How to Train your Dog to Come When Called
today I’ll show you how to reliably make
sure that your dog comes to you when you
call this episode of the dog training
revolution has sponsored by pet flow
click thumbs up for Luca and if you’re
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Luca is a really smart girl but she’s
less than reliable when she’s asked to
come when called today we’ll attempt to
improve that if you’re looking for a
super comprehensive dog training
experience pick up a copy of my new book
the dog training revolution I’ll have a
link in the description teaching your
dog to come to you takes lots of
training and consistency on your part
getting your dog’s food to come to you
automatically well that’s something you
can get instant results with just go to
pet flow and choose your brand of dog
food and how often you want it to be
delivered to your house and you’ll never
run out of dog food again you’ve got to
get your dog food anyway get it this way
and know that you’re supporting a
company that doesn’t sell dog training
tools designed to train with pain I’ll
have a special link and a coupon code in
the description that will give you 20%
off of your first automatic shipment of
your dog food you’ll understand that
teaching your dog especially during that
first year comes down to controlling
where they can and can’t go if your
thumb routinely gets used to not coming
to you when you call them well then
you’ve got a bad habit on your hands for
the first few months of teaching your
dog to come to you when you call them
make sure that you have a long lead
about 20 feet or so in order to make
sure that you can get to your dog when
you call them now that’s not the same as
a retractable leash I like just a good
old-fashioned simple one and I’ll have a
link in the description where you can
pick one up see if your dog is never in
a position to disregard your requests
when you call them then you’ll be in a
much better position to create and
solidify this good habit today we’re
gonna be training in an outdoor
environment now for that reason you’ll
want to make sure that your dog is very
reliable on the steps we’re gonna cover
today
indoors first that’s because outdoor
training can be a lot more distracting
to many dogs particularly if they’re new
to listening to you outside since
teaching your dog to come to you is such
a vital skill you’ll want to have a
serious motivator I like to use cooked
meat today I’ll be using some deli meat
with Luca but there’s nothing wrong with
using a really good dog treat – for more
casual training sessions the first thing
I want to do is ask Luca to sit the
reason I’m doing this come here
eat grass sit very good the reason I
want to do that is I want to confirm
that Luca is in a teachable mindset see
if your dog is new to this type of
training you may need to let them sniff
around it’s normal for ground scents to
really distract a lot of dogs it could
take as much as 20 or 30 minutes before
your dog is really ready to listen to
you this is normal and much more common
in the beginning and will get better
over time if you really want to give
yourself a leg up when teaching your dog
to come to you call them in an
enthusiastic and a happy inviting voice
Luca come on yes good job look at that
tail wagging right there I love that if
you can get your dog’s tail wagging as
they’re coming to you you’re definitely
on the right track you’re buoyed using a
stern or angry voice see we want to go
out of our way to create as many
instances of having a positive outcome –
coming to us if you can consistently let
your dog know look I’m worth coming to
then you’re going to make huge gains on
this at a short period of time as your
dog comes to you say something like come
here or come or Luca come be extra
generous as you pay your dogs for those
first couple of weeks this creates that
great association with coming to you
that you really want your dog to have
let’s see that your dog isn’t really
coming to you you’re calling them in
that happy voice but they’re either too
distracted or just not really motivated
by your enthusiasm at that particular
moment try coming up to them let them
know you have that treat and lure them
back to where you were calling them from
over here look up here and see she’s a
little distracted by ground sense
extremely normal don’t be discouraged by
that okay over here yes good Luca and
I’m gonna keep these treats coming
letting or know every step of the way it
pays to listen to me with sup dogs you
have to really reward for their small
incremental step and this is what you
would do with the dog who’s a little bit
more reluctant or Luca come here if
you’re calling your dog and they’re not
coming to you another thing that you can
do that will help out is to shorten the
distance look come here come here very
good nice work a great shortcut to
teaching your dog to come to you is
engaging in a good old-fashioned game of
chase if you’re up for it run away from
your dog in order to encourage them to
follow you this will really instill in
their mind this concept of coming to you
when you call them plus in most
circumstances they’ll reel
be enjoying themselves avoid missing
opportunities when your dog comes to you
when you don’t call them to reward those
too right now I’m not even calling her
if she takes one step towards me I’m
gonna let her know that I really really
like that yes good job do not be in a
hurry to wean them off of treats for
many months of come when called training
as your dog is doing really well with
the steps that we’ve covered so far
you’ll want to introduce some
distractions don’t skip this part
after all come when called doesn’t
really matter much unless they’ll do it
when they’re distracted I’ve got my
favorite pet Flo squeaky toy here and
I’m gonna start distracting or with it
but I want you to notice something I’m
gonna keep us in a very close area I’m
not gonna ask her to come to me all the
way across the field with a distraction
at first good looka come here yes good
that was really good that was nice I
mean that’s exactly what we’re going for
and I want to point out that we’ve
really set her up for success already by
taking these other steps looka come here
come here
yeah whoa did you see that looka tried
to get the toy in mid-jump
thought better of it and decided to come
to me instead that’s what you want you
can also try distracting them with some
good food like this this might be a bit
more tempting palooka right here see
that looka come here
that didn’t go very well this time I’m
gonna try to be a step ahead of Luca and
not let her get the treats
so again my goal is to be able to have
these treats here and get her to come to
me instead of those leave these alone
good girl good come here
come no leave it alone this could just
as well be a squirrel I mean she’s very
focused on this this is what she wants
Luca come here yes come here
yes look right there and she’s still she
hasn’t forgotten about it she’s one
smart girl huh
come here now if she goes for it I’m
prepared to cover it up good come on yes
good job
I’m going to do something a little bit
more ambitious now I’m going to put the
bowl of treats right here that she
really loves in between us and I’m going
to ask her to come to me again I’m still
gonna be prepared to cover them up if I
see it in her eyes that she’s thinking
about going to the distraction but she’s
quick so I’ll have to be as well look
come here yes good job and you could see
her she looked right at the treats then
made the decision to come to meet you
those are the kind of habits we really
want to reinforce now it is imperative
to practice exercises like this and lots
of different places for several months
in order to teach your dog to truly
generalize coming to you no matter what
there’s nothing more important to me
than making sure that you guys have all
of the knowledge you need to teach your
dog really thoughtfully support my
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certainly think she did make sure you
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the description too you did great thanks
more if you need how teaching your dog
to bark or stop barking
check out my recent video with Jacob the
rescue dog I’ll cover some excellent
exercises you can do to improve
communication between you and your dog I
highly recommend you check out my book
dog training revolution and use both the
book and my youtube videos as your guide
to teaching
your dog check out the video about the
book if you’re interested in that of
course I can never have enough videos
about leash walking see how my recent
leash walking session went with Jacob
and how to teach your dog to walk nicely
on a leash thank you so much for
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