How to train a Dog Lesson 4

Teaching your dog to come is a relatively simple piece of training. It is best carried out when your dog is hungry as food is a good thing to use to encourage him to obey. Divide his food into several portions and throughout the day use a portion of his food to tempt him to come to you. As you are doing this call his name and use the command ‘come’.

An ideal place to practice this bit of training is in your hallway, as there are few distractions, which is especially helpful if your dog loses concentration easily. Show your dog the food in your hand, standing a short distance away and call his name. As your dog starts to walk towards you, use the command ‘come’.

When your dog is able to respond to this command, give him a lot of praise, calling him a good dog in an excited voice. By talking to him in an excited voice, this lets your dog know that you are proud of him and therefore he is encouraged to act in the same way in the future.

As your dog gets closer to you, kneel down next to him and give him more praise. Give him the food whilst stroking him and touch his collar. Again, these actions tell your dog that you are pleased with him and dogs are always eager to please their owner.

Once your dog responds well to your commands inside the house, try taking it to a more advanced level. Practice teaching your dog to come to you outside where there are more distractions. To ensure that he is still concentrating, keep your dog on a long lead, but make sure that you do not use the lead to pull him towards you. Continue to use treats and keep the excitement in your voice when praising your dog to make sure that your dog is still able to react correctly to your command in different environments.

If your dog starts to get distracted, give a firm tug on the lead to get his attention and then use praise and a treat to get him to return to you. If you find that your dog is still getting distracted, the use of a squeaky toy may be more effective. The noise and color of the toy may draw his attention back to you better and quicker than the use of food does. Remember, you must keep the dog focused on what you want him to do. This is not a play session!