Teaching Your Dog to Come When Called

I am a huge fan of Dr. Sophia Yin.  She has another brilliant article at The Huffington Post today.

Your recall (in other words, getting your dog to come when called) is one of the most important cues that your dog will ever learn.  You never know when your dog will be heading for something dangerous, and you really NEED your dog to come, the first time you call and as soon as the words leave your lips.  Imagine that your dog is racing toward a highway -- you want to yell, "Rover, come!" and have your dog immediately whip around and race back to you.

You can teach your dog to do this, but first you have to commit to a couple of things yourself.  First, read Dr. Yin's great article.  Second, you must never call your dog if you're planning on punishing your dog when he gets there.  Remember that punishment is in the eye of the beholder, so it's what your dog thinks is punishing that matters here.  Don't use your recall cue when you want to cut your dog's nails, or you want to pull burrs out of his coat, or it's time to put the leash on to leave the dog park.  You can have a cue that means "come over here" that you use in those circumstances, but if it's the same cue that you want to use in dangerous situations, you're really diminishing the chance that Rover will come when you really need him to.

In other words, if Fido thinks that "come" means that the fun is over at the dog park, or he has to get his nails cut, or that pain is going to happen when you pull burrs out of his tail, he is more likely to ignore you.  Even if those things happen only sometimes when he hears "come", that's enough to poison the cue for the times you really need it to work.

For those situations, use another word.  It can be "here", or "zoodle", or whatever you want it to be.  But don't ruin your recall by using it when bad things are coming.  You can also choose a different word than "come" for your recall if you want.  The goal is that your dog thinks that wonderful things will ALWAYS happen when he hears the recall cue.

Third, when you use your recall word, sound like it's going to be a fun thing for your dog to come to you.  As Dr. Yin puts it, don't use a voice like they'd use at roll call on death row.  Don't use a harsh tone, don't sound like the voice of doom.  Sound like you are THE MOST FUN THING ON THE PLANET!  Why would your dog want to leave something stinky he wants to roll in, or stop chasing a squirrel, or leave off playing with other dogs to come to someone who sounds like doom personified?  He wouldn't.

You've got to make it fun, each and every time your dog comes to you.  This can mean that your dog gets an absolutely amazing treat, or gets to play a really fun game, or both.  It has to always be a great experience, so that whenever your dog hears that recall word, his automatic response is, "Oh, I have to get over there as fast as I can, because something good is going to happen!"

With my dog, I use "come" as his recall word.  I don't use it unless I'm prepared to have a party with him when he gets to me, which means he ALWAYS gets a treat, and usually several.  If I'm just calling him over, for instance to wipe his paws after he's been outside, I use "c'mere".  (We think those two words mean the same thing, but to dogs, they sound different and they can mean different things if that's what we teach them.)

For other tips on teaching your dog to always come when called, read Dr. Yin's article!  It's really worth spending a few minutes reading the article, and then thinking about how to make sure your dog comes when you really need him to.