# Wont come when called



## miller123 (Aug 13, 2011)

miller is doing great, but he wont come back when called, he just runs like H***, and if i go to pick him up when he is chilling in the yard, he will run, and i mean run. luckely we have a fenced in yard. any tips.


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## Kalico (Jan 11, 2012)

Recall is so difficult to teach! My older dog, almost 3, is just about getting to be 100% reliable now, but it's taken this long with him. I'm not a training expert, but here's my take on it. I think recall consists of two things. First, the dog needs to feel that coming to you is fun. You can treat him when he comes if responds to food. I've also known people who make a game of it when their dog won't come, turning and running away themselves. Neither of these are long-term solutions, but they can help instill the habit in him. The second part of recall, in my opinion, is having a dog who responds to commands in general. So working with him on all kinds of commands and obedience should also help with those problem areas (for my dog it was walking on a leash and recall).

It just takes patience and time, probably more than you'd like but eventually you will work through this!


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## morriscsps (Aug 17, 2010)

a leash. Otherwise, it is a wonderful game. 

But seriously, carry treats. Keep a few in your hand. Then call him. When he comes running for the treats, slowly give them to him with one hand while slyly grabbing his collar. If you are going to be out with him for a while, get him to come to you a few times, grab his collar, give him more treats for letting you grab his collar, and set him free to play again. Have a puppy party whenever he comes.

Finally, puppy class. They will show you how to practice and make it fun for Miller and you. 

I think Dave has some really good links about recalls.


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## shimpli (Mar 24, 2010)

Check this out. It's been great for Ache.
http://www.havaneseforum.com/showthread.php?t=15439


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## narci (Sep 6, 2011)

At puppy class...second last lesson was recall..i will get into that later...

First, you need to ensure that when you call your dog..he/she looks at you. I tought Oreo the 'look' command. I say look and he looks me in the eyes prompting that a command is going to come next after I get his attention.

I almost always use 'look' before giving him a command. example....Oreo Look. Oreo sit. (unless I aready have his attention)

The 'look' command also helps when walking so I get his attention.

To teach the look command...hold your arm out with a treat. He will probably most likely stare at the hand that has the treat. If he looks away at you even for a second...give him a treay..no verbal command yet. Once he understand he gets a treat for looking at you..you can then incorpoare the verbal command.

For 'come'..you can combine this with teaching 'leave it' and 'stay' but I'll just concentrate on 'come'.

Have your dog sit/down and 'stay'. walk away from your dog a couple steps. then ask him to come. DO NOT SAY COME MORE THEN ONCE. if you do, and he comes after the 10th call, he'll learn that he can ignore you. He is always on his leash.

Keep doing this and increase the distance as you feel.

When your out at a dog park, you can let your dog go..but call him once in awhile to 'check' in. this helps reinforce the come command. When he comes, then tell im to go play. You want to do this because if you only recall him when your leaving, he will associate the recall command as 'play is over' and not want to come back.


Miller, I high sugguest Dizine Canaine (Shelagh) out on Knight/clark close to terminal road. Her obediance classes are awesome. She teaches agility and clicker as well. We went though Puppy class and basic obedeince with her.

As to miller runing away from you..oreo did that. What i did was just walk thr other way and ignore him. Lets him know that 'i'm not playing chase games with you'. Have been doing that for awhile and he isn't running away as much.


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## miller123 (Aug 13, 2011)

thanks, we already have a trainer, and she is great. we are doing begginers agility and he loves it, today we build an aframe and pause table, and he loves it! and the recall is already getting better as i have aalready taught the look command


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

I hate the 'come' command, but it is the most important. it can save their life one day.

ok. first of all, don't feel bad. my 1/2 hav Ollie still likes to play chase when I want him to come. bogger.

I'm familar with the progression Narci posted. Is that the progression you're using?

it sounds like miller isn't ready or in the proofing stage.

So I'll just tell you how I messed up 'come' with my dogs, learning the hard way.

1) you are only to use come when it's 'positive'. and be really up beat in your vocal tone and physically affectionate.

so when I first got dogs, I used come for bath time, or at the end of a off leash romp (and clicked the leash on), all the things you aren't supposed to do.

