# He just won't come



## TobysDad (Apr 7, 2009)

Our 13 month old is a beautiful, reasonably well-behaved boy. Yeah, I know he mootches more than he should, and possibly counter-surfs a little more than desired, gets a little rambuncious at times, but all in all is still a great golden. The only problem is that I cannot get him to come when called. He is easily distracted by rabbits, new smells, etc, and will cantor off following the scent and ignore me.

I have tried to put him on a retractable leash and let him go off 20 to 30 feet, but as soon as he is on the leash, he stays nearby. I have tried treats (maybe not long enough) and he will usually come, but only after some consideration. Any advice?


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

I always work on the come command – even with my obedience titled older dogs. You need to make coming to you far more rewarding than anything else in the world, and this is not only very tough, but a lifetime project … grins

There are some basic rules for the recall that are just as important as making coming to you rewarding, and these would include:

1) Never call your dog when something he perceives as unpleasant will follow – such as bathing, giving a pill etc.
2) Never discipline your dog when he comes to you – this can be tough to remember when he has been running in circles and ignoring you for 15 minutes and finally decides to come, but reward him when he gets to you.
3) If at all possible and it is safe to do so, if he does ignore your cueing him to come, turn your back and walk away; do not engage in a 'Catch Me if You Can' game.

Retrain the come command from scratch – on lead at first if you are not in an enclosed area. 

Throw food out to get your dog to move away from you, and call him towards you; reward with something even better than what he had thrown out – a special food; a rousing game of tug etc.

Slowly increase the distractions at a short distance and then start increasing the distance you work with; when you increase the distance you will need to lessen the distractions until he is responding well to the increased distance.

If he is ignoring you to smell something, consider getting down on your hands and knees and pretend you are scratching the earth to sniff something yourself; chances are excellent he will come running over to you to see what treasure you found; once he starts moving toward you cue COME and reward heavily when he gets to you.

Until you feel he is reliable (95 – 99%) enough to be off lead, he should not be allowed off lead if he is not in a safe and enclosed area. I recently had to put my Towhee back on lead for our morning hikes; she is probably 98% reliable while it is fully light out, but I am walking in the pre-dawn light and just don't feel comfortable enough to let her too far away from me when the coyotes etc are still about. So there are some occasions where you mostly reliable dog may need to be put back on lead.

One of my training buddies was working on off lead recalls this past weekend with his youngster, and the young dog's biggest distraction appeared to be either my Casey heeling with me or the roast beef I had J. My point is, his owner is working on these distractions in a secure and enclosed environment; off lead, under heavy distractions but working towards a more complete understanding of the recall response from the youngster. This is an experienced person with very well behaved dogs, but the recall is so important it always can be improved upon.


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## rappwizard (May 27, 2009)

You received excellent advice; try a long training lead (30 feet) instead of the retractable leash and see how he responds to that and if he moves away from you and then try the exercises as suggested by Sunrise.


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## TobysDad (Apr 7, 2009)

*Another question*

Sunrise: Thanks for the advice.

What often happens is that I call him, he does not come, and then I have to "retrieve my retreiver." He usually won't run away when I come for him, and often will assume what I refer to as the snake position - flat on his belly and looking up at me and saying (with his eyes) "I know I've done wrong, but I just can't help myself!" 

When our first golden was a puppy and would go where he wasn't supposed to, we would look him in the eyes and tell him "NO." After a couple of times, he understood not to do that again (go into the neighbor's yard, etc). With this guy, I tried the same tactic when he left the yard, and it has no effect other than the snake position. When I retrieve him, I tell him NO. Is this smart, or the wrong idea?


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Personally, I would not even say 'NO'. Snake position might be telling you he is afraid of a possible correction, he is going into a learned helplessness position or that he just doesn't understand. He might also be choosing to disobey, but I am leaning toward him just not undertsanding - which calls for training and not a correction. With softer dogs, a NO is a correction (I have 2 right now who view NO as something to avoid). 

If it would be safe, try walking away from him with a treat or toy in your hand that he gets when he comes - you may need to reel him in at first until he learns that good things come to dogs who come ...

This might take awhile, since he needs to be reconditioned to coming - btw; if at first he comes slowly, that is quite all right as long as he comes - just begin rewarding more intensely for faster responses.

