There are a number of reasons why your dog may not come when called:
o There is no good reason for your dog to come to you.
Either what you are offering is of no interest to your dog, or what you are offering is of lesser interest than what he is currently doing. If you want your dog to come to you reliably when called, you have to make the reward for coming immensely valuable. When you are first teaching your dog to come when called, use really high value treats combined with enthusiastic praise. Never take coming when called for granted. Dogs have minds of their own and when they choose to come to you, you should always reward them, even if it is only highly enthusiastic praise. The reward should be especially high when your dog chooses to leave something highly interesting to come to you. There will be times when nothing you can offer will top what your dog is currently doing. In that case just calmly walk over to your dog and put his leash on.
o There is a good reason not to come to you.
Dogs are smart and learn quickly. If your dog ignores you, then finally comes to you, and you punish or scold him, you have just reduced the likelihood that he will come the next time you call. Do that few times and he will probably never come when called again. Another way to ruin your dog’s come when called response is to repeatedly make it the end of fun. If you call your dog and then pop him in the crate right away and leave for work, you’ve just taught your dog that coming when called means the fun ends. Fortunately for us, dogs have a very short time frame for making associations. If you can make the fun last for about three minutes or so after he comes to you, he is not likely to associate coming when called with the end of fun.
o He doesn’t hear you.
This could be for physical or mental reasons. If your dog is upwind from you on a windy day and you have a small little voice like mine, odds are he really doesn’t hear you. Try training him to come to a loud whistle or duck call. Even if your dog hears you, the sound may not be making it to his conscious brain. In dogs that have been bred for highly focused sensory attention, like scenting or sighting, the brain may actually shut down input from the other senses. For example, when a beagle scents a rabbit and starts tracking it, his brain puts all of its resources into following that scent. Although the sound waves of your voice may enter his ears, the brain may not receive or process the signals.
o You are expecting too much too soon from your dog.
Just because your dog comes when called in the house and the yard, doesn’t mean you can turn him loose in the park and expect him to come when called. Dogs aren’t very good at generalizing. Unless we teach them a skill in many different settings, they simply may not recognize that “Fido, come!” in the park means the same thing as it does in the back yard. Dogs, like humans, need to slowly build their skills through gradually increasing levels of distraction and pressure. Just because your four year old can recite their ABC’s at home with you, doesn’t mean you can stop them in the middle of preschool recess and have them successfully recite them.
A dog running to its owner with enthusiasm is a beautiful sight. If you build his skills gradually, make sure he hears you, give him a good reason to come to you, and avoid ruining the come cue, you can enjoy that beautiful sight for the life of your dog.
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