Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Teaching the dog to come when called

By Jerry Welsh


Obedience trainings enhance the bond between owner and pet. A dog that has undergone basic obedience lessons develops into good canine citizen. An owner of a dog that can do tricks will certainly be very proud of the pet's ability. It is common for dog owners to obedience train the dog to be able to manage the pet's behavior. One of the important basic obedience trainings is teaching the dog to come when called as this can save the pet from a potentially dangerous situation. Many dogs have been injured because they were not trained to obey the recall command.

Dogs that are usually kept in a crate or leashed must be trained to come when called. Being energetic animals, dogs would want to run, jump and play freely. A dog that was able to break free from the leash would be in dogs' 7th heaven. Catching and reattaching the leash would be a very hard task for an owner of a dog that was not trained to come when called. This kind of situation has caused a lot of dogs to be injured and even killed.

Teaching the dog to come when called will be easy as dogs already have the tendency to be the shadow of their masters. Dogs were even branded as Velcro pets. However, aside from being hunters, dogs are also very curious animals. The dog will be torn between following an interesting scent and obeying the recall command of the master. Usually, the dog will follow the interesting scent.

Just as with any other kind of obedience training, teaching the dog to come when called must be started while the dog is still young. The owner has to get the dog's full concentration during the training thus a place that is free from distraction must be chosen. Stand a short distance away from the dog and give the come command.

The dog will not understand the command at the start of the training so you can hold a toy or a treat to entice the dog to come when you give the command. Reward the dog with a praise, a hug or a treat when the pet comes to you after you gave the command. This exercise must be repeated several times a day but be sure that the training session would not be more that 5 or 10 minutes as dogs easily get bored. If the dog has steadily obeyed the command, take the training a level higher by increasing the distance between you and the dog or calling the dog to come while you are in another room.




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