Hi guys, I am new to this and I am trying to train my first dog. She is a lab mix, but mostly lab. She listens well at home, however she isn't quite understanding the concept of "come". I have tried a few different things but for some reason she just isn't getting it. What have you guys done to solve that problem?
Hi and welcome . Can I suggest you purchase Pippas book , as advertised on this forum and available from Amazon ? Total Recall is invaluable , and will help a lot I`m sure . How old is your dog ? Its all about repetition , patience and then some ! Having a good recall in the home and garden is good, but this needs to be proofed , if your dog is food orientated then this can help a lot . You need to use treats of a high value , I used sausages cut into small pieces , let Sam see that I had them in my pocket before we set off .
Hi Erica, welcome to the forum. The problem with dogs is that they don't generalise. What they learn in the house or garden doesn't always work in a rabbity field, or on a beach with picnicking for instance. You need to gradually build up different places and situations you are recalling in. Start with easy stuff, "set your dog up for success". Then work from there. Have you got Pippa's book "Total Recall". I can't recommend it highly enough. I think it will really help you. Jac
Hi and welcome! Already great advice above - also a good rule of thumb that I think is sometimes hard for new dog people to grasp is that repeating a command over and over does nothing to train that command. What this means is that you actually have to train a good recall BEFORE adding the command. Otherwise it's just noise or - worse - comes to mean the opposite of what you want. If you say "Come" and she doesn't, she's just learned something, but not what you wanted. You may not be doing this at all, but I've seen so many people do the "Come, come come come cooooooommmme!!!!" thing with their dogs and the dog is just goofing around completely ignoring their person. It's kind of like those old Charlie Brown cartoons from the 60's where all the adults just make those "Wah, wow" noises instead of actual words. The dog doesn't know what "come" means so it all becomes background noise - or "Wah, wow, wow, Wah". I've also found it very, very helpful at a certain point of training not to allow the dog to have a choice to NOT come. This means that when you are at the point of adding the command, you work with a harness and drag line (aka really long leash) and if she chooses not to come when you add the command, you physically make her come by gently reeling in the line and lots of verbal encouragement and positive body language (and liver - liver never fails). And a hugely important point by @drjs@5 - location is everything. Your dog may have a perfect recall in your house, be just ok in your garden and completely clueless in a public park. "Come" and "stop" are life and death commands that your dog needs to learn, so just keep at it in many, many different situations and you'll both get there.
Another good tip is the 'about-turn walk'. For this you need to be somewhere like a wood or at least not a wide open space. Set off with your dog off lead. As soon as they're 3 or 4 yards ahead, give one call and turn in a different direction. Don't call again or look back. When they catch up, reward but then as soon as they're in front again, turn off the track again in another direction, call as before. If you keep repeating you may not get very far, but your dog will understand they need to keep an eye on you. A wood / forest is ideal as you can go off in lots of different directions and be out of sight quickly. I would also suggest playing games on your walks, especially in more open areas. Let your dog have a sniff and then produce a ball. Don't just throw it as far as you can but do different throws -bouncing it or tossing it for your dog to catch. After a few minutes put it away, even if your dog wants more. A few minutes sniffing and then get out another toy -perhaps a rope for tug this time -and do the same as before. I'd also agree with the others that the book Total Recall is well worth buying. It's a complete programme of recall training to follow.
I started recall by my daughter and I standing about 10foot apart and calling her back and forth by her name. We then moved 20ft apart and done the same, treating her everytime she came to whoever called her. We then would run off in different directions and call her. As she was running to us we added the word 'come'. We did this over several weeks and still play a lot of games like hide and seek and running away for her to catch us. I play ball games a lot too and she constantly keeps an eye on me waiting to see what I am going to do next. Total recall will help a lot.
