This is Bella, a 4 month old GoldenDoodle who has been staying with me for a few weeks to work on some Puppy HeadStart basics. In this video, she is practicing her off leash recall. She starts chasing a toy and is able to stop mid-chase and return to me.
Come should always be a fun and positive experience for your dog. Too often we use it gruffly once we get exasperated or to mean something the dog finds negative. We call them to COME when we want them to stop playing, to come inside, to go in their kennel, to take a bath - and all of these things can lead to a sluggish or even non-existent recall.
Think of it this way. Let's say you suddenly had a new boss at work.
One day, they call you into their office. When you get there, they give you a $50 bonus and tell you they really appreciate all your hard work. The next day, it happens again. The next week, again. You very quickly start looking for ways to get their attention through the behavior they have been rewarding and head to the office quickly and happily when you hear your name. I mean - who wouldn't - you are getting praise and recognition for your efforts and a bonus that is high value to you.
Dogs are no different - when we recognize and reward the behavior we like, we cause it to increase in frequency and reliability.
Now say you have the same scenario except half the time this happens and the other half is them giving you a task you dislike or telling you that you are not meeting their expectations. Now you start checking their body language when they call you, listening to tone, looking at their face...you go, but it is a much slower process. You likely still do what they ask for fear of repercussions (in dog training terms that would be a correction for not coming) but you can't trust the situation.
What if this same thing happened but you only ever got criticized or given tasks that you hated? Your efforts were never recognized and you experienced a physical cringe at the sound of your name... Some dogs feel this way about COME.
So how do we change that? It's actually quite simple.
I use a whistle for my students because:
You start by simply deciding what sound you want to use - in my case I use 3 short pulses for COME. Some people use a mouth whistle, clap their hands, pat their legs or other sounds. I do find that those do not tend to carry sound as well outside but certainly use whatever is most comfortable for you. I tend to hand clap indoors and whistle outside.
Starting in a quiet space, make the sound you want to use and as soon as your dog looks over to see what it was about - say YES! excitedly. They will probably start to come over to you. Kneel or squat down - this change in body language encourages them to come more quickly. Once they get to you, praise and reward with something they find very rewarding.
For GRYPHON, my Rough Collie for instance, this could be food but given a chance to play ball is more rewarding for him in active exercises so he would get to do some retrieves with his favorite toy. FIZZGIG is a tugger so when she comes, she loves a chance to tug on her favorite scruffy. LUKA, he is all about the food - he doesn't play much so trying to reward him with the same thing as GRYPHON would not work for him.
Here are some 9wk old foster pups working on the same behavior -
It has to be what is important to them - something they are willing to work for, to get excited about and something that shares our joy with them.
That is because it is easier for a dog to associate a new behavior with a cue word when they are ACTUALLY DOING the behavior than us just repeating it over and over.
Say you were trying to learn a new language and you want the word for walking. You are sitting at a cafe and the person teaching you can explain it several ways:
They simply say the word to you over and over while you are sitting at the table. They may give you other body language cues but generally they just say the word to you. It can be very difficult to understand what they want. Asking a dog to COME when they have no idea what that means is the same. You tell them to COME while they stand and look at you and you are creating an association with standing there instead of one with coming to you.
The person teaching you gets you moving by either getting you to follow them out of the cafe or leading you gently. Once you start walking - they smile and say YES! and then give you the word for "walking". As you keep walking, they reinforce that is correct by continuing to encourage you and say the word as you are doing the behavior (walking). Much easier isn't it?
Once your dog can respond to your sound in a relatively quiet space - you want to start increasing criteria one step at a time. Don't jump from the living room when no one is home to the dog park...that's not fair LOL
Gryphon and I recently played the COME GAME at our local Tractor Supply with a total stranger to him. New environment, new person and he still thought it was the best game ever. If something ever happens and your dog is running loose - wouldn't you rather have them go to a stranger then continue running loose? How many dogs are lost or hit by cars because they just won't go to anyone?
Criteria that you can increase include:
DISTANCE - How far away can you be and they still respond?
DISTRACTION - Different environments, practicing around other pets, kids, inside, outside...
DIVERSITY OF REWARD - Will they recall for a toy instead of food? What about a chance to go on a car ride? What other types of things do they find rewarding?
The basics of this are simple - be that $50 giving new boss you loved to work with above. Recognize effort. Reward success. Pay them well, with things they find valuable and you will have an amazing recall in no time!
