Struggling With Teach Come.

[StaffordLUV]

hi all im having difficulty getting my 11 week old stafford pup to come when called.

She has an attitude of ill come when im ready or not at all.

Sometimes she comes at a running paces and straight to me other times she just sits wherever she is and refuses to come at all and if i go to fetch her she runs off (i dont chase her)

And other times she runs towards me and i think YAY shes got it then she runs right by me and takes off in the other direction.

Im at a loss as to how i get her to come each and everytime i call.

any ideas?

[minimax]

What reward does she get when she obeys you?

[nawnim]

Use a long line and reward profusely when she comes

[StaffordLUV]

atm im using treats and praise.

She loves to play fetch so sometimes she comes if i throw a chew toy near me, she will come and grab it and bring it to me,

[sheena]

She is only 11 weeks old....she should still be on a long line, because if you are not 99% certain she will come to you when called ie if running loose, don't call. Calling her will be falling on deaf ears & just teaching her to ignore you. What other training is she getting???? Get into clicker training/shaping, & you will never look back. Oh, & like others have said, always have really yummy treats on you so you can reward EVERY time she comes to you When she is coming to you on her own accord, say her name & come while she is travelling towards you, then treat & praise when she gets to you.

[mumtoshelley]

What I do is I call my dogs and start jogging away from them, I also say bye while I go. It works well for my dogs as they don't like to be left behind. They come runing when they see me jogging away from them specially missy my whippet she loves to chase things. Once I notice them coming I stop jogging and call them then reward once they come to me.

Most dogs love to chase, the idea is to make yourself more fun then whatit is they were doing. If they don't come call then run in the other direction, You could also use a squeeky toy while doing this to make it more interesting.

[fuzzy82]

I don't quite understand how people can use the term "stubborn" when it comes to dogs. I don't believe dogs have an "attitude" and just choose not to come because they don't want to do as you say. They are selfish creatures and will do whatever they perceive to be the greatest advantage to themselves at any given time. That means working for a reward, or to avoid punishment (or both) or doing nothing when they think there is nothing in it for them. It's not stubbornness. Calling them stubborn indicates that they know they *should* come because "it's the right thing to do" but still choose not to because they want to be difficult.

For an 11 week old puppy, you couldn't possibly be "struggling" to teach a recall because you haven't had enough time to actually work on it to get to the point where you're struggling to get the dog to understand.

You need to work on it in low distraction environment, such as the backyard or inside the house. Make sure the dog knows what the command "come" means before taking it on the road and introducing additional distractions. When you do take it on the road you should make sure you're in control of the environment, which means having a helper and/or a long line.

[Michelleva]

At dog obedience we were taught to have the dog on lead, get it to sit and focussed on you then start running backwards, calling the dog to come at the same time. When the dog comes, you reward. It worked for our dog.

[Weasels]

atm im using treats and praise.

She loves to play fetch so sometimes she comes if i throw a chew toy near me, she will come and grab it and bring it to me,

What kind of treats?

I don't quite understand how people can use the term "stubborn" when it comes to dogs.

I've noticed it's a word that gets used for Staffords a lot. I wonder if it's something about their expression :laugh:

[Staff'n'Toller]

She's not stubborn, she just hasn't had enough practice to know exactly what it means yet. :)

She's still a baby dog, always use a happy tone, vary the treats, make them super tasty. Start your recalls in the house with no distractions. Only do one at a time. Call her to come to her dinner. Don't make her do anything else, just come back, play/eat and she gets to go off again.

Never ever call her to tell her off.

Keep practicing. Make it easy for her to succeed.

[Tralee]

I'd agree that 11 weeks is still 'puppy time'

I went through *come* at obedience on Monday.

Eye contact, signal first (hands from waist to shoulder, shout excitedly and run backwards quickly as if abandoning her.

An unfamiliar environment too. Take a visit to a park and train her there.

But still, let her be a puppy first, there's plenty of time.

Good luck

[itsadogslife]

Put a long line on the dog. Call the dog, if it comes reward, if it doesn't come, then use the long line to guide the dog towards you and then reward.

[huski]

I don't quite understand how people can use the term "stubborn" when it comes to dogs. I don't believe dogs have an "attitude" and just choose not to come because they don't want to do as you say. They are selfish creatures and will do whatever they perceive to be the greatest advantage to themselves at any given time. That means working for a reward, or to avoid punishment (or both) or doing nothing when they think there is nothing in it for them. It's not stubbornness. Calling them stubborn indicates that they know they *should* come because "it's the right thing to do" but still choose not to because they want to be difficult.

I think generally when people refer to a dog being 'stubborn' they mean strong willed and persistent, I definitely have a couple of those here :laugh:

[Cosmolo]

Send an email to [email protected] and i will send you through some notes on classically conditioning a recall if you like. 11 weeks is the perfect time to start.

[DogsAndTheMob]

I'm not a fan on teaching the recall on lead. It is usually the only practical way to teach it in classes, but I find off-lead teaching more effective at home, in a controlled environment. Off-lead recall training avoids all those issues associated with force and oppositional behaviour.

I teach recall in two ways:

1) I wait until the puppy is a few feet away from me, then turn and run in the opposite direction, looking over my shoulder, and calling in a high-pitched voice ("pup-pup-pup" works well.) As the pup reaches me, I either sit on the floor/ground so that the pup can climb on my lap (reward! ... and it also avoids encouraging the pup to jump up), or turn and run in a different direction. If the pup runs past, I run away in a different direction again.

2) I call the pup to me for meals and snacks.

To make these methods work:

Don't expect too much... he's only a puppy.

