# I feel like I'm doing it all wrong...



## Nicole&Zack (Feb 27, 2007)

ahhh...the come command..its not an easy one...
Try this....have her on a long leash...say *come*..if she doesnt respong just pull on the leash a bit....practice practice practice. Make sure you praise her and give her a treat.
You know zack is like that...we have a fence, not sure if you do. But we'll go outside and then say...wanna come in? if he does he comes...if not he'll just look at us like *nah, i am stay and play*...
Also, you can play chase...have her chase you inside.
Or play hide and seek with her.....
Just some suggestions.
Another one...buy a whistle...everytime you wanna feed her...blow that whistle, say *come* and give her her dinner...breakfast. She'll know soon that whistle sound means food. When she is outside...do the same thing...just give her a treat when she is inside...worked for Zack.


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## Nicole&Zack (Feb 27, 2007)

Oh my gosh...please do excuse my typos...still early here....:doh:


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## justmejanis (Feb 25, 2007)

Oh I hear your frustration! I am sure you will get a lot of great advice here. I can tell you that I used the reward system with Sampson, our rescue.

We got Sampson from a rescue last May. He was about a year old. No manners at all. The biggest problem we had was running away, we did not have a fence. We did fence about an acre out back. I worked on getting him to come and I did give him a small treat. Not every time, sometimes just a lot of praise.

Then I started working with him out front, in an unfenced area. The same thing....when he came he got a small treat, sometimes praise. It took time, but now I can have him off leash out front and he comes immediately when I call him. Now it is for praise only, not food.

So for ME, I see nothing wrong with a treat reward at all. It worked wonders for Sammy. Just lots and lots of repitition. They really are responsive! 

I hope this helps. I do not think you are doing it all wrong!! Don't be so hard on yourself!! You can alternate treat/praise....Geddy will learn, I promise!

Good luck!!


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## Carsonsdaddy (Nov 1, 2006)

Nicole&Zack said:


> Also, you can play chase...have her chase you inside.


This is what I do with Carson... make the coming back inside part of the play. Don't change the tone of your voice, keep that playfull tone...believe me...they know the difference. :doh:  In that situation I also make it less of a "you come here" command and more of a "come on...let's go."


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

And usually, if all else fails, if you turn and run, they will follow you. It even worked on my Terv who was terrible at coming when called.

I bribe my guys all the time-heck, it works 

I bribe them to go into their crates and the two youngest get so excited that they go in and out of all of the crates! This in spite of the fact that they have never been treated for going into the wrong crate, and have never gotten more than one treat at a time 


Linda


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## Angela Mina (Feb 25, 2007)

Our trainer recommends using an extra special treat for teaching the command come (we use cheese) and only use that treat for that command. We started with one person holding the dog. The other person shows the dog the treat and walks away. The person with the treat says "[dogs name] COME" in a very excited manner and when the dog comes, he gets the treat, and lots of praise. Our trainer says that you have to "make yourself more exciting than a dead carcass"

She only uses the extra special treat for the command come, because it is the most important command the dog needs to learn.


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## IvanD (Mar 25, 2007)

And I read on a book try not to "bribe" your dog. In a sense that, what you are doing when you are trying to get your dog back into the house is "bribing", it's not bad but it wouldn't teach your dog much. According to the book, the author suggests that you REWARD your dog, but that means you would somehow have to let your dog enter the house first and THEN give him a treat... But I have no clue how you can get your dog to go into the house...

But just thought I should point that out...


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Dog are incredibly gifted at detecting patterns and us people are so darn predictable with our life patterns! 

Look at the choice from the dogs point of view...
Here I am outside off leash having fun sniffing and running...
I have two choices:
Continue to sniff and run OR end my fun and go to 'the crazy lady' (what I beleive my dogs call me!) and she will leash me up and take me inside where I will have less fun...

So from your position you have two choices:
Continue keeping the dog on leash and make him come to you OR become MORE rewarding/valuable/interesting and less predicatable then sniffing, feeling the breeze across his face, running and playing etc...


