Saturday, December 20, 2008

Teach Your Dog To Come On Command When Called

Writen by Jon Dunkerley

Teaching your dog to come on command to you is as simple as:

1) Making it worth your dog's time and effort to come to you

2) The understanding that if he/she does not come to you, there will be consequences Analogy:

When you the parent tell your child to do something, 9 times out of 10, your child will obey you. Why is this? It is as simple as saying, that your child knows that by not doing what you the parent ask, they are more than likely heading for some sort of disciplinary act. The child by no means begrudgingly obeys you. Usually the child will be quite happy doing what you ask of him/her. The same can be said for your relationship with your dog. By not installing pack seniority with your dog, your dog will walk all over you, control you doing what he likes when he wants. Your dog understands pack seniority, he/she will obey you readily and happily knowing that only good things will happen. (praise, treating)

Being authoritative when dealing with your dog is not cruel or mistreatment, it is a case of you the dominant figure, conveying to your dog that if not obeyed, you the Alpha will react accordingly in order to attain the desired result. In the wild, when a pack member is out of line, the Alpha punishes the individual either by nipping, pinning down, etc. We as humans have taken the place of the wild Alpha and we must continue to implicate behavior that is already in the dog's bloodline.

When you call your dog, make sure you are ready to react to what your dog's actions are. At first your dog will not even know what the command is, so punishing him/her for not obeying is not an option!

Below are points to follow:
-When starting to teach the come command, have your dog on a leash.
- Utter the command and gently but firmly pull the dog to you.
- Praise and treat.
- Upon comprehension, continue these actions progressively lengthening the distance that your dog has to travel to reach you.
- If need be at first, you can show the treat to your dog to entice the desired result.
- Upon moderate success, you can throw in distractions to tempt your dog.

- If adding distractions that your dog is fooled by, your "gentle firm" pull should become firmer.
- To test the level of comprehention, give the command and wait for your dog to react. If the reaction is positive, then guiding with the leash is not necessary.
- Upon comprehension, your "gentle firm" pull can cease.
- Always, always reward good behavior.

The frequency of which you practice this exercise, will determine the speed at which your dog learns the command. Your intent is to convey to the dog that coming to you when you call him is the best thing in the world, and if done properly you will attain a crisp outcome sooner than later.

The understanding that if he/she does not come to you, there will be consequences

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