your dog can hear the rattle.

Next, make sure you’re in the same room with your dog during this part.

While he’s distracted or doing something else, rattle the treat jar.

This should get your dog’s attention. (Probably the rattling more so than your voice at this stage.)

When you have his attention, rattle the jar again and give the come command.

Since you’re already in the same room and you have your dog’s attention, he’s probably going to come to you out of curiosity at the very least.

As soon as he comes, give him one of the treats and heap TONS of praise on him.

Act as if he just parted the Red Sea and found a cure for the common cold, all in the same day. Really.

What we’re doing here (and I KNOW it seems too basic to work but it does) is trying to:

Introduce the come command.
Teach your dog that coming to you when you call is the greatest thing since God invented the Fire Hydrant.
That’s ALL we’re doing at this point. We get into more advanced training later. But if you skip this basic exercise or blow it off, your training will suffer in the long run.

Plus, you only do this for a minute or two at the time. And you should do it maybe three or four times a day.

So we’re talking a maximum of eight to fifteen minutes a day on this. That’s all.

The key is to be consistent and to make it fun. And also, keep the training sessions short. Otherwise your dog will get tired, bored, or possibly scared …and he’ll think it’s no fun.

Upping The Stakes:

After a day or so, you should be able to get your dog to come to you while you’re both in the same room by rattling the treat jar and giving the "come command".

I know you’re probably thinking this is no major accomplishment …but it is. The reason why is you’ve just laid the foundation for the rest of the training …and you’ve done it successfully.

See, training your dog to come to you when you call him is sort of like building a house.

If you don’t have a very solid foundation, your house will eventually topple over …even if it looks nice at first. And that's why we're doing this basic exercise right now.

So congratulations. You’ve just built the foundation for your training. And it was fun and easy!

But now it’s time to up the stakes a little bit.

This time, I want you to be a little stingier with the treats and the praise.

ONLY reward your dog if he comes right to you. If you have to give the “come” command ten times before he finally makes it over to you, then that’s not something that deserves a reward. Just calmly praise him, but don’t give any treats.

What we’re going for here is to

Have Your Dog INSTANTLY Come To You
Every Time!

That’s the ONLY scenario in which you should give him a treat at this point.

Now remember …we’re still doing this exercise at home …while you and your dog are in the same room . So it should be a “no brainer” for your dog.

After only a day or two, you'll have reached the first major step in training your dog to come to you.

He'll be coming to you instantly ...every time you call.

Granted, we're still working while you're both at home in the same room ...but you've just laid the foudation that will enable you to take your dog anywhere you want and not have to worry about him running off or making you chase him.

good luck jo-anne
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