# Come HERE



## MrsMDub (May 2, 2008)

We have a 13 week old Golden who is doing great. She sits very well, lays down on command sometimes, but she is still young and we're working with her quite a bit. However, she does not like to come to us when we tell her to. Whether we're inside and just want to love on her or outside if she's getting too far away from us. The latter situation is more troublesome for me for safety reasons. Anyway, my husband and I have sat down with her and point her in the direction of one of us and say "come" and if she doesn't we kinda walk her there saying "come" all along the way. She isn't catching on, she just looks at us and runs away. Any suggestions for what's worked for you?


----------



## Lisa_and_Willow. (Dec 18, 2007)

When she does come do you give her a treat? I started teaching 'come' in the house by calling Will to me at random times and giving her lots of praise and a treat. When the recall is going well start to slowly phase out the treats and and give one every two or three times she come to you. Keep her on her toes but never forget the praise! 

And no matter how frustrated you get, never be angry and her when she comes to you. Even if she has ignored you for the last 5 minutes. Every time she comes when you call should be a happy thing!


----------



## mdoats (Jun 7, 2007)

A couple of thoughts... 

- Don't use the command "come" when you want to end play and bring her in the house. I use "inside" instead so he doesn't associate "come" with an end to the fun. As someone once told me (probably on this board!), you want coming to you to be the MOST fun thing ever. 

- Don't repeat the command over and over again. I call Rookie once, "Rookie, come." You want him to know that the command is "come," not "come, come, come here, come, hey, come, come on, oh for crying out loud!"

- You may want another more casual come command when you're not as serious and you don't mean "come here right this instant." I use "come here" or more accurately "c'mere" when I want him to come to me inside the house for whatever reason and I don't need him to come flying and running to me right away.

- Get down on the ground, throw your arms wide open and call him to you in the happiest voice possible. When he gets there, have a little mini-party, pet him, talk to him in a high, happy voice, give him a little treat or his favorite toy, and then let him go back to playing away from you. Don't overdo the recall practice. A few times during a play session is probably enough.

- Don't ever call him in an angry voice or reprimand him when he does get to you. That's a pretty good way to make sure he DOESN'T come. Why would he want to come to you if he knows he's going to be scolded when he gets there.

Those are the best tips that folks have shared with me along the way. Rookie's recall is pretty good. If I call "Rookie, come!" he comes flying to my side from wherever he is in the house, yard, or park. We're still working a bit on building reliability around other dogs, but that's about the only distraction that ever keeps him from coming immediately when called.


----------



## jnmarr (Mar 7, 2008)

Mdoats is right on! One thing I do is practice practice practice, using yummy treats. When I say " Rusty come! ".. I use it in the context of " come here quick and see what I want to give you! ". They catch on fast like that. I use " com'ere " for hugs, petting, etc. Start on leash. Give the command and start walking backwards. As they are coming towards you hold your hand in the sit signal. Praise to the heavens. We also play hide and seek in our yard.. it is fenced. We take turns hiding and calling " name come! ". Believe me, when a 75 pound , tongue lolling golden is bounding to you, you will be very happy he comes to a hault and sits in front of you! Practice inside, outside at the park ( on leash ) , etc. I use cooked liver when we go to the dog park. I call them, treat and release.. they go back and play. Funny, I will call one of my dogs and half the dogs at the park come to me, ha ha. As in all training, the more you use it the better it will get.


----------



## Penny'smom (Mar 3, 2007)

Very good suggestions. I have just one more. Sign up for obedience classes starting with puppy socializing class. Not only will they teach you how to teach your dog, but they will help you if you run into a problem along the way. Make sure you find a 'positive reinforcement' trainer.


----------



## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

In additon to the great suggestions above - dont call them to come if you are oging to do something to them that they perceive as being unpleasant - like cleaning their ears/ trimming their nails/bathing/brushing/taking meds...

It is really easy to fall into the trap when you do have a decent recall...to use it (becuase it is easier or faster) and then administer the insult...but doing so weakens the recall because next time he will weigh the pros & cons as to wheather it is worth the risk of coming to you...

"hummm last time she stood in the bathroom and told me to come, I got a bath! .....I dont think I will fall for that again!"


----------



## Brady's mom (Dec 20, 2007)

Your puppy is still VERY young and has a short attention span. We didn't learn "Come" in our puppy class--it was only in the intermediate class that we started this. Our trainer said it can take up to a year to have good recall with your dog. She won't learn overnight, and she probably won't be super reliable as a puppy. Also, she's going to get to an age (~4-5 months) where she is more interested in exploring than being attached to you. It was at this age that we stopped taking Brady to the dog park, because he started wandering off more and more.

You got lots of good tips already but I'll add a few based on our training:

--You should only use the word "Come" when your puppy is in the act of coming to you. If you start yelling "Come" while she's sniffing the grass, she'll associate "Come" with sniffing the grass. So yell her name, wave your warms, and then yell "Come <Puppyname>" and soon as she's heading your way.

--Use extra special treats when working on "Come." They have to be super delicious.

--It helps to have someone work with you and keep your puppy on a long, thing rope (longer than a leash). Have your puppy "Stay," walk some distance away, and then yell her name (and when she's running to you, yell "Come!") The rope is helpful for grabbing the puppy if she's starting to wander off.

--When she's coming to you, hold your treat behind your knee. The puppy needs to "Come" so that she's close enough for you to grab her collar. This is key in an outdoor situation when you don't have total control of your dog. Don't hold the treat in front of you--your puppy will still be out of reach when she takes the treat, and you won't be able to catch her.


----------



## 4rdogs (Dec 22, 2007)

You can't drive a car without a steering wheel.. you can't train a dog without a leash
If the dog is off the leash and you are saying "Come" how is the dog suppose to know what you mean if the dog wasn't taught? 
A dog will come back to you went it has 
nothing else better to do..Smell the grass, chase a butterfly,etc
Saying "Come" to a dog off lead that wasn't taught is like me telling you to " Suekdygi" and you are off
lead and across the room or sitting 10 feet away from me
Can you do what I just told you to do? If I yell it? 
Until you can get to obedience lesson keep the dog on leash outside 
of if your dog is loose & you want to make it come... either ran the other way
like you just found something great... have their favorite toy make a big deal of 
having it... Or go on the ground and pretend to cry or laugh.. they will come..
We use "Here" for our gang when we are outside (sounds like heel) we only
use Come when we are in a show.. Come to our dogs means come in front and sit
Here means I want you by me 
You pup is still a baby.. We really don't start training or let pups in our class until
they are 4 months old...


----------



## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

4rdogs said:


> You can't drive a car without a steering wheel.. you can't train a dog without a leash
> If the dog is off the leash and you are saying "Come" how is the dog suppose to know what you mean if the dog wasn't taught?
> A dog will come back to you went it has
> nothing else better to do..Smell the grass, chase a butterfly,etc
> ...


All great advice here! The only thing I do different is to start training pups at 7 weeks - especially on recall! I start making it fun to run to me when they hear a certain word as soon as I get them.


----------



## 4rdogs (Dec 22, 2007)

Sorry, I meant the age for obedience classes
When we teach a young pup ( 7 to 8 weeks old) in the house to come
We do this during feeding time.. I use Pup,Pup,Puppies.. 
Even use this with a litter of puppies.. before I would put down their food 
I would say this.... They knew supper & come a running LOL

Once when our Amber ( bridge kid) was 14 I called from the other room
Pup,Pup,Puppies.. She came into the room tail wagging.. she remembered


----------