Question:
If stood at the gate and asked the dog if he wanted to go for a "Ride" would he come running? (unless he is car phobic or gets carsick - the answer is probably yes)
So it is possible to convince the dog that there is a reason to come to you....It is a matter of finding what you have in your bag of tricks to make it worthwhile to the dog to come when called....
By the way - dont use the ride as a bribe unless you are going to actually give him a ride! If you fail to follow through with your promise...that lure will be lost...


One of my tricks is to teach the dog _overtime_ that the fun DOES NOT have to end when we leave the backyard. While teaching the dog, he is on leash....I have to have a way to limit his ability to reward himself by continuing to sniff and run until I have convinced him that this 'new-unpredictable-me' is real and he can count on the unpredicability!...

When we get back in the house I play with him - I reach in the freezer and get the kong with just a bit of peanut butter or a cookie stuffed inside. Or I pull a tennis ball, out of my pocket and toss it down the hall....or get in the house and take off running down the hall....
I also make it a practice to indeed take the pup for a short car ride - or put their leash on and go for a short walk rather then go immediatley inside....

So, when the girls come to me at the gate they are never entirely sure what will happen next...will we be released to go run and play again? Will she give us a piece of cheese, will we go for a ride or a walk. Will be go in and get a Kong...will we go in and play hide and seek...will we get the special toys in stored the closet...will we be able to do some tricks and earn some carrots?!

It sounds like a lot more work, but it really isn't any more work that cajoling!  

Regards,


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## LuxysMommy (Feb 28, 2007)

Carsonsdaddy said:


> This is what I do with Carson... make the coming back inside part of the play. Don't change the tone of your voice, keep that playfull tone...believe me...they know the difference. :doh:  In that situation I also make it less of a "you come here" command and more of a "come on...let's go."


 
I agree with the tone of the voice. I find that if I'm trying to be stern or neutral, Luxy won't come to me but if I call her over in an excited voice and say Luxy come to mommy a couple of times and make the kissing sound, she runs right over. Not sure why but this has worked from day 1. It's a little emberrasing to do in public but hey, it does the job


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## goldencity (May 26, 2005)

If you only ever call your dog when its to do something it dosnt want to do, you will have real trouble teaching the command "come"!
Have some REALLY TASTY treats like dried liver or cheese that the pup does not normally get. Practise this first inside; call the pup,make a big fuss of her and treat. Let pup go off and play.Then repeat.
Over a few days keep using the command "come" and reward every time it responds. 
Then move outdoors in the yard, when the pup is only a few feet away, call it, and reward with the really tasty treat and lots of fuss. Then let pup go off again. Keep repeating this, letting the distance between you get longer. Gradually, you can leave out the treat and just give lots of praise only using the treat occaisionally 
After a while, pup will associate the "come " command with a rewarding experience and will have learnt.
When ever I am out with Millie and Daisy, we do this. I call them to me when they are off running and put their leads on, then they have a game or a fuss before letting them go again. The reward can be just being told to run off and play again!
You want you dog to think "she's calling me, it will probably be for somthing nice, I'll get over there quick!" not "she's calling me, it means I've got to go in and no more fun so I'll ignore her!"


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## Lego&Jacub (Jul 18, 2006)

Thanks everyone so very much!! There are a lot of great ideas here, so I will try to incorporate them!

We do have a fenced yard (or else I'd never let her off lead), and I do "recalls" inside the house where I call my dog to me "come Geddy!" and treat her for coming. Then my hubby calls her, and then I call her again... repeat, repeat, repeat. But perhaps I should do some recalls by myself, get her to come and then wait for her to be distracted again, and then call her again. 

The cheese treat will probably work good... I also like the sound of the whistle. Hmm... lots of ideas to work with. 

Think I'll need to print this out and put it in a book for re-reading whenever I forget.

Thanks!!!!!!!!


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