The REAL secret to teaching your dog to come when called
I want to tell you how I got my now wife, Rachael, to go out with me for the first time. Rachael was working for me at the time in my dog training business.
I hatched a plan because I don’t handle rejection very well and I didn’t want her to think I was some creepy boss flirting with her.
I figured if I said “No,” I wouldn’t get a second chance.
Here is the reduced version:
A famous writer came to his old school to talk about his books and his life. Tickets were NOT cheap.
Anyway, I had the speaker’s books and struck up a conversation with Rach. I told him how much I liked books of this type and asked him if he would like to read them.
She said yes and took them home. A few days later I approached her and asked if she liked the writer.
Luckily, she said yes and we talked about him for a few minutes.
Every day I made it a point to talk about this writer with her.
After doing this for about a week, I told him that the writer was coming to the University of Rhode Island to speak.
Now here’s the deal: I did NOT ask her to go with me. That would have been a HUGE mistake because she could have said “No” and I would have sunk.
Right in front of her I picked up the phone and called one of my friends. I asked her if she would like to go with me. Before she could reply, I said, “Oh, that’s too bad. Take care of yourself.” and hung up.
I repeated the process two more times right in front of her.
After the third call, I turned to Rachael and said, “Wow, I can’t believe this. This great writer is going to be in our backyard, tickets are $150 each, and no one wants to go.”
Guess what Rachael said?
“I will go with you.”
BINGO BANGO BONGO!!!
SUCCESS!
And THAT my friend is THE secret to teaching your dog to come when called.
Prepare your dog for success. I made sure to handle this situation in a way that would put me in the best position to get the result I was looking for.
And you should do this when you are teaching your dog to come when called. you need to “Set up your dog for success”.
You have to build a good base for the recovery command. Your dog has to listen to the command and then run towards you. The big mistake with the recall is that at first the dog hears the command “Come” and ignores the command.
The owner then runs after the dog and it becomes a game of keep away. bad foundation.
A great technique to use is the “Spring Recovery Exercise” that I’m going to share, but I wanted to start with this quick story to get you in the right frame of mind to teach this extremely important command.
How to Teach the Spring Loaded Recovery Drill
The spring loaded recovery exercise sets your dog up for success. Your dog only has one option when he does this. The option is to come running towards you. It is simple, effective and fun.
This exercise is done with a friend. Your friend is going to hold your dog’s leash. While your friend is holding the leash, you will approach your dog and get him excited: VERY EXCITED!
Your dog has to be excited to the point of wanting to play with you. Once your dog is excited, you run away from your dog. He runs around 15 to 20 feet away. If you get your dog excited enough, your friend should be fighting to stop your dog (unless, of course, your dog is only 5 pounds).
Since your dog is pulling on the leash and wants to be with you, you have now successfully set your dog up for success. You have set the situation in your favor, which needs to be done, especially when you begin to teach your dog this command.
You are now 15 feet away, your dog is on a leash and pulling and wants to be with you. At this point you want to crouch.
Crouching makes your body language much more attractive to your dog. Body language is extremely important for dog training and this is important for teaching the call command.
While crouching down, clearly say your dog’s name and then give the command “COME!”
Your friend lets go of the leash the moment you say “COME!” If you’ve done everything correctly, your dog should lunge at you. As his dog approaches you, take your dog’s collar in your hand BEFORE giving a treat.
Some dogs love to do drive bys. They run to the owner, turn around and run away. Some dogs will approach the owner directly and when the owner approaches the dog will crouch and walk away.
Always have the necklace in hand BEFORE giving the treat. This will condition your dog to approach you.
This is the best way to build a SOLID foundation for the recovery command. Start implementing this simple tip and you will get much better results.
