Approaching when called is a vital skill that every dog must learn, both for their own safety and that of those around them. A wayward dog that refuses to come when called could easily get hit by a car, get into a fight with another dog, or suffer a variety of other bad experiences. A well-trained dog that comes when called can be safely taken out to play at the local park, beach, hiking trail, or anywhere else the owner and dog want to go.
Basic training to come when called is relatively easy and straightforward, and involves providing praise, treats, and other benefits when the dog does what its owner wants. After mastering these basic training exercises, there are a number of fun exercises that can be introduced to challenge the dog and pique his interest.
Turning training into a fun game is one of the best ways to motivate both dog and handler. It’s easy for training sessions to become routine and boring, and it’s important to prevent them from degenerating into this state.
Before beginning any food-based training exercise, it is important to ensure that the dog is properly motivated and ready to respond to treat-based training. Tasting the dog is simply a matter of taking a piece of his usual food and waving it in front of the dog’s nose. If the dog shows great enthusiasm for the food, he is ready to begin training. If not, it’s best to wait until the dog is in a more receptive frame of mind.
Treats that work best for treat-based training games, such as hide-and-seek, are pieces of chicken, cheese, or liver cut into quarter-inch or smaller pieces. In other words, something your dog will love. It is best to use very small pieces to avoid overfeeding the dog during training sessions.
A great game for you and another family member or friend to play with your dog is to just reminisce back and forth. This is a great exercise to teach your dog to come whenever he is called by a family member. Dogs often learn to respond to only one person, and this can be a problem when other people are looking at the dog. That’s one of the reasons professional dog trainers always insist on working with the owner and the dog. A well-trained dog must learn to respond to whoever is in charge, not just the usual owner or handler.
In the back-and-forth remember game, two or more people stand approximately thirty feet apart, in a safe place such as a fenced-in yard. One person calls the dog and asks it to sit and says until another person asks the dog to come. When the dog responds to the command to come, he is rewarded with a treat. Most dogs respond wonderfully to this exercise and love to play this game. When playing the game of remembering back and forth, it’s important that only the person who called the dog gets to give it a treat.
Once the dog has mastered the game of remembering back and forth, the humans in the game can begin to spread more, thus turning the game of remembering back and forth into a fun game of hide and seek. The game of hide and seek begins with two or more people in the central room of the house. Every time they call the dog to come over, they stray further from where they started. As the game progresses, one person will be at one end of the house, while another may be at the opposite end. What makes the game of hide-and-seek so much fun for the dog is that he must search for the person to get the treat, instead of just running towards a person in sight. This type of searching behavior appeals to many of the dog’s natural instincts. After all, dogs are naturally game animals, and foraging for food is second nature to them.
