[kopdogs] 5 simple steps to teaching your dog to come back to you every time

'5 simple steps to teaching your dog to come back to you every time'

Do you have difficulty getting your dog to come to you when you call him? Does
he come when he feels like it, or do you find yourself chasing your dog around
your local park trying to bargain with him, in an effort to get come to you? If
so here is a simple, yet tried and tested method to developing the perfect
recall that works well with both puppies and older dogs. 1.Get your dogs
attention Getting your dogs attention means making eye contact with him. One of
the best ways off achieving this is through the clicker training method. Take
your dog to a distraction free environment, may be a quiet room in your
house.When your dog is NOT looking at you call his name. When he looks into your
direction, make eye contact with him then click your clicker and give him a food
treat. Build in distractions gradually, for example, by repeating the
exercise with other people in the room or try it out in the garden 2. Get to
know what your dog likes Make a mental note or better, a written note of all the
things your dog enjoys as treats and rank them in importance: say from 1 to 3; 1
being a strong motivator, 2 having a lesser value than 1 as a motivator, and so
on. Some of the things your dog may like as treats may be: Food Play; with
you or other dogs Walks Stroking A favourite toy You will now not only
have an understanding of the different treats your dog enjoys, more importantly
you can now begin to match the strength of each motivator (reward) to different
situations. 3. Give your dog a good reason to come to you So many of us fail
with the recall exercise because we don't give our dogs a good enough reason to
come back to us, especially when they are engrossed in doing something else. To
combat this, try the following. Take your dog to a distraction free place and
attach him to a long training lead. Get down on the floor and call your dogs
name. By now your dog should look at you immediately. When he does call him to
you. Give your dog the incentive to come; clap your hands and get really
animated. Your dog will then wonder what the fuss is all about and decide to
check you out. If not give a little tug on his lead and call him towards you
excitedly. When your dog comes to you take hold of his collar, praise him
profusely and give him his treat. As soon as you have given your dog his
treat, let him go again using a release command such as "OK". This lets your dog
know he has done what is asked of him and he can know go back to play. 4.Use
the numbers game to your advantage When professional trainers teach a dog a new
behaviour they set up what are known as schedules of reward. This basically
means that the amount of times the dog receives a reward for his correct
behaviour will vary. This approach to training can have a potent effect on
shaping your dogs behaviour. If you like playing fruit machines or gambling or
even fishing for example, you will know what I mean. You keep fishing or you
keep putting your money into the machine because you know you are going to win,
but your not sure when or how much. Well this will become your dogs attitude
towards performing any given behaviour. He knows he will receive a reward for
his efforts, but he is not sure what how much and when.This will keep him
working with you. Use the numbers game in different ways, treat your dog on a
schedule of odd number, then change to treating on even numbers, for example.
Treat your dog on a schedule of 1,3,5 and so on, then change and treat every 2,4
6 times and so on. Then change to treating on a 1,2,3 basis. Use the same
principle in relation to the time you take hold of your dogs collar and keep him
by you. Begin at 1 second then for 2 and build up. Varying the time will help
build your dogs patience. 5. Practice, practice, practice The final part to this
simple formula, is to practice. Begin the exercise in your garden, experiment
using the list of things your dog likes as treats, and note his responses with
each. Build in distractions gradually. Move on the your local park,
initially when it is not too busy. Keep your dog on his long lead to begin with,
and call him to you. When he comes, praise him profusely and give him a
favourite treat that as a reward. Be aware that you may need to change the
reward in order to elisit the correct behaviour, due to the change in the
environment. For example, a game with his favourite toy may have been a good
reinforcer in the quiet room at home when you where first practicing, however,
in the park where there is more to attract your dog, for example interesting
sights and smells, you may need to step up and use a more potent reward, for
example food treats. When it's time to let your dog off his lead, try
calling him back frequently to begin with, remember to take hold of his collar
for a few seconds and to give him a treat and let him go right after using your
release word. Increase the length of time you keep hold of you dogs when he
comes back to you, and vary the amount of time you give him his treat as already
described. Keep this up and it won't be long before your perfect recalls will
become the envy of your dog loving friends.


Ivan Ojounru has been training dogs in the UK since the late 1908's. He
now lives in France where he continues to train dogs and write about dog related
behaviour care and trainig topics. He is passionate about giving dog owners the
skills, knowledge and confidence to enable them to train their own dogs
successfully. For further information visit
http://www.dogtrainingcareadvice.blogspot.comArticle
Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/5-simple-steps-to-teaching-your-dog-to-come-back-to-you-every-time-898686.html