Why do dogs don't come when called?
In previous entry titled "Why do dogs love to chase car,bicycles,joggers ", I wrote that our stumpy little dog "Palette" and I play a little game on walk from the time when she was puppy. She and I step to the side and stay still on walk when we see cars and we keep walking again when cars passing by. I also wrote that if your dogs know "come" command, it could be a life saver command especially if your dogs have tendency to dash out as soon as the doors open.
How to teach "Come" command was one of the things we learned at puppy training class. I think teaching your dogs "come" command from young age is very important for their safety.
As you have read before, first thing I taught her before teaching "come" was door manner with "wait" command. This way, you can teach your dogs to wait at the door until they are called and you can prevent "door dasher". And if your dogs know "come" and if it were reliable command, you can use "come" command if/when dogs encounter dangerous situation or in case your dogs dashed out from the door due distraction like a squirrels.
One time, when we were on road trip at rest stop, for some reason, her harness slipped away from Palette and I saw a big truck slowly coming into the rest stop and I saw Palette tried to walk forward with normal speed. That was real scary moment. My heart was beating so fast. But my husband called her "come" and luckily, she turned around and ran back to us. It was new place for Palette and, I can see Palette might have been interested in sniffing the ground she has never sniffed. But "come" command saved her life, and I never forget the scary moment.
For me and Palette, "sit" is the beginning of everything.I taught her to "sit" before all things she enjoys. "Sit" before being pet or getting attention from me, "sit" before meal, "sit" before the doors open,"sit" before fetch ball/Frisbee,"sit" before getting leash connected to her collar for walk ( Later, I taught her "turn around " command and she sits facing out to get her leash connected to her collar.Now, she sits facing out without me telling her to do so.) ..
So, in her mind, everything she enjoys starts from "sit". The fact that dogs know "sit" bring everything they enjoy works on your favor too because "sit" becomes sort of attention grabber from your dogs, and it helps your dogs to take a breath and calm down.Cushion between the command you are to work on."Sit" is core of all things.
When I was working on the door manner with Palette, very first thing I taught her was to sit before the door open.Then, taught her "wait" (impulse control), and finally taught her "come".
How do you teach your dog "Sit"?
1. Hold the treats in your hands and let your dog sniff
2. After you got your dog's attention, bring the treats to up around the dog's nose and move it back around their head. As dogs would follow the treats with nose to get to it, automatically, their butt should touch the ground.
3. As soon as their butt touch the ground, click the clicker and give them a treats. Repeat over and over again.
** If your dogs jumping up or standing on their hind legs with air pawing, your treats are positioned too high for them to automatically sit on their own. Try holding the treats a little lower and try again.
** In other words, if you were to teach" stand on their hind legs" with air pawing, if you hold the treats higher, you can teach them the trick.
I have seen people pushing the dogs' back down to teach "sit" but teaching without physical touch is more effective because they need to "think" what you are asking them to and probably more eager to learn things from you.
Now, your dogs know "sit".
How do you teach your dogs to "wait" at the door?
When I taught Palette to wait at the door, here is how I taught her.
1. Let her sit in front of the door, slowly opened door just a bit. If she starts standing up, I said "Try again", and just closed door and slowly open door again. When she could hold "sit" with door opened a bit,I clicked the clicker and gave her treats.
2.As time goes by, I opened door open wider and wider and eventually she could wait when door is open wide.
3.Next,when the door is opened widely and Palette was sit still, I said "wait" and click the clicker right away and gave her the treats. And eventually, time on wait got longer.
** By repeating this over and over,she got ideas that as long as her butt is on floor,door open wide.
And after being able to let her stays sit till door widely opened, I stepped out from entrance, and let her "stay" on the spot. By then, she knew "stay" command. But here is how you can teach your dogs "stay".
How do you teach your dogs "sit-stay"?
1. Let your dogs sit and say "stay"
** Don't move/step away or your dogs would move.
2. Wait about 5 seconds and click the clicker and give them treats
3. Repeat 1&2 over and over and when they do good on them, say "stay" and one step back from your dog and wait 5 seconds and if your dog kept "sit" position, walk back to them, and click the clicker and give them treats.
** If they follow you when you one step back, just walk back to him to the position you want them to "sit-stay" saying "Try again"
** When you walk forward to your dogs, they should back up. Use your body without physical touch.
** It is important for you to walk back to them before you will click the clicker because dogs may break the "stay" and move forward to you to get the treats.Give treats when they are on "stay",not when they walk up to you.
