Quiz time:
The best way to teach your dog to come when called is to use?
Everyone that said “Positive Reinforcement” can come to the front of the class and get a gold star. You correctly answered the question.
You need to reinforce and reward your dog for coming to you. BUT,,,
…. the overwhelming majority of people that I work with use punishment and there is a good chance you are (GASP) doing the same thing.
There is a strong chance that you are punishing your dog for coming to you and you don’t even know it.
Let me splain with this quick story:
A few years back I used to help people in the pet industry. I would help them with their marketing and show them how to get clients. I worked with pet groomers, dog trainers and dog daycares.
Anyway, I was coaching this one person and within a few weeks I couldn’t stand it. I would see her number pop up on my cell phone and I would cringe. Within a few days I started to avoid her calls.
See, every time she called it was one long, continuous one sided conversation about everything that was bad in her life – which was considerable.
She complained about her business, her customers, her dogs, her back, her husband, the town she lived in…..it went on and on and I COULDN’T STAND TALKING TO HER.
It was punishment just seeing her name on my cell phone so I would avoid her calls as long as I could and eventually sent her money back and ended the relationship.
Which brings us to your dog and avoiding your call.
If you call your dog over to you and you immediately put him on leash you have just effectively punished him for coming.
You didn’t punish intentionally but the principles of behavior work like gravity. You can jump or trip off your roof. Either way the result is going to be the same.
The best way to teach your dog to come when called is to set your dog up to successfully complete the command.
Reward your dog for coming and then repeat the process. That’s just one of the secrets I show dog owners to get better results.
Before I leave I wanted to let you know about the Super Stocking that I put together for you. You can check it out by going here NEXT:
Best,
Eric