5 Tips To Remember When Teaching The Come Command

1. Use it sparingly. When you overuse “Come”, puppies stop paying attention. When your puppy understands the command, avoid using it all the time. Say it infrequently and make it extremely rewarding.

2. Do not chase your puppy if he does not respond. Practice on-lead for now.

3. Never call for negatives. If you have to groom, bathe, or isolate your puppy, do not use “Come.” Also avoid using it when you are angry. You will only scare your puppy

out.

4. If your puppy runs away from you, do not repeatedly call or correct him.

5. Use a different command to bring your puppy inside. Coming in from outdoors is a big drag, no more fun than being left alone or ignored. Using the “Come” command when you want to bring him in makes it a negative command. Instead, pick a command like “Inside.” Start using it on-lead when bringing your puppy into the house. Quickly offer a treat or ball toss.

gotten from http://information.i-love-dogs.com 

see also Dog Breeds

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Lets Get Serious about Getting Wolfie to Come

Why is it the more I try and work with Wolfie to come, it seems that he only comes when he feels like it?  It feel like every time I really, really want him to come, he doesnt feel like it...

I have talked about this before, but because so many of my clients seem to need "refreshing" on this subject, I wanted to talk about it again.

Dogs learn through consistent, repetitive association. They learn that A always equals B.  When I hear this sound or see that hand action, I always do something.  "Always" does not mean sometimes.  When you tell Wolfie to come, he must always come.  If you dont provide this type of learning environment, it wont work, or take a really, really, really long time.

Here is what you do:

• Put a leash on Wolfie.  See Wolfie above?  Guess what, he has a leash on!
• Hold the leash, step back to the end of the leash, and go to your knees.
• Now, say Come.  If he doesnt come, give a little tug on the leash to guide him in your direction.
• When he reaches you, praise him for doing the right thing.

Guess what just happened!  You said "come" and Wolfie came to you.  If Wolfie didnt come to you, you gave him a little tug on the leash and he came to you.  A sound (command) resulted in a unique and consistent action.  That is how Wolfie learns and that is the method you used to teach him.

Until Wolfie will come to you every time you give the come command without your need to guide him with a gentle tug, do not say "come" if you dont have the leash.  This opens up the possibility that he wont come to you and you will no longer be consistent.  For more information, please contact The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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What Happens When Wolfie Wont Come to Me in The Back Yard

It always happens that when ever I need to get Wolfie in from the back yard, he never comes.  I really think it is a game to see how long he can stay away from me and he finally goes in the house when he is fully amused...

See Wolfie way back there?  There is no way that I am getting him in the house any time soon...

The best solution to this is to teach Wolfie to "come".  The only problem is that is going to take you about five weeks to get him to come to you every time you tell him.  We need something now to get him in while he is in "come school".  

Lets first understand what is really happening with you and Wolfie and then find a temporary solution.  You walk outside and yell "come" to Wolfie.  He doesnt understand what that means, but you have gained his attention.  You yell "come" again and become more animated.  He still stares at you, finding you an amusing distraction.  You now become agitated and approach him quickly.  Now Wolfie sees that we are in a game of "follow the leader".  Since you are approaching him, he will take off and engage in the role of the leader.  The whole point of the game is to have you chase him while he avoids you.  The faster you go, the faster he avoids.  Even if you stop and walk back towards the house, he will come after you and turn away at the last second to try and reengage the game.

As you can see, this is a loosing battle that you just cant win.  So what do you need to do to get him in the house if he doesnt understand "come"?  You must find a way where you will remain calm, disengaging, and not directly approaching Wolfie.  If you do this, you will not be "telling" Wolfie that you want to play.

Here is what you do:  (I really love this little trick!)

