How to Teach Your Puppy to Come When Called

Getting your puppy to come when called is important for her safety, as well as your convenience.

If you want to let your dog off leash in public, it is important to make sure she is a model citizen and comes when called so you can get her back on leash. This is critical for her own safety, as well as your convenience. Teaching your puppy to come does not require a lot of time out of your day, but it does involve consistency. Follow these specific instructions and your puppy will be enthusiastically coming when called in just a few simple sessions.

Things You'll Need

• Whistle
• Dog treats (little pieces of dry dog food)
• Small plastic bag
• Collar
• Leash

Instructions

Teaching the HERE or COME Command

1. 

   Training can and should begin when your puppy is five weeks old.

   Begin training your puppy when she is five weeks old. Start by whistling each time you feed her. Soon she will associate your whistle with the pleasure of eating and will run toward you every time you whistle. This is the first step in conditioning your puppy to the COME or HERE command.

2. 

   Reward your puppy with a bit of dry puppy food each time she comes to your whistle.

   As soon as your puppy has accomplished step one, it is important that you proceed to step two in the first two months of your puppy's life. Go on a walk and carry a pocketful of snacks with you. (Use small pieces of dry puppy food in a little plastic bag, since larger treats take too long for the puppy to chew during a training session.) As soon as your puppy heads off on her own, whistle for her to come back to you, while you head in the opposite direction. Reward her with a bite of food and she will quickly learn to respond each time you whistle. It's important to attach the leash to your puppy's collar most or all of the times that she comes to you. This will give her a positive association with the leash at the same time.

3. 

   Hold your flattened hand straight down at your side, palm facing the puppy.

   Hold a piece of puppy food between two fingers (i.e., index and middle). Hold your flattened hand straight down at your side about knee high with your palm facing your puppy. This is a standard hand signal for the COME or HERE command. As soon as she comes, reward her with the nugget of puppy food between your fingers. Then, get another piece of puppy food ready and continue on your walk. After about five sessions, begin giving the puppy food to your dog only once every three or four times that she comes to you. This helps her to realize that food should not be expected every time she obeys. Eventually, you can use the verbal and nonverbal commands intermittently so your puppy will learn to obey both.

   Over time, your new pup will be conditioned to obey the COME or HERE command without even thinking about it. Then, after several practice sessions, you can phase out the food reward completely and replace it with pats and praise instead.

Tips & Warnings

• You can use the word COME or HERE. We prefer to use HERE because we can eventually use the word HEEL and accomplish similar results. The HERE command is a call to the dog to come to you; the HEEL command means the dog comes to you to sit, stand, or walk on your left side.

• A young puppy has a short attention span and tires easily, so keep sessions to three to five minutes in length for one to two times per day for the first couple of months. Be consistent and train your puppy at least four times per week so she won't forget what she has learned. As your puppy grows, training session lengths will depend upon her interest level, drive, energy and attention span. Once she appears to lose interest and begins disobeying where she was previously following commands with enthusiasm, it's time to discontinue the training session so you and your dog won't get frustrated or discouraged.

References

• Training a Dog or Puppy to Come when Called
• Come Command
• Command Training for Come
• How to Train a Dog to Come

Resources

• How to Train a Puppy
• Dog Training Tips