2) treats aren't all created equal. use 1 powerful treat for come, only for come. 

something awesome. cheese, hot dog, bacon, sardines (yes b/c they are stinky).

3) only use come when you really need it.

aka don't over use it. when I walk my dogs off leash on a trial. I see folks calling come come come every 4-6 minutes. whoa! and the dog doesn't respond and they say the word 'come' multiple times in one 'ask'. all mistakes.

I do find that when my dogs aren't 'looking' at me, I hide or turn around so that they stay tuned to me. the backyard or house is different, in my experience b/c it's home. and we hang out at home. practice in a small enclosed park if you have one. or even outside on the sidewalk with a leash.

I have found with my 1/2 hav, he is VERY eager to please, when he sees how excited I get wiht any trick I really like, the next day he does it again for me. yes, he likes the treats but he does really respond to the vocal praise and my energy of excitement. 

an example is recently Ollie has started to roll over very well. so well, he's like an alligator in a death roll, he'll roll 3-5 times in a row! b/c he loves the response he gets from me and the whatever audience (the students at my school). 

at least you are still working on it. this is good, and he will only get better, the more you work with him.

I would also reward your dog (with treats) for just being near you. doesn't even have to be from your hand, you can toss a treat nearby, this teaches the dog that good things happen when he's near you.

I'm lucky, b/c when I take Ollie to school (my work), offleash, he follows me very close behind where ever I go. He sort of gets that he's working. He is strays a little, usually for food or a kid petting him, I just say his name, and he drifts back my way.

I"m sure your pup will get it. good luck.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Sprorchid's post was great. I'd like to add that many people "poison" the word, "come" by using it in all the wrong ways Sprorchid mentioned. For many people, it makes sense to choose a new recall word (or use a whistle, as in Dave's "Calling all Havs" thread) and make sure you NEVER use it wrong. It doesn't matter what the word is, as long as you are consistent. 

I actually have two different recall words, one for formal obedience situations, "Kodi, Front!", and "Kodi, Here!" for informal situations when I want him to come back to me, but it doesn't require a formal "front and finish". We started the recall in a hallway, having my kids just take turns calling Kodi's name, having him dash up and down the hall, getting a treat each time he responded to his name. Then we started just watching him. When we saw he was making an enthusiastic bee-line for us, we would say "Kodi, here!!!' in a bright, happy voice and give him great treats and TONS of praise when he arrived and let us grab his collar. (he was coming anyway, on his own, so this was a great game as far as he was concerned) Then we would let him go again. That's part of the trick to teaching a really reliable recall... NEVER say your recall word unless you are AT LEAST 90% sure the dog will come. When you are first practicing, don't say it until they are already on their way.

Kodi was a bit of a velcro dog to start with outdoors, so we didn't have to worry about him running off. But for people who's pup might find the great outdoors more tempting than playing the recall game (even for great food) you can use a "long line", which is just a long, thin, strong ribbon or string attached to the collar that you can step on to keep the puppy from getting away. You can do the same thing if he is loose in the yard and won't let you catch him, but you will need to supervise him closely so he can't get caught on anything and get hurt.

When we started off-leash walks in the woods, I would (and still do!) call him back to me periodically, give him a cookie and release him again. He loves this game. From that we were able to take it a step further, and at this point, if he's getting too far ahead of me, I can just call, "Kodi, wait!", and he knows he doesn't need to come back to me, but he needs to wait until I close the distance and say, "OK!". I wish I could tell you how he learned this part, but I'm not sure. It's just a communication we sort of developed over time. 

I was told, however, that you can't expect a dog to have a really solid recall, with distractions, for AT LEAST a year or two. If you have a distractible, or high prey drive type dog, it can take much, much longer. Sight hounds almost never are trustworthy off leash in the open. So don't get discouraged with your guy... if I remember correctly, he's still pretty young, isn't he?


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## miller123 (Aug 13, 2011)

yes, he is still pretty younge... he is full sized now, it seems like yesterday when we got him from the breeder and he didn't weigh more that 3 pounds, when we take him to the park, we use a 50 foot leash, and he loves that. i have started to recall train him with a whistle, because its more of a constant tone that my voice, (espicaly if im mad because he wont come) LOL, but he is getting better now, we save the liver for recall training, and he loves it


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## Lsprick (Jul 8, 2010)

Great advice from others, just want to add two things. First, I don't use come for something negative, like a bath. I go get my dog and say, "Time for bath!". Secondly, when I'm walking toward my dog to pick her up, I flash her my open palms to signal my intent.


