Labrador Lupo loves to play with other dogs and run after the ball. He also appreciates the company of the owners, but when around… nothing is happening. It is enough for another dog to appear on the horizon – and he is no more! More than once the caretakers chase him around the estate. Even though Lupo knows his name, he doesn’t react to it. How to change it? How to teach a dog to come back when called?
We definitely do not recommend this!
It will stand still
If you call a dog – especially one that is just learning – be curious to him. Run away, back up, jump up, make sounds. Become an attraction for the dog and he will surely come.
Punishment for procrastination
For each, even late return to the guardian, the dog should be awarded. Kara only teaches not to… come back. What is the point of approaching a caregiver when he is mean? Better to run away from him!
Using the electric collar
The use of a tool such as an electric collar is the use of violence. Electrocuting a dog for not coming back will cause him a lot of stress, teach him nothing and cause problems.
It often happens that the owners expect the dog to return to the call, and the dog does not care about it and does not react at all. After a short conversation with them, it turns out that the dog has never actually been taught to return to command. But it’s probably logical that when they shout his name louder and louder, he should run up to them? No, it is not logical. Returning to command is like any other behavior – you have to train your dog. No dog is born with the ability to respond to a name or „To me!” Not even at „Come Here Finally, As Much as I Have a Cry!” So where do you have to start?
Following a person
When a puppy comes to our house, usually (if he has not had any bad experiences with people) he instinctively follows us. Before he can go outside – due to quarantine – it takes place at home. And it’s worth taking advantage of. If only to teach the dog a name. To do this, we prepare a handful of treats in several places around the house – for example on the refrigerator, on the cupboard in the hall, on the dresser in the bedroom.
Every now and then we call the dog by name – all he needs to do is look at us, and then we give him a reward from the nearest handful. With time, we make it difficult to practice and call him from another room. We place the prizes in different places around the house so that the dog never knows when we will award him. Such games are fun for a puppy, but also a great basis for later learning to summon. As soon as the quarantine is over, we move the exercises outside and record them in more and more difficult places (e.g. on the street). Of course, then we have the treats in a sachet with us. So much for puppies. But let’s go back to the Labrador Lupo, who is now an adult dog.
Name and recall
To teach an adult dog to respond to a name, we do the same as with a puppy. We call him in different situations and reward him for looking, turning his head, approaching us – any reaction. But be careful! The name is not used to call the dog. It is there to get his attention. Only when it does, do we say what exactly we mean.
Example? I shout, „Lupo!” And see if he reacts. When he looks at me, I say, „Sit down.” Thanks to this, the dog knows that in a second I will want something from him, and I am sure that I am not talking to … the tail. Therefore, to teach your dog to summon, first select the command you will be using. It could be „To Me!” Once Lupo knows his name well, the dog can be taught to come back to the call. How to do it?
How to teach a dog to come back when called? It will be useful to you!
Long line – without it learning to summon will fail! It provides the dog with freedom and security at the same time. The 10 m long one costs about PLN 30.
Attractive delicacies – to encourage your dog to come, you will need something really extra. Finely chopped kabanos sausages, sausages, cheese, pate will be perfect.
Rope toy – not all dogs are gluttons. Those who prefer to play will enjoy the reward of pulling a rope. It costs about PLN 15.
Whistle – higher level „To me!” it is called emergency call. To teach him a dog, a whistle will come in handy. The cost is about PLN 10.
Lupo, to me!
To learn to summon, we have to arm ourselves with a training rope (preferably one with a length of 10 m), delicious flavors and … a lot of patience. At the beginning, we choose a quiet, even boring place for a dog. Our own garden will be perfect if we have one. If not – a secluded square or a secluded alley in a forgotten park.
When the dog is not distracted, we call him („Lupo, to me!”), Running away – so that we can see him in front of us. If he runs really close to us and stops, we also stop running and reward him with verbal praise, a treat or fun (let’s change the prizes to make it different). After a while, we let the dog go and repeat the sequence after a while. A few repetitions are enough to avoid boredom. After a few days of exercise (we train briefly, but regularly), we can move to a different place with more distractions. Let there not be too many of them – we raise the bar very slowly!
Bet on success
In order to teach the dog to come back when called, let us try to call him only when we are sure that he will come to us. Thanks to this, we do not risk failure. The rope on which we practice makes things easier – the dog has some freedom on it, but cannot go too far. If he comes back to us, seeing other dogs from a distance, over time we can call him when he plays with them. What if he doesn’t listen? Nothing, it’s on the line, so we won’t get away.
When the command „To me!” we have one hundred percent mastered on the line, we can let go of the line to pull the dog. Even if the dog suddenly “deafs”, the ten-meter string behind it can be easily stepped on and the fugitive can be stopped. Only when the dog comes back at each call with the rope attached, trailing behind him, can we start trying to unfasten it. First in those easy, boring places, and then in more and more difficult places. After such a multi-week training, we will be able to recall the dog from playing with other dogs.
What about rewarding?
Some people think that rewarding a dog for coming back ends up returning only if we have something to eat for him. If we carry out the training incorrectly, there is such a risk. Therefore, it is worth taking care of the variety of rewards from the very beginning (once a sausage, once a dry food, once a moment of playing with a string, once a word of praise). Sometimes the reward can also be … the possibility of running, that is, we call the dog, praise it and let it go crazy again. Over time, we reduce the frequency of dispensing flavors – we only do it from time to time as a surprise. We can also make gifts such as a handful of delicacies thrown in the grass. It’s just fun! And surprise.
Why isn’t Lupo listening
Now you can understand why Lupo is a runaway. He has not been taught the basics, so he does not know his name. Also, no one ever told him what the command was: „To me!” He did not exercise on the rope, so he could run as much as he wanted. Plus, the owners chased him instead of running away, so Lupo thought that was what fun was all about… Oh, and they had yelled at him when he hadn’t been back for too long. What did he understand? That going back does not pay off, because there are only penalties for that.
It is hardly surprising that Lupo doesn’t want to come when he is playing with his buddies – giving up such entertainment is a task for the advanced. Beginners in the art of coming back on call should first get some training without distractions. There is still a lot of work ahead of Lupa and his guardians, but it is worth doing!