** As time goes by, I have added extra seconds, added distance from Palette, tried different posture such as "down-stay", and also added distraction when she could hold good solid "stay" at good distance with longer time on "stay". But do not try adding extra time on "stay" and longer distance at the same time. Just add one thing at a time.
** I tried rolled ball in front of her, run around her, run around her with happy voice, jumping around her... anything that might break her "stay". This is great practice for impulse control too.
** After she did great "sit-stay" inside the house, I worked on "stay" outside too apart from door manner practice.
When training outside the house, leash comes handy for training. Especially if your house has no fenced yard, it is more so for training outside.
One of the thing I use for outside training for Palette is called " Check cords".
Check cords..
It is a polypropylene rope, and as I understand it, people who are training their dog on tracking,field training tend to use this type of long rope. Mine in the picture is 50 feet long so, it is pretty long rope. Things I like about this rope is that it is easy to detangle the knots and not just when training purpose, I can use this to let Palette go for potty in heavy snow day without being pulled and slipped. Longer leash like this comes handy on such days.
Palette in the snow with check cord..
This is when Palette and I played "Find the bully sticks in the snow" game. She found it in the snow and brought it back into the house. You see that Palette is with check cord not regular leash..
If you were interested in watching the video how we played "Find it" game in the heavy snow, you can see in previous entry titled "Picnic in the snow ".
When I was practicing "sit-stay" outside, I started from "sit-stay" without me stepping back,and worked up to "sit-stay" with one step back.. same thing I have worked on inside the house but from the scratch because environment is much different and, even if your dog knows "sit" inside the house, it does not necessary means they can "sit" outside as they could. So, worked on the "sit-stay" from zero.
After she can "sit-stay" outside, I started working on it at door manner practice too. So, she hears me say "sit. wait." and door opens wide and I step out and she hears "stay" and from there, I worked on longer time, longer distance and worked up to the time she can stay still like statue at the door.
When she master all these, I worked on "come". I think that easiest way is to use their natural instinct.
How do you teach your dogs to "come" when called?
Here is how I taught Palette "come". I worked on this first inside the house (less distraction), and then practiced it outside. When practicing outside, I used check cords instead of regular leash.
1. Let your dogs "sit"
** Remember, everything they love would start with "sit"
2. Call your dog name and simply run to opposite direction from your dogs
** Dogs naturally love to chase. They would most likely chase after you.
3. When they come running to you, say "come" and click the clicker and give them treats and big praise.
** IF just you running away from your dog was not enough to encourage them to chase after you, maybe you can squeak toys in front of them and let them get excited first before you taking off, and then, run away from your dogs squeaking your dogs favorite toys. When they come running to you, say "come" and click the clicker and give them treats with big praise.
Palette with earless squeaky bear..
The squeaky bear in the picture is the squeaky toy that Palette enjoy squeaking for 5 years despite the fact that the bear ears got chewed off by her. I know if food treats did not work for her to motivate her to chase me, I can take this toy, squeak in front of her a bit and runs opposite direction. She sure would chase me with tongue hanging out.
** For solid recall (come when called 100% ), never call your dogs to tell them negative things such as when you do nail trimming, bathing, leaving for work, or if dogs did potty accident, never call them to the spot to scold them.Just clean up the potty accident and work on the potty training.This can become reason why dogs do not come when called.
When I do nail trimming or bathing Palette, I say nothing, and I just come to her and work on things.I never call before things she might not love.
Always call them when something good is coming. When they know that their name is called by you means always something good happens, they sure would come trot to you in a second.
** You can practice many times throughout the day if you wanted to. When I was teaching Palette "come", I gave her a pop quiz/jack pot time with this practice. I just called her name when she is least expected me to call her name.
For example, when she sees me reading newspaper and she is 2 feet away laying on side, I called her name and said "come". She perks up and one step forward to me and I say "Good girl" and my hand is in treat bag and she trots to me to claim her rewards. This is kind of like a fun game and we had treat bag at every room so that we can call her name at any time,and can give her treats when come.
Now, food treats are at random for Palette to come when called but she still gets head scratch or tummy rubs or other non food rewards is given and she comes when called even if she does not know if the rewards are food or non food. After all, you cannot have treats all time with you. Food treats became at random as her recall becomes more solid.
"Come" command also good one to use when your dogs are barking at something outside. Since I do not want to eliminate all barking, I let Palette bark a couple of time, and I say "Thank you.Come". And she comes and she sits beside me and gets treats.
And as always, each member of your family should work the same way to practice training issues. Also, training takes times, and there is no quick fix. You need to commit yourself, and be consistent, be patient, and be calm. Training is not chore,rather chance for us and dogs to have fun and to have our bond stronger...So have fun training positive way.