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## morriscsps (Aug 17, 2010)

I love that my beasties recognize a tap on the window means that I want them to come in. Kit taught Nessie. Nessie, in turn, taught Jack. They are both pretty solid now. Even if a neighborhood dog is walking by. 

My husband can whistle and they sprint in. I wish I could whistle. 

I still give them treats ever so often for a spectacular run for the door.


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

I'm not a trainer, but letting the dog know that coming to you is fun/rewarding as others have mentioned seems to work well. My old parent's dog was a husky mix so when he was a juvenile and out in the yard he just loved running around (we had a big yard and he would rather stay out in it regardless of the weather). Catching a fast dog that thinks you're plaing is no fun in Massachusetts winters! When my dad would try getting him to come inside he would get all frustrated so by the time he caught him or the dog came my dad would yell at him. When I would finally catch him/came to me I praised him heartily no matter how "bad" he was so he easily learned to trust me and got pretty good at coming when I called.


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## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

I am glad this thread is front and center right now because I am so pissed at Gryff. We were outside on the deck and I had him off the leash because he is usually good when we eat lunch out there. Anyway he took off and it it took me 15 minutes to get him back.

It's funny how a dog who follows me from room to room like a shadow will take off like a bat outta hell and won't come back to me when we are outside.

Ungrateful bastard.


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## sashamom (Jan 12, 2009)

ivyagogo said:


> I am glad this thread is front and center right now because I am so pissed at Gryff. We were outside on the deck and I had him off the leash because he is usually good when we eat lunch out there. Anyway he took off and it it took me 15 minutes to get him back.
> 
> It's funny how a dog who follows me from room to room like a shadow will take off like a bat outta hell and won't come back to me when we are outside.
> 
> Ungrateful bastard.


Do I sense a little frustration? LOL Sasha is so good at ignoring me that I thought she might have lost her hearing. Shaking the treat jar convinced me she was just ignoring and in fact looking the other way.


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## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

I learned all that stuff in obedience class. I just went outside with Gryff with some chicken livers. I asked him to sit and stay, then walked across the yard and turned back toward him. I stared at him for a few moments then "Gryff, come". He runs right to me and sits in front of me. I take the treat and move it away from me while he makes eye contact, then I give him the treat. We did this about 10 times flawlessly.

I'm guessing the next step is to treat him sometimes and other times just praise him until he never knows if he's getting a treat or not?


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

ivyagogo said:


> I learned all that stuff in obedience class. I just went outside with Gryff with some chicken livers. I asked him to sit and stay, then walked across the yard and turned back toward him. I stared at him for a few moments then "Gryff, come". He runs right to me and sits in front of me. I take the treat and move it away from me while he makes eye contact, then I give him the treat. We did this about 10 times flawlessly.
> 
> I'm guessing the next step is to treat him sometimes and other times just praise him until he never knows if he's getting a treat or not?


You really need to do recall, especially in the open, with high value treats for a LONG, LONG time. Every time you give a treat is money in the bank for the time that you don't happen to have one with you and need to call him.


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## ivyagogo (Sep 11, 2007)

Thanks Karen. I will be working with him every day. He's been a brat too long!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Not a brat, just needs some "brushing up"! Working with him will be a great way to give him some 1-1 time with Jinx in the house!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

ivyagogo said:


> It's funny how a dog who follows me from room to room like a shadow will take off like a bat outta hell and won't come back to me when we are outside.
> 
> Ungrateful bastard.


Thank you for the much needed laugh this provided me today. my sentiments exactly!


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

Yeah recall is a tough one and something I pretty much ALWAYS treat for. I call in other ways "let's go,this way etc but a true recall, with his name or "come" attached (which I haven't even started w/Atticus) always gets a treat.You have to think about the fact that they are animals and really don't have to come at all,look at cats, rabbits, etc other pets. So their attention to us is really remarkable. AND yes I know that burning anger of calling a dog who is totally blowing me off !!! Try to avoid that !!!! grin


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