Also please know that goldens are very aware of movement and scents - this is part of who they are (and should be) so you are certainly not alone with a youngster who does not always repsond until carefully and methodically conditioned to


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## TobysDad (Apr 7, 2009)

*Ok*

I'll give it a shot! Thanks!


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I will second putting him on a long line instead of a retractable leash. Dogs can feel the constant pressure of the retractable leash and it is a reminder that the tool is there. It's a lot easier for them to forget that a long line is on them.If I'm not fairly certain that my dog will come if I call him, I won't call him unless I have a way to back up that command (like a long line). It does more harm than good in the learning process if you tell your dog to come and he doesn't respond and you don't have a way to back it up.One of the best ways to get your dog running towards you is to take off in the opposite direction of them while they're looking at you.


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## TobysDad (Apr 7, 2009)

*Actually I tried that*

Loisiana:

Actually I have tried running away from him like that. Typically he just sits down and watches me. Then I find I'm twice as far and he still won't come....


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Sunrise said:


> One of my training buddies was working on off lead recalls this past weekend with his youngster, and the young dog's biggest distraction appeared to be either my Casey heeling with me or the roast beef I had.
> 
> My point is, his owner is working on these distractions in a secure and enclosed environment; off lead, under heavy distractions but working towards a more complete understanding of the recall response from the youngster. This is an experienced person with very well behaved dogs, but the recall is so important it always can be improved upon.


LOL...this is totally Jax she's talking about. He's very solid on recall, _except_ in social situations where a friend or a friendly stranger might give him attention. That's not good enough, though: I work towards 100% recall reliability with my dogs so I can take them more places and hike in more off-leash environment

I think my response to Jax's particular training needs is germane to your question. If he's going to blow me off, I can't use the "come" command, or I'll weaken it. So, during our training session, I asked everybody not to reinforce him (i.e., give him attention) if he broke away from me, and I worked on his off-leash skills. He did well leaving the people alone, but the sight of Casey and Sharon and the roast beef was too much for him. 

Because the situation was controlled, he was not reinforced for breaking away from me (no friendly attention or treats), and he _was_ reinforced for giving his attention back. The second the dog begins to return to you, you have to swallow your pride and praise the desired behavior. Never, never punish a dog during compliance.

When you're working on a behavior that the dog will give you in some environments but not others, you need to set up a controlled situation where you can expose him to those stimuli but still control whether or not he's reinforced. You can't simply bribe a dog as a way of competing with the other stimulus (after all, what dog would pass up another dog, a friend, and some roast beef for anything else in the world?). You need to develop a habit in which the dog _is habituated_ to complying and benefiting from that compliance.

I'm not putting my voice or my treat in competition with the distraction. I'm building a habit that will be more powerful. When he hears "come," he will feel deeply that it's time to turn around, as an automatic response. If he's never reinforced for breaking but regularly reinforced for obeying with stronger and stronger distractions, that habit becomes very deep-seated. Every time he hears the word and doesn't comply, or worse, is rewarded for non-compliance, that habit is weakened.

Generally speaking, it takes from 10-100 successful repetitions of a behavior to erase a blowoff, so I'm religious about not having them happen.


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## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Similar to Tippy's advice, here's step-by-step how I train for a reliable recall:

Phase One:
http://www.examiner.com/x-18986-San...09m8d26-Training-your-dog-to-come-when-called

Phase Two -- for after a few weeks of Phase One Training:
http://www.examiner.com/x-18986-San...our-dog-to-come-when-called-final-installment


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

If he's going on his belly, then he understands that you're mad. The issue is that a fear of consequences doesn't really help a dog understand what he's supposed to do instead. In his mind, he may hear 'come, come,' but the distraction he's experiencing is simply more powerful than the habit of turning around.

When you become angry, he understands that you're angry, but not that he _should have_ come. Dogs are masters of understanding body language and tone, but they're terrible at connecting actions and consequences.

You can use a correction to interrupt a behavior, particularly so it's not followed through on, but they don't learn to come because they think it's come "or else." They learn because of habituation and reinforcement.

At this point, the "NO" isn't helping you, and if it's making him nervous, it may actually be working against you.


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