Dog Training - Teaching Your Dog To Come

In our experiences, the best way to get a dog to come to you is to turn away from him and move in the opposite direction. It seems backwards to us humans but to your dog it makes perfect sense. Dogs want to go the way that you're going, and to a dog that's the way that your face and feet are pointing. So if you're calling "Come" and walking forward, your voice says, "Come over here," while your body says, "Stay there."

Teach your dog to come when "called" by starting when they weren't too distracted by something else. Will turning away from your dog rather than facing forward get your dog to come when you call her off a running squirrel? Don't count on it, but if you remember to turn away from your dog when you call her to come and reward her with a chase, a ball, or a treat, she'll come more than she used to.

Related article: Teaching Your Dog to Stay