 Question came in from one of ADTM’s loyal readers. Jamie asked:“My min pin Josephine is 5 years old and it’s hard for me to teach her this (come when called) cuz as soon as I let her off the leash she will just take off. What is your suggestion to make her come back?”
Now before I answer this question I need you to sit down because what I am about to share with you is profound. What you are about to learn will END all of your recall (come when called) problems. You’ll never have to worry about your dog coming back because Polly will come back every time guaranteed! Have you prepared yourself for the answer? Are you sitting down? Ready? To answer your question how to get Polly to come back when she is off leash is…. …..you don’t let her off leash. What? That is NOT an answer to your question? Please, before deleting this message let me explain a little further. There are basically three ways we control our dogs: We can induce our dogs into doing a command, we can verbally control our dogs (which is what we ultimately want) and we can physically get our dog to do a command. So my answer is correct. If your dog will NOT come back to you, don’t let her off leash unless you feel like running. This is where I work the dog on a long line. The long line can help influence your dog from a distance. Couple of things have to happen in order for your dog to come back when called. The first is that your dog has to develop a sense of freedom. Dogs spend the majority of their lives in a crate, car, house, behind a fence and so on. Once a dog is free, the last thing they want to do is come back to you. By attaching a long line you can go to a park or beach and let your dog safely roam around and be a dog. Let them sniff, play, run around and with the long line you don’t have to stay close to the dog, you just need to stay close to the line and step on it if your dog start to drift too far away from you. When you call your dog if she does not listen to you, you can use the line to persuade her to come back. You don’t use the line to reel her in like a tuna, you use it to guide her back to you and as she gets close, you drop the line. I show exactly how to use the long line on The Ultimate Online Recall Course. On the course I talk more about “Developing a sense of freedom,” how to use the long line for active dogs, how to eventually get rid of the long line and much more. You can check out the Ultimate Online Recall Course by going here NOW: Best, Eric |