Here I go again, forgot another great dog and owner. Our great dog Harry and his owner Karen. He passed puppy class, got his AKC Star Puppy, took more adult classes, got his Canine Good Citizen and graduated. Now he is in training for Therapy Dog. And he is doing fantastic. And he is only 8 months old! Great work Harry and his dog mom. 

 

Four more AKC Star Puppies: Leila the Great Dane, Brutus the Rhodesian, Easton the Yellow Lab and Weezy the Big Little Dog (Peekapoo). They did wonderful work both owners and pups. And a great field trip to the Bass Pro Shop I might add.

 

Two more Grads: Olivia (aka Olive) the golden retriever and Ted T Bear (aka the Dancer) the multi breed. They were best friends in class, graduated together and hope to see each other in adult's class. Good work pups!

  

One of the most frequent behavior problems that I get called about is by far dogs not coming when called. It is also one of the most important commands. It may save your dog"s life. So you should put huge amounts of training in this one. Let me help you out by giving you my Top Ten Helps for Teaching Coming When Called.

 

1. Always, always, always reward your dog when he comes to you. If not a food treat, BIG praise, a ball toss, tummy rub, cheese nip, oyster cracker, end of your sandwich or a tug game. Have a party.

 

2. Never use the come command for a reprimand. If you dog is in trouble (dug a hole to China, brought your best shoe outside to chew, barking non-stop), go and get your dog. You will short circuit all your hard work in teaching come with one mistake like this.

 

3. Never use the come command to call him for something he doesn't like. He will then associate the unpleasant task with coming and will think twice before coming the next time.  Again go and get your dog. Or call him to come-reward and celebrate then do the thing he doesn't like (bath, nail trim, etc).

 

4. When distractions are huge, don't keep calling "come". They can't come when distractions are huge. Again, go and get them. Keep practicing in more and more distracting situations, adding more as they can recall better and better.

 

5. If your dog doesn't come when you call, change your body posture down and your tone up. Use a party voice. Slap the ground in excitement.

 

6. Use a long line. Twenty feet or so of training lead and when you call him to "come", start reeling him in like a fish, calling "come" and "good dog" the whole way. Reward when he gets to you.

 

7. Try the runaway recall. (not for kids though). Call his name, make sure he's looking at you and run the opposite direction. Run right into the house or on the deck and reward, reward, reward.

 

8. Practice "come" frequently indoors without distractions. Hide in different rooms and call him to "come". Practice with different family members so everyone can recall your dog.

 

9. Practice on walks on leash. Just step away from him and call him to "come". Take some steps backwards then reward when he gets to you. Never drop your lead though. We don't want to lose anyone.

 

10. Call him to "come" and hold one of his favorite toys.  Make like you are playing with it and you want him to play too. Reward with the play game when he gets to you.

 

These are all powerful ways to teach your dog to come. The "come" command is so important. Whether it's to come in from out in the back yard or come from getting out the front door or off the leash. We want our dog safe always and a good "come" command will really help. My last tip: if your dog accidently gets away from you and the other 10 tips don't work or you forget them all in the emergency moment-lay down on the ground and call for your dog to help you. Act like you are in real trouble and he should come running. Try it sometime. Try it before you need it.

 

Did you ever win something big? How did you feel? Excited? Thrilled? I actually use the Major Award or "jackpot" when training my dog. If a command is hard for him, when he finally gets it, I give him a major award. Six or eight treats one right after another-"good boy" treat "good boy" treat, "good boy" treat and so on. Or I throw a handful at him with an excited "GOOD BOY!". If you give them six or eight treats in one big glob in your hand, it just looks like one big glob. Not a major award. Try this with your dog next time you are teaching something difficult and he finally gets it. You might be surprised at the results. 

 

Sometimes I use something they really love. My Sage really loves back scratches near his tail. (why do dogs love this?) When he comes when I call or I even use the word with "come", he gets a back scratch.

 

Use either big amounts of treats, really scrumptious treats, unusual treats (sardine, Swiss cheese, etc) or something they really, really love as a major award for a job well done. Milk bones are fine for everyday, but get exciting with major awards!

One of my biggest pet peeves is dogs that jump on people. It's annoying, it can trash your (or your friends and neighbors) nice clothes and it can hurt or knock down people and kids. And really it's not their fault. They don't know it's bad behavior. And as puppies some people encourage it because-Oh he's so cute. But not so cute at 100 lbs. So they got reinforced for bad behavior and now we want to stop it.

 

Your first line of defense is the tried and true turnaround. DO not talk to them or push them off. As they jump-turn around, ignore them and look up.  If your dog is a good sitter-ask for a "sit". Then reward for the sit. When they get good at it, try to elicit the jump by moving, dancing, jumping, shouting and really quick say "sit!". And reward. This way you are proofing the sit in any distraction. Then have other people try it. Pretty soon you will have a sit happy dog. 

 

Then we have the hard core jumpers. You know the kind. You try everything from turning away to spraying with water. You even try walking into the jump instead of walking back away. And then ask them to sit. You even try holding the paws (don't pinch or hurt them) and dancing with them (most dogs hate that) but alas just more jumping. I might suggest one more thing-put jumping on cue. Have a command for jumping and so on command they can jump-but only on command. It gives you a on/off switch, kind of like teaching speak/quiet. My dog Janie is a jumper from way back. I taught her "give me ten". It means one of her paws hits one of my hands and one of her paws hits the other. We stand there for a few seconds. "Good high ten!" then she jumps down and goes on her way. It's worth a try. Then ask for "high ten" less and less often till you fade it out.  But I will say Janie and I do "high ten" even today because she likes it and it's a neat trick. And she only weighs probably 40lbs.