Teaching your dog to Come when called, but first…

We have had some community members ask about some basics for training their dogs.   One of the biggest concerns was getting their dog to come when it is called.   In order to teach a dog to come when called, you first need to teach it to sit and stay.   These training methods require giving treats to your dog so using their regular dog kibble is often fine if you don’t have other treats.

A big Thank you to Vicki, of Best Buddies Basics for providing us with input into the basics of teaching your dog to sit, stay and come when called.

Teaching your dog to SIT when you ask is usually easy to do:

• First, with a treat in your hand, stand in front of your dog, facing him or her.
• Hold the treat just an inch or so away from your dog’s nose, slowly raising it straight up above the dog’s head. As you raise the treat you can say SIT in a happy voice. As your dog follows the direction of the treat, his head will go up. This almost always makes his bum go down. You have a SIT! Say “Good SIT!” and reward your dog with the treat.
• Now, standing right in front of your dog, and your dog in a SIT, say “STAY”. Wait for a count of 5, then reward with a treat and say “GOOD STAY!” Repeat this step 5 or 6 times, rewarding your dog each time for a “GOOD STAY”.
• Next, with your dog still in a SIT, say STAY and take just ONE step back from your dog. Wait for a count of 5, return to your dog, give him a treat and say “GOOD STAY”.
• Gradually increase the number of steps you take away from your dog before returning to her and rewarding with a treat for a GOOD STAY.

TIPS

• Practice training the SIT/STAY for just 10 minutes at a time. If you try to make the training too long your dog will get tired and will lose interest. Learning is hard work and can take time! Give your dog a break and try again later.  Be patient as they figure out what it is you want.
• Try to stand straight and tall in front of your dog. This can be difficult if your dog is small, but leaning over can be scary to a dog and can cause them to move away from you.
• Say the word SIT only once or twice. Repeating it too many times can actually teach your dog to ignore it because the word loses its meaning.
• Sometimes a dog will try to back up at first as you move the treat above their head. If this happens you can lower the treat as you back up a step or two. If the dog comes towards you, try again. Or you train in an area where you can use a barrier like a wall or a chair or some other object behind your dog to keep him from backing up.
• Don’t force your dog into a SIT by pushing down on his hips. This can be quite uncomfortable for the dog and they will want to resist it. Then your dog will not want to do a SIT for you because it hurts. You want your dog to learn that SIT/STAY means good things happen – TREATS!
• Be sure to give lots of praise and rewards for a good SIT/STAY. When you are finished practicing, you can end with “OKAY! All Done!” and give your dog a happy pet and scratch.

Once your dog is doing well with SIT/STAY with you backing away about 6 or 8 steps you are ready to start working on one of the most important things every dog should learn – COME!

Work on this and then check in with us on the next CAAT Community Corner post and we will discuss the next step, how to teach your dog to come when called.