# OMG please help Mona to COME when called!!!



## MonaLisa (Dec 4, 2013)

So she will stand and look at me and then run and run. How do I show her she is not doing right without wanting to take her and throw her in the cage I'm so mad? I want to do it right but she has to learn that is not except able without standing with a treat and talking baby talk. Right?


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## DreamAgility (Sep 2, 2013)

Dreamer would do that someties when I first got her. I just started firmly calling her saying "Dreamer Come." In the yard or anywhere open I would use a leash. ALWAYS reward good behavior. When she comes, be ready with some treats and verbal praise. Do some reclls, also. Have someone she does not know well hold her collar or leash while you walk away. Call her and she will come to you rather than stay with the unfamiliar person.
I recommend a training class. I took many classes with(and still do)with my 3 dogs. They resect me and are very happy to please me. Not only are they trained, but so m I.


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## ChantersMom (Aug 20, 2012)

It will take a lot of practice and praise. I have had Chanter in two obedience courses, an agility, and he is enrolled in a Recall (come)course in Feb. He is improving but he's still working on recall. when out walking, I frequently call Chanter and reward every time. Use a friendly but firm voice and lots of praise!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

A few tips from me: 

Always have some tiny treats in your pocket. Don't wear clothes without pockets. lol

_Any_ time your dog comes to you on his own, praise and treat whether it's to come over by you when you're on the couch, if you're doing something in the kitchen, if you're in your yard.

Never call your dog to come to you...for now. Don't use any verbal cue UNLESS your dog is already coming to you and almost to you. Then hold onto him, treat, praise and let him go back to what he was doing. Especially, don't call him to come if he's interested in something else in his environment. That's setting yourself up to fail. Hold his collar for a sec if he's wearing one because you want to teach him not to run off before he's all the way to you. PLUS, you want to slip in a release word just before you turn him loose again. (free, release, ok....whatever) He needs to learn to stay put when he comes to you until you give permission to run off again. Do this several times when you're practicing so he hears the release word before being allowed to run off. So, you do need to hold onto him for 2 or 3 seconds once he comes. Then reinforce (treat/praise) And release.

Entice him to come is fine. Run the other way like you're playing a game of chase. Squeak a little toy or make happy squeaky noises yourself. Praise and treat when he comes after you. Play hide and seek. When he comes close to you, praise and treat.

Until he's coming to you by your enticement or on his own, don't use a cue word. When he starts doing that regularly, start adding in "let's go" or "come." (whatever your cue word will be)

Later on, you'll be able to elicit the recall with a cue word because he will have made the association between the word and the act of coming to you. If you use the cue too early on and he's not coming, he's doing something else (like running the other way) he's missing the association and doesn't know what the cue means. Or he associates it with running the other way or something else in his environment.

You can set up little practice sessions with a long line if you want. But I prefer the dog to come on his own without pulling him in, if possible. Make coming to you the best thing ever. Every single time. Never scold in association with the recall or you'll never get a reliable one.

Never call your dog to come and end all the fun he was having. Don't inadvertently punish your dog when he comes by doing something he doesn't like, like clipping nails, cleaning ears...If he was having a wee of a time outside and you call him in, don't stop the fun there. Play with him for a few minutes. Make sure that coming to you is always, always the greatest thing ever.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Excellent advice from Poodlebeguiled - if you want Mona to come without treats, you first need to convince her that it is really, really worthwhile by always having treats, or a fun game, or something else equally high value. "Because I say so" doesn't really do the trick.

Don't wave the treats to get her attention - arrange it so that they seem to appear magically whenever she comes to you. And starting out afresh with really top notch treats, and then introducing a new cue word, may help both of you to overcome any negative associations the old one has accrued.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Absolutely what Fjm said. Don't "advertise" that you have treats, even though he will figure you have them. Don't show the treats first or bribe him in any way or the treats will become the cue. This is when you hear people say, "my dog only "listens" when I have treats." So, you can also use a marker word, like, "yes" or a clicker when he comes and then grab a treat from various places, not always your pockets...maybe a counter top or on a fence post if you're outside. The marking of the behavior with a clicker or "yessss!" buys you a couple seconds of time to reward. In any case, make sure you get the behavior FIRST before treats. If the dog is on his way to you, you can give some kind of word or vocal encouragement that tells him he's on the right track...to keep on coming...whatever you want. I will say "gooood, good" with a little inflection in my voice like it's not a complete praise, the goods aren't quite ready yet... but keep on coming. It can help.