If you were interested in reading on clicker training, you can read on clicker training in previous entry titled "Clicker training:clicker is your friend ".
How to teach "Come" command was one of the things we learned at puppy training class. I think teaching your dogs "come" command from young age is very important for their safety.
As you have read before, first thing I taught her before teaching "come" was door manner with "wait" command. This way, you can teach your dogs to wait at the door until they are called and you can prevent "door dasher". And if your dogs know "come" and if it were reliable command, you can use "come" command if/when dogs encounter dangerous situation or in case your dogs dashed out from the door due distraction like a squirrels.
One time, when we were on road trip at rest stop, for some reason, her harness slipped away from Palette and I saw a big truck slowly coming into the rest stop and I saw Palette tried to walk forward with normal speed. That was real scary moment. My heart was beating so fast. But my husband called her "come" and luckily, she turned around and ran back to us. It was new place for Palette and, I can see Palette might have been interested in sniffing the ground she has never sniffed. But "come" command saved her life, and I never forget the scary moment.
For me and Palette, "sit" is the beginning of everything.I taught her to "sit" before all things she enjoys. "Sit" before being pet or getting attention from me, "sit" before meal, "sit" before the doors open,"sit" before fetch ball/Frisbee,"sit" before getting leash connected to her collar for walk ( Later, I taught her "turn around " command and she sits facing out to get her leash connected to her collar.Now, she sits facing out without me telling her to do so.) ..
So, in her mind, everything she enjoys starts from "sit". The fact that dogs know "sit" bring everything they enjoy works on your favor too because "sit" becomes sort of attention grabber from your dogs, and it helps your dogs to take a breath and calm down.Cushion between the command you are to work on."Sit" is core of all things.
When I was working on the door manner with Palette, very first thing I taught her was to sit before the door open.Then, taught her "wait" (impulse control), and finally taught her "come".
How do you teach your dog "Sit"?
1. Hold the treats in your hands and let your dog sniff
2. After you got your dog's attention, bring the treats to up around the dog's nose and move it back around their head. As dogs would follow the treats with nose to get to it, automatically, their butt should touch the ground.
3. As soon as their butt touch the ground, click the clicker and give them a treats. Repeat over and over again.
** If your dogs jumping up or standing on their hind legs with air pawing, your treats are positioned too high for them to automatically sit on their own. Try holding the treats a little lower and try again.
** In other words, if you were to teach" stand on their hind legs" with air pawing, if you hold the treats higher, you can teach them the trick.
I have seen people pushing the dogs' back down to teach "sit" but teaching without physical touch is more effective because they need to "think" what you are asking them to and probably more eager to learn things from you.
Now, your dogs know "sit".
How do you teach your dogs to "wait" at the door?
When I taught Palette to wait at the door, here is how I taught her.
1. Let her sit in front of the door, slowly opened door just a bit. If she starts standing up, I said "Try again", and just closed door and slowly open door again. When she could hold "sit" with door opened a bit,I clicked the clicker and gave her treats.
2.As time goes by, I opened door open wider and wider and eventually she could wait when door is open wide.
3.Next,when the door is opened widely and Palette was sit still, I said "wait" and click the clicker right away and gave her the treats. And eventually, time on wait got longer.
** By repeating this over and over,she got ideas that as long as her butt is on floor,door open wide.
And after being able to let her stays sit till door widely opened, I stepped out from entrance, and let her "stay" on the spot. By then, she knew "stay" command. But here is how you can teach your dogs "stay".
How do you teach your dogs "sit-stay"?
1. Let your dogs sit and say "stay"
** Don't move/step away or your dogs would move.
2. Wait about 5 seconds and click the clicker and give them treats
3. Repeat 1&2 over and over and when they do good on them, say "stay" and one step back from your dog and wait 5 seconds and if your dog kept "sit" position, walk back to them, and click the clicker and give them treats.
** If they follow you when you one step back, just walk back to him to the position you want them to "sit-stay" saying "Try again"
** When you walk forward to your dogs, they should back up. Use your body without physical touch.
** It is important for you to walk back to them before you will click the clicker because dogs may break the "stay" and move forward to you to get the treats.Give treats when they are on "stay",not when they walk up to you.
** As time goes by, I have added extra seconds, added distance from Palette, tried different posture such as "down-stay", and also added distraction when she could hold good solid "stay" at good distance with longer time on "stay". But do not try adding extra time on "stay" and longer distance at the same time. Just add one thing at a time.
** I tried rolled ball in front of her, run around her, run around her with happy voice, jumping around her... anything that might break her "stay". This is great practice for impulse control too.
