Getting your Dog to Come When Called and Walk Politely

by Trish King

Having a happy relationship with your dog means learning how to work together. If there´s a topic you´d like to see Trish cover, email editors@fetchthepaper.com.

When I was growing up, we always had a family dog, along with several cats, birds, snakes, hamsters, and a flying squirrel. As I recall, we had a Dachshund, then a Border Collie, then one of the Border Collie’s sons by a neighborhood terrier (I had always wanted a Sheltie, but that was not to be). Like most people in our Colorado neighborhood, we never gave our dogs shots after the first series, never neutered or spayed them, and we certainly never put them on leash. Like us kids, they wandered the neighborhoods to find things to do. In the case of dogs, that included joining my brothers on their paper routes, eating everything interesting they found on the ground, and rolling in other interesting stuff.

Alas, those days are gone. Now there are many more people and dogs. Family life is all about working and soccer games and tutors and, for the dogs, leashes and a code of conduct that doesn’t exactly fit a dog’s desires or instincts. Still, an enormous number of people don’t think that dogs need to be trained. An even larger number think that one puppy class should be enough. Unfortunately, taking your dog to puppy class is like taking your kid to kindergarten: valuable, but not nearly as much as she needs.

Think about this. Everything that is taught in a dog training class goes against our dogs’ instincts. We want them to stay when they want to move; we want them to come when they want to stay; we want them to walk politely by our sides when that’s probably one of the most boring places to walk. After all, dogs get much of the information about their world through their noses, so they want to use them.

Even for humans it’s very easy to forget the lessons you had no interest in learning in the first place. I took math classes all the way through school, but my math skills are pitiful. I know how to manage my checkbook but that’s about it. Dogs not only don’t want to stay (for instance), but they see no reason to do it, and they won’t continue to do it without reminders from us throughout their lives.

Be there in just a sec!

Let’s discuss the recall, or “come” exercise. What we want the dog to do is to come when we call her, to interrupt whatever she’s doing, turn around, and return to us whether she wants to or not. This is truly difficult for anyone, even people. Thus in order for your dog to reliably come, you must

1. make yourself more interesting than anything else, or
2. make the dog afraid not to come.

In either case, you’ll have to practice over and over again.

To make yourself interesting, you have to actually motivate your dog. In classes, we tend to use treats, but they are by no means the only thing your dog can find motivating. Many dogs like to play tug or chase a ball, and some dogs (not as many as we would like) actually enjoy praise.

First, you should teach your dog what the word “come” means. An amazing number of people seem to think dogs arrive complete with a vocabulary. Sometimes adopters will bring a dog back, irritated because the dog won’t come when they call, not knowing that it’s a foreign language to a pup. In fact, some dogs have actually learned to run away when they hear the “C” word, as it has always meant that any fun they were having is over. So first stand close to your dog, say her name, then “come” (or “here” or whatever you decide) and move backwards. When she arrives in front of you praise her lavishly and reward her.

One of the ways to be a compelling target is to move away from your dog while you’re calling her. Most dogs don’t want to be left behind, most love their guardians, and many dogs have a strong chase instinct which they normally use on balls or small animals. Thus when you begin moving away your dog will have a need to follow you. Sometimes it helps to clap or to make unusual noises just to perk up interest. In this case you’d say your dog’s name, then “come,” then turn and run away. Praise and reinforce her behavior with treats, tug, etc. when she gets to you.

That’s about it for “come” except that you have to practice it a lot, in various places, with various levels of distraction for a long time before it becomes anything near reliable. By the way, try very hard not to call her when you don’t think she will come! Then she just learns that she doesn’t have to obey you.

Oo, look at this; oh, what about that?

Now let’s look at polite walking. Imagine you’re walking with a friend who has tied a rope around your waist, and she keeps pulling you back to her side whenever you’re more than a couple of feet away. At the very least, this is very irritating. Though dogs naturally tend to follow their human families, they would prefer to do so at their own pace while investigating interesting flora and fauna as they go. However, we want them to watch us and to walk with us. In fact it could be argued that watching us is the only job most dogs have.

Polite walking is generally the most difficult behavior to teach a dog and takes the longest time. Luckily once a dog has learned it, it tends to stay learned, unlike “come” which will fade away if not practiced.

The first thing to remember is that dogs do what works. If they want to go somewhere and have to pull you along in order to do that, that’s what they will do. I sometimes think dogs figure that’s the price they pay for going where they want. But if pulling on the leash is not successful, they will eventually stop trying. This is why it’s always our fault if our dogs pull; we have given into their behavior.

Merely stopping in your tracks and not letting the dog pull can work with some dogs. For others, probably most, you’ll need to do something for the dog to follow you. I suggest not letting them get to the end of the leash, where they can get a lot of momentum. Instead hold most of the leash bunched up in your hand, and make it easy for your dog to walk pretty close beside you with a slightly slack leash. I really like using one of the no-pull harnesses that attach in the front for this exercise; it makes it much easier. When you feel tension on the leash, pull slightly upwards, step back a few steps, then stop. Don’t just let him stop ahead of you. Wait until your dog stops and adjusts himself so he’s beside you again. Change direction and walk again. When he gets to the place you want, remember to reward him, either with treats or praise. This whole procedure takes lots of practice in order for the dog to learn. It’s best combined with other polite walking techniques that I don’t have the room here to discuss.

Once your dog has the idea, you will have to vary locations because dogs are lousy at generalizing a behavior. That’s why most trainers take classes, even though they already know how to teach a dog. Classes are great places to increase distractions and make a dog more reliable.