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## MonaLisa (Dec 4, 2013)

Are there any books you all recommend for training? Thanks for all the advice and I know I expect a lot to soon. She's just so big already and smart so it's hard not to. Maybe if we had of gotten her when she was still little it would have been different. 


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I highly recommend Jean Donaldson's "Train your dog like a pro" - detailed descriptions of how to train, and a DVD demonstrating the methods. It made me realise just how much I was skipping essential stages, and still expecting my dogs to understand me.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

I recommend Culture Clash, by Jean Donaldson as a foundation. It is full of good information. It is like a foundation for anything else you may read and will give you a good idea of how dogs operate so our expectations will be more in line with how they ARE, not how we think they should be based on our tendency to anthropomorphize too much. You will learn a lot about learning behavior, some clicker training concepts and a lot more. Train Your Dog like a Pro, like Fjm recommended. Jean Donaldson is one of my favorites. She doesn't mince words....gets straight to it and puts it in words that are unmistakable.

After you read that, Don't Shoot the Dog, by Karen Pryor is a good one for clicker training techniques and concepts. 

I love Kikopup. She's great! You can subscribe to her You Tube thing and you'll get emails when she's uploaded a new video. Look her up and see what you can find.

The Power of Positive Dog Training by Pat Miller is a short and simple book if you don't want to get too in depth. It's good.

The Other End of the Leash, by Patricia McConnell is good. She's a good writer too. Her book, For the Love of a Dog is wonderful, more about how the brain works and a lot of nice sentiment involved in that one....not so much on training specifically. 

Anything by Ian Dunbar, Sophia Yin, Kathy Sdao. (love her) Here's an article by her: Kathy Sdao - BEYOND CESAR MILLAN


Dogs: A New Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution, 2001, by Ray & Lorna Coppinger

This one isn't really about training but I tell you...it's fascinating...about evolution and a whole lot more. Excellent and compelling.

I'm writing a book on behavior and other things 'dog.' I've been working on it for a long time and it keeps evolving and changing. I don't know if I'll ever finish it. lol. 

Anyhow, the more you read, the better.

Happy Training!


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## Chagall's mom (Jan 9, 2010)

Poodlebeguiled said:


> I'm writing a book on behavior and other things 'dog.' I've been working on it for a long time and it keeps evolving and changing. I don't know if I'll ever finish it. lol.


I'm pre-sold on any dog behavior/training book you write. Sign me up for several copies and get busy finishing it!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Chagall's mom said:


> I'm pre-sold on any dog behavior/training book you write. Sign me up for several copies and get busy finishing it!


Awwww....that's sweet. I don't know...I write and then I realize some new discovery or compelling study and I have to re-think what I've done. Also, I tend to be soooooo redundant. I kind of put it all to the side for a while.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Count me in too! Perhaps you should publish your book in chunks on a website blog, that way it can be a constant work in progress, but we still get to read it!


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## PoodleRick (Mar 18, 2013)

Me too


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## Chells_Aura (Dec 7, 2012)

RunChanter said:


> He is improving but he's still working on recall. when out walking, I frequently call Chanter and reward every time.


That's a great idea... I should do that more when I take Chell on her long leash!




Poodlebeguiled said:


> Always have some tiny treats in your pocket. Don't wear clothes without pockets. lol


None of my maternity clothes had pockets so I had to buy a fanny pack for that very reason!!


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## WhosMyFluffyPuppy (Jan 12, 2013)

Just one thing to add to everyone's good advice here: our trainer had us add a "touch" to the end of recall before we praise and give a treat. When our dog does recall, when he is in reach, we gently grab his collar (or put our hand on his back if he's not wearing one), and then we give a marker, praise, and treat. The reasoning was that it gets the dog used to knowing being "grabbed" is part of the deal before getting the treat. Like many of the other posters, we don't ever recall without a treat unless it's an emergency.


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