Teach Your Dog To Always Come When Called

Teaching your dog to come when you call it is very important and in fact it could be a life-saving exercise. Teaching this command should start early when the dog is a young puppy and before it learns that it doesn't have to come.

Most people get in the habit of taking their puppy outside to do its business without a leash. That works fine when the puppy is very young but as it starts getting older it realizes that there's a big world out there that's worth exploring and guess what, you can't catch him.

So one of the very first things you should do with your puppy is getting it used to a collar and leash. When you take your puppy outside to do its business, always do it with the collar and leash. This way your puppy learns to come when you call it because you can actually pull it in with the leash and it learns it can't runaway. So that becomes its habit.

One thing to keep in mind is that your puppy needs a reason to come when you call it. There are actually three different things that your puppy would probably love when it comes. It can be lots of praise, a toy, and even a treat will work as a reward.

Even though I'm not a treat trainer I love using treats to teach a dog to come when it's called. Basically what you're going to do is use the dog's name and the command come, simply Fido come. When he comes to you he has to sit and then he is rewarded with a treat. Make that treat something special that really motivates him to come when you call him.

I've had clients use everything from small pieces of steak, string beans out of a can, small pieces of chicken and even tiny pieces of cheese. You simply need to find out what treat turns your dog on and which treat is most desirable to him.

You can make this a game for the entire family. Family members can position themselves in different rooms and take turns calling the dog. Once this exercise is working well in the house then you can move it to the fenced in backyard. Again family members position themselves in different corners of the yard and call the dog and give him his reward when he comes.

What you are doing is creating a real strong habit. So that when he hears his name and the command come, he knows that there's always something good in it for him. So the question is how many times do we do this? There isn't a true answer; you may need to do it hundreds or even thousands of times to create the really strong habit.

When your dog is doing this really well then you can start rewarding him sometimes with his treat and other times with physical praise. If you've laid the proper groundwork and done the exercise enough times it should now be a habit and your dog should come when it's called.

One golden rule; never punish a dog that finally comes to you, it will teach him not to come.

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