** After she did great "sit-stay" inside the house, I worked on "stay" outside too apart from door manner practice.
When training outside the house, leash comes handy for training. Especially if your house has no fenced yard, it is more so for training outside.
One of the thing I use for outside training for Palette is called " Check cords".
Check cords..
It is a polypropylene rope, and as I understand it, people who are training their dog on tracking,field training tend to use this type of long rope. Mine in the picture is 50 feet long so, it is pretty long rope. Things I like about this rope is that it is easy to detangle the knots and not just when training purpose, I can use this to let Palette go for potty in heavy snow day without being pulled and slipped. Longer leash like this comes handy on such days.
Palette in the snow with check cord..
This is when Palette and I played "Find the bully sticks in the snow" game. She found it in the snow and brought it back into the house. You see that Palette is with check cord not regular leash..
If you were interested in watching the video how we played "Find it" game in the heavy snow, you can see in previous entry titled "Picnic in the snow ".
When I was practicing "sit-stay" outside, I started from "sit-stay" without me stepping back,and worked up to "sit-stay" with one step back.. same thing I have worked on inside the house but from the scratch because environment is much different and, even if your dog knows "sit" inside the house, it does not necessary means they can "sit" outside as they could. So, worked on the "sit-stay" from zero.
After she can "sit-stay" outside, I started working on it at door manner practice too. So, she hears me say "sit. wait." and door opens wide and I step out and she hears "stay" and from there, I worked on longer time, longer distance and worked up to the time she can stay still like statue at the door.
When she master all these, I worked on "come". I think that easiest way is to use their natural instinct.
How do you teach your dogs to "come" when called?
Here is how I taught Palette "come". I worked on this first inside the house (less distraction), and then practiced it outside. When practicing outside, I used check cords instead of regular leash.
1. Let your dogs "sit"
** Remember, everything they love would start with "sit"
2. Call your dog name and simply run to opposite direction from your dogs
** Dogs naturally love to chase. They would most likely chase after you.
3. When they come running to you, say "come" and click the clicker and give them treats and big praise.
** IF just you running away from your dog was not enough to encourage them to chase after you, maybe you can squeak toys in front of them and let them get excited first before you taking off, and then, run away from your dogs squeaking your dogs favorite toys. When they come running to you, say "come" and click the clicker and give them treats with big praise.
Palette with earless squeaky bear..
The squeaky bear in the picture is the squeaky toy that Palette enjoy squeaking for 5 years despite the fact that the bear ears got chewed off by her. I know if food treats did not work for her to motivate her to chase me, I can take this toy, squeak in front of her a bit and runs opposite direction. She sure would chase me with tongue hanging out.
** For solid recall (come when called 100% ), never call your dogs to tell them negative things such as when you do nail trimming, bathing, leaving for work, or if dogs did potty accident, never call them to the spot to scold them.Just clean up the potty accident and work on the potty training.This can become reason why dogs do not come when called.
When I do nail trimming or bathing Palette, I say nothing, and I just come to her and work on things.I never call before things she might not love.
Always call them when something good is coming. When they know that their name is called by you means always something good happens, they sure would come trot to you in a second.
** You can practice many times throughout the day if you wanted to. When I was teaching Palette "come", I gave her a pop quiz/jack pot time with this practice. I just called her name when she is least expected me to call her name.
For example, when she sees me reading newspaper and she is 2 feet away laying on side, I called her name and said "come". She perks up and one step forward to me and I say "Good girl" and my hand is in treat bag and she trots to me to claim her rewards. This is kind of like a fun game and we had treat bag at every room so that we can call her name at any time,and can give her treats when come.
Now, food treats are at random for Palette to come when called but she still gets head scratch or tummy rubs or other non food rewards is given and she comes when called even if she does not know if the rewards are food or non food. After all, you cannot have treats all time with you. Food treats became at random as her recall becomes more solid.
"Come" command also good one to use when your dogs are barking at something outside. Since I do not want to eliminate all barking, I let Palette bark a couple of time, and I say "Thank you.Come". And she comes and she sits beside me and gets treats.
And as always, each member of your family should work the same way to practice training issues. Also, training takes times, and there is no quick fix. You need to commit yourself, and be consistent, be patient, and be calm. Training is not chore,rather chance for us and dogs to have fun and to have our bond stronger...So have fun training positive way.
If you were interested in reading on clicker training, you can read on clicker training in previous entry titled "Clicker training:clicker is your friend ".
Posted by yassy at 8/24/2010 11:21 AM 
Categories: Dog training
Tags: dog stay why sit wait come training
Categories: Dog training
Tags: dog stay why sit wait come training
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