Teaching Your Dog The Come Command

In this article we will give you detailed step-by-step plan of action which you can use to train your dog to “come” when you call.

This is an important part of obedience training, so take your time to get it right before moving on to other aspects of training.

Let’s get started:

Firstly, you should first teach your dog to “Come” when he is hungry and alert.

A good way of doing this is to divide your dog’s meal up into ten equal portions, and during the day use his name followed by the command “Come”, to call him to his food bowl for each different portion of his meal for that day.

Does your dog ignore your come command?

We recommend the Adam Katz dogproblems.com membership site for a fast, easy and simple way to fix your dog's behavior problems. To find out more, Click here.

You should never use the “Come” command if you’re going to discipline your dog. You may have already guessed why…but I’ll tell you anyway:

If you tell your dog to “Come” and discipline or punish him in anyway, your dog will associate the “Come” command with an unpleasant experience – and therefore be less likely to want to follow your commands in future.

Teaching Your Dog The “Come” Command Indoors

First: Stand a short distance away from your dog, preferably in a quiet room where they’ll be less distractions (A hallway is a good place to first try this).

With a food reward in your hand, call your dog’s name, and as he starts to move towards you, give the command “Come”.

While your dog comes to you, praise him by saying “Good Dog” in an enthusiastic voice. You can encourage him even more by bending your knees and opening your arms towards him in a welcoming way.

When your dog arrives kneel down to get closer to his level. Praise your dog again with enthusiastic words and encouragement.

Stroke him and give him the food reward.

This is a basic method for teaching your dog the come command. For more advanced tuition (including videos) we recommend the link at the top right of this page.