• Put a 10 foot leash on Wolfie when he is outside.  Let him run around with it so that it becomes uninteresting to him.  Eventually, he wont even know that it is there.
• When you want to get Wolfie in the house, be very calm and slowly approach the handle end of the leash (10 feet away from Wolfie).  
• You are not directly approaching him so you are not sending the "play" signal to him.
• If Wolfie begins to move or run, do not speed up or become animated.  Watch the end of the leash and slowly move towards it.
• If you need to, pause for a minute.  Many times Wolfie will come towards you, bringing the leash with him.
• Once you are at the handle end of the leash, simply put your foot on it.  Now you have him.
• Pick up the leash (keeping your foot on the leash until you have the handle firmly in your hand).
• Give Wolfie the "come" command and give the leash a little tug until he is at your side.
• Give him the "walkies" command and calmly walk him back to the house.

I have "captured" crazy Goldens in 1/2 acre back yards using this exact method.  Give it a try and I am sure you will love it.  For more information, please contact us at The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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Teaching Wolfie the Wrong Stuff

I like to teach Wolfie to do a lot of fun stuff, but sometimes he seems to take advantage of me and do them at the wrong time.  What can I do and what can I tell Wolfie?

We see this a lot as we are out working with out clients.  They teach Wolfie things like "give paw".  This is great when they ask him to do it, but they dont understand that they are conditioning him to do it when he approaches other people or might want attention. 

Just to peak your interest, a few other examples of teaching Wolfie the wrong thing are:

• Jump on me when I come home.
• What do you hear?  What do you hear?  What do you hear?
• Get the squirrel!

We think nothing of this because, as humans, we can understand when an action should take place and when it might be inappropriate to perform an action.  This is based on our ability to "logically think through a situation".

Wolfie learns through pure repetition and consistency.  If I teach him to "paw me", he might paw me even though I might not ask for it.  If I teach him that it is OK to jump on me, he can jump on me and anyone else.  Wolfie doesnt understand "I can do this when...".  He only understands that it is acceptable to perform an action I have taught him.

So, the bottom line is never teach Wolfie inappropriate actions.  Dont teach him to "give paw" because he might go up to a guest with new, white silk pants.  Dont teach him to jump on you because he might go up to a two year old and jump on them.  Dont teach him to go "crazy at the window" because he might do it when you are in the middle of a dinner party.

As a general rule of thumb, teach Wolfie the basic commands and you will be fine.  We like to make sure that all dogs know:

• Come
• Sit
• Stay
• Down
• Walk
• Crate/Bed

These are all simple obedience commands that wont have the possibility of causing inappropriate behavior.  If you have any questions, please contact us at Broward Dog Trainers. 

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Why it is Important to be Calm and Still

When Fluffy is barking, running, and jumping all around me, how can I stay calm and still?

Our first training visit with our clients and their families will normally last three hours or more.  We cover a lot of information and demonstrate a great deal of techniques to get the dog to be a great dog.  I have often thought that if I only had a moment to give a dog owner some useful and productive training advice, what would it be.

I keep coming back to the very simple idea of “Calm & Still".

Eighty percent of the communication between you and your dog is body language.  In my opinion, the most important part of body language is the ability to show a sense of confidence.  Everything is OK, I am in control, I will take care of you...  This is done by remaining calm and still while engaging the situation at hand.

Humans are emotional animals and we get so mad at our dog when he is going nuts.  We raise the level of adrenalin through our screaming and running when we are trying to calm our dog down.  It just doesnt work, and why should it?  Craziness creates more craziness.

By staying calm and still when you are addressing your dog, he will naturally feel your confidence and will have a far better sense that you are the safe keeper, provider, and leader.  Staying calm also allows you to more effectively evaluate the situation and determine the best course of action to get your dog back to being a "good dog".

If you have any additional questions or would like more information on this dog training subject, please contact us at The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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Why Fluffy Goes Nuts at People in the Car

My dog, Fluffy, is the greatest dog in the world until she gets in the car.  Bark, Bark, Bark,Bark,Bark!  She barks at everyone as I drive down the street.  What gives?

I have seen this time and time again.  Here is Fluffy in her car seat.  The owner is doing the right thing by constraining her so that she wont go flying around if they had to put on the breaks.  So far so good.  So Fluffy constantly barks and drives you crazy.  That is bad.  What is the problem and how can you fix it?

