GAMES TO ENCOURAGE WANTED BEHAVIOURS AND CREATE BONDS WITH YOU AND YOUR DOG…
Single Person Recall with Long Line
Have your dog connected to you on a long leash or rope. A proper recall lead is recommended as a rope or nylon recall lead can give a nasty burn especially when being using to train medium to larger dogs.
Allow your dog to become distracted by its surrounds. Then call its name in order to grab its attention - dog needs to look at you.
If your dog does not look at you within 2-3 seconds after calling its name, use the long leash or rope to gently tug or jiggle at its collar. Once you have your dog’s attention i.e. it is looking your way, recall it to you by saying in a fun and playful tone “COME”. Should your dog not move towards your direction within 2-3 seconds use the long leash or rope to gently guide it towards you and at the same time slowly move backwards away from your dog to encourage them to you.
Once your dog has come to you, use a treat held close to the dog’s nose to bring/lure them close to you. When they are in the required position (close & in front of you), bring the treat up over the dog’s head to make them sit directly in front of you. Release the dog by saying “free” and encourage it out of the sit position by stepping sideways and slightly swinging your hand to encourage it to move and to follow you. Give your dog a treat following the free command.
Once your dog reliably comes to you every time it is called, the treat is to be given at random times, rather than every time. The treat can also be used to increase the time that the dog is asked to sit in front of you before it is given the “free” command.
Only play this game for 4-5 minutes at a time to ensure the dog remains motivated and interested. Can be played many times throughout the day with good breaks in-between each training session. You want to teach your dog that coming back to you when you call them is the best thing in the world for them. Thus you want to always keep this game positive and FUN!
Ping Pong
The purpose of Ping Pong is to give your dog a positive association with their name and to get them to come to you when they are called.
It is to be played with 2 or more people and your dog, and only once your dog has a sound understanding of the come command following the playing of the “Single Person Recall with Long Line” game.
One of you call your dog’s name (make sure only one person at any one time does this), only when you have the dogs attention you say, “come” with a calm and animated tone.
When the dog comes to you, you hold a treat close to the dog’s nose and use this to guide/lure them close to you. When they are in the required position, bring the treat up over the dog’s head to make them sit, release the dog with the "free" command and give it a the treat reward. Once your dog reliably comes to you every time it is called, the treat is to be given at random times, rather than every time. The treat can also be used to increase the time that the dog is asked to sit in front of you before it is given the “free” command.
Repeat with various people taking turns with the dog. Only play for 4-5 minutes at a time to ensure the dog remains motivated and interested. Can be played many times throughout the day with good breaks in-between each training session.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Your dog is to be connected to the person calling them during this game with the long recall lead until your dog is at 100% success where the lead is no longer needed for it to reliably come. 100% success means that your dog comes the first time and every time it is called without any repeating of the command or encouragement needed at all with the lead itself.
Fetch
This game can be a great reward for your dog, as the drive to chase a ball is strong in many dogs. It is great exercise for your dog and an excellent way for you to practice rewarding a calm and submissive state in them, as well as reinforce your leadership with them.
Show your dog the ball, or other retrieving object that is of highest interest to your dog, and get your dog to sit or in a position where it is calm and focused on you but not fixated on the object. When the dog is calm, sitting and focused on you, reward it by throwing the retrievable object.
When the dog brings the item back to you, praise and reward your dog. A treat can be used to encourage your dog to release the item at your feet should it not do this on its own.
Repeat the above once your dog returns the retrievable object to your feet.
Should the dog not bring the item back to you, cease playing the game immediately and do more work on your dogs recall command using the above two games.
DO NOT CHASE YOUR DOG TO GET THE RETRIEVABLE OBJECT.
It is important that you have mastered recalling your dog before you play this game.
Play this game until you or your dog is tired!
* If you have any questions about this game please contact The Art of Dog Training for assistance.