Choose your moment and "read" your puppy. Don't use method 1 when the puppy is tired or distracted

Don't overdo any session. A few repetitions at a time are more than enough.

Start inside (hallways are great!) and only move outside once his recalls are reliable inside.

As much as possible, avoid calling the puppy to you when you prepare for less positive experiences (e.g. "bedtime" or "crate-time" at the end of playtime)

When the puppy gets older and you take him to off-lead parks, it is good practice to call him to you intermittently, pat him and send him off to play again. You don't want him to associate recalls with the end of his fun.

[DogsAndTheMob]

Oops, sorry, I should have said "she"!

[itsadogslife]

Posted by DogsAndTheMob I teach recall in two ways:

1) I wait until the puppy is a few feet away from me, then turn and run in the opposite direction, looking over my shoulder, and calling in a high-pitched voice ("pup-pup-pup" works well.) As the pup reaches me, I either sit on the floor/ground so that the pup can climb on my lap (reward! ... and it also avoids encouraging the pup to jump up), or turn and run in a different direction. If the pup runs past, I run away in a different direction again.

2) I call the pup to me for meals and snacks.

To make these methods work:

Don't expect too much... he's only a puppy.

Choose your moment and "read" your puppy. Don't use method 1 when the puppy is tired or distracted

Don't overdo any session. A few repetitions at a time are more than enough.

Start inside (hallways are great!) and only move outside once his recalls are reliable inside.

As much as possible, avoid calling the puppy to you when you prepare for less positive experiences (e.g. "bedtime" or "crate-time" at the end of playtime)

When the puppy gets older and you take him to off-lead parks, it is good practice to call him to you intermittently, pat him and send him off to play again. You don't want him to associate recalls with the end of his fun.

All of this is good stuff. But I don't see why you can't do all of this and have the dog wearing a long line at the same time. For those of you that are experienced and good at 'reading' your dog the long line will never need to be used. For those less experienced and less skilled at reading their dog, the long line offers security and insures the dog isn't given practice at ignoring commands.

By all means encourage the dog to come without having to use the long line, let it drag along the ground, but if not, it is always there as extra insurance to reinforce the come command.

[DogsAndTheMob]

Posted by DogsAndTheMob I teach recall in two ways:

1) I wait until the puppy is a few feet away from me, then turn and run in the opposite direction, looking over my shoulder, and calling in a high-pitched voice ("pup-pup-pup" works well.) As the pup reaches me, I either sit on the floor/ground so that the pup can climb on my lap (reward! ... and it also avoids encouraging the pup to jump up), or turn and run in a different direction. If the pup runs past, I run away in a different direction again.

2) I call the pup to me for meals and snacks.

To make these methods work:

Don't expect too much... he's only a puppy.

Choose your moment and "read" your puppy. Don't use method 1 when the puppy is tired or distracted

Don't overdo any session. A few repetitions at a time are more than enough.

Start inside (hallways are great!) and only move outside once his recalls are reliable inside.

As much as possible, avoid calling the puppy to you when you prepare for less positive experiences (e.g. "bedtime" or "crate-time" at the end of playtime)

When the puppy gets older and you take him to off-lead parks, it is good practice to call him to you intermittently, pat him and send him off to play again. You don't want him to associate recalls with the end of his fun.

All of this is good stuff. But I don't see why you can't do all of this and have the dog wearing a long line at the same time. For those of you that are experienced and good at 'reading' your dog the long line will never need to be used. For those less experienced and less skilled at reading their dog, the long line offers security and insures the dog isn't given practice at ignoring commands.

By all means encourage the dog to come without having to use the long line, let it drag along the ground, but if not, it is always there as extra insurance to reinforce the come command.

That's a fair question.

I guess that I see the long lead as a temptation to use force, and would prefer to avoid any compulsion, at least in the early stages of training (and certainly with an 11 week old pup). In addition, I trained my first dog without a lead (way back in the 1970s) because I was such a klutz that I couldn't manage a long lead effectively. It worked so well that I've never since used a lead to train the recall.

I've also seen other people's pups get distracted or even distressed by trailing leads and long lines... and I think dogs trained on long leads can end up with slower recalls as a result.

However, I've trained most of my own dogs as puppies. If I was teaching an adult dog with entrenched problems, I might train differently.

In my original post, I should also have advised the OP never to call the half-trained pup unless he was likely to respond to the first command... except in an emergency of course.

[Jumabaar]

I start to teach come around meal times- its amazing how quickly they will move towards you when they see the dog bowl!!

I tried to make something interesting happen to get my dogs attention before calling to them. Be it some rice in a container being shaken or some squeaky noises or even me running around a little- once they start to become interested I call to them and generally they will come to investigate what is going on. I don't try calling when they are sniffing or really focused on something because they don't know at that age what the word means so its just background noise.

I also take advantage of any other time they decide to check out what I am doing- so my dogs thought they were getting a free treat when they heard the come signal :laugh:. Even as adults I still make sure they get treats for coming around the house.

I dont teach a formal recall till much older- but 11 weeks is a great time to teach your dog to come and that it means they are about to have fun.

ETA I don't use a long line because I generally don't actually use the command till they are already on their way and look committed. Also I reinforce heavily and do it when the dog is in and out of drive and I really wait till they are confident till I introduce distraction so they don't really ever get a chance to fail. If they do its game over and I walk away and they lose their opportunity to have fun with me. I guess I use the NILIF a lot for recalls so the dogs are always looking for ways to make me interact with them- me walking away and ignoring them for 5 minutes does more to reinforce them coming quickly than me dragging on the line.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Jumabaar