Teaching your pup to come to you from a long distance is much harder than you’d think. But if you have patience and go by the following steps, you can get there. There are literally thousands of smells out there to distract your dog, especially at a typical park. Competing with that is hard but not impossible. It’s worth the time investment because it could one day save your dog’s life under the wrong situation.
The command of choice is “come”, and your dog should come to you from a distance no matter what distractions are going on. Even though the command is very basic, it will take weeks, maybe months to perfect it -hence the patience.
Items you will need:
- A long lead (leash), between 30 and 50 feet long
- Don’t use a retractable leash, trust me, it won’t work
- A place with low distractions, then a place with more distractions, and finally a high distraction area
- High-value treats – like freeze dried beef liver or real chicken or meat
- Patience
- Commanding voice
- PMA – Positive Mental Attitude that your pup will sense
The reason for the long lead is two-fold. First, it will give your dog the sense that he is free and doesn’t feel restricted. Second, you still have the ability to reel him in from danger.
To start, go to a low-distraction park and give yourself and your dog a perimeter as long as your lead. Connect your dog to the long lead and connect the other end of the lead to your hand. Let the rest of the lead drag on the ground, giving your dog the sense that he is free to move around. Allow your pup to do just that and when he gets a few feet away, call him by name and with the “come” command and reward him with a “yes!” and a treat. I prefer not to use a clicker, so “yes!” acts in its place to let your dog know exactly when he did what you wanted from him. Let your dog move around again, sniffing the ground or just taking in the scenery – again, when he is a few feet away, call him and treat him. You will want to spend the next 5 to 7 minutes repeating the above before creating 5 to 7 feet of space between the two of you. Repeat the recall steps above but at this larger distance and do it for another 5 to 7 minutes. Praise your pup and call it a day.
On a brand new day, go to the same park and recall your dog from 5 to 7 feet away for 5 to 7 minutes. Then increase your distance to 10 feet away and repeat again for 5 to 7 minutes. You can push your pup for a little more – let him wander (or you walk away) 15 feet and repeat the steps for another 5 to 7 minutes. Then praise your pup and call it a day.
One important note, if your dog is taking his time coming to you, you may give him a little tug on the line to move him along. As you can now surmise, day three will be a repeat of the last step of day 2 along with a new, slightly longer distance. After a few more days, you should be able to get to 30 feet away.
Once you reach 30 feet (still with your pup on the long lead), mix it up over the next few visits, doing the “come” command anywhere from 5 feet to 30 feet. Don’t do any sessions longer than 15 minutes.
Next you will find a setting that is medium-distraction and repeat all of the above. Then after successfully completing all the steps, go to a high-distraction area and rinse and repeat. Now you are ready to start from scratch but with your pup off leash completely. It’s a little scary, but if you did all of the work above, you should feel confident your dog will recall successfully, especially within 10 feet away in a low-distraction setting. Just continue the training off-leash, following ALL of the steps you completed while your pup was on the long lead and you’ll be fine.