...The answer is simpler than you think and the explanation is just as simple.

Dogs are always very aware of dominance and their role in the pack.  Who is the dominant one?  Who is in charge?  Look at this picture of Fluffy.  She is in her car seat that is raised off the normal seating which puts her in a raised position.  In the canine world, height is dominance.  Guess what?  We are sitting lower in your drivers seat while Fluffy is sitting high and mighty in her "dominance seat".  On top of that, we have given her a very clear view of everyone around the car.  She is dominant and she sees all these "other animals" (people) moving around the car.  Some of these "other animals" might even be walking towards the car which is a naturally aggressive move.  

We put Fluffy in the dominant role and she sees issues.  Barking, jumping, growling are all natural actions she could take to try and protect the rest of the "pack".  We put Fluffy out in front.  We told her that she was the one who had to protect us.  We did this by giving her height and dominance.  We elected her the "boss of us".

Now, what do we do?  The answer is simple.  Lower her height.  Find a car seat that sits on the seat of your car.  Find a doggie carrier that you can put on the seat or floor of your car.  All you are doing is lowering the height of Fluffy and lowering her requirement to be the "boss".  Also, make sure that you dont put her in the front passenger seat, unless you can turn off the air bag release.

This is a quick fix that seems to work over and over again.  Take away your dogs requirement for dominance in the car and your rides will be a whole lot nicer!  For more information, please contact The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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Teaching My Dog to Come When Called

I am really frustrated with my dog.  Just as soon as I think I have trained him go come to me when I ask, he ignores me completely or I have to say it over and over again.  I must be missing something.  What am I doing wrong?

This is a common complaint that we hear many times when we visit our clients for the first time.  They think that their dog understands “come” if he comes to them a few times.  Now, when the dog is at the dog park or in the back yard, he completely ignores them.  The client normally gets mad and yells at the dog.

It is obvious that this method does not work.  In order to understand what will work, we have to understand how our dogs learn.  Dogs learn through repetition and consistency.  We could compare this to the same way we learned our times tables.  Every time we “flipped the card”, the same answer would be on the other side.  Eventually, we didn’t have to flip the card because we knew what was on the other side. 

To relate this to our dog’s training, we have to make sure that every time we give the command “come”, out dog will go to us.  With that said, let me explain, exactly, what you must do to assure that your dog understands and consistently obeys you when you tell him to “come”:

• Have your dog in the house with a six foot leash.  Make sure that you are in a calm and quiet environment.  Go down low and say “come” in your regular voice.  If your dog doesnt come, give the leash a slight tug.  Once your dog comes to you, praise him in a high voice and stand up.
• Leave the leash on your dog and just walk around the room without paying attention to him.  Next, go to the end of the leash, put your foot on it, stoop down, grab the leash, and tell your dog to “come”.
• Repeat the above process until your dog will always come without the need to give the leash a tug.
• Now, switch the six foot leash with a twenty foot training lead.  Use about ten feet of the lead and have the rest wrapped up.  Go down low and say “come” from ten feet in your regular voice.  If your dog doesnt come, give the lead a slight tug, repeating the tug until he comes to you. 
• Repeat the above step until you no longer have to tug on the lead to have your dog obey you.  Extend the training lead to fifteen feet and repeat the process.
• Extend the training lead to twenty feet and repeat the process.
• Now, take your dog to the back yard.  Repeat everything you have done above with both the six food leash and twenty foot training lead.

Now you have your dog consistently coming to you outside.  Since you arent tugging on the leash to get your dog to obey, it has now become unnecessary.

• Continue telling your dog to come to you, but do not hold the leash anymore. 
• Now, have someone unhook the leash from your dog and tell him to come.  He should come to you without the need of the leash.

What you have done is to program your dog in a consistent and repetitive manner.  You set the scene so that every time your dog heard “come”, he went to you.  You initially used the leash to assure the outcome.  As the programming took hold, the leash became superfluous and could be removed.  If you have any questions, we are always available at The Best Dog Trainers in South Florida.

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