Chapter 9. Come When Called

The Call-to-work, READY sound, that your dog learned in the first training week, has some Recall properties. He should come running whenever you say the sound, expecting to play a rewarding game. Until your dog learns the more appropriate command, COME, you can use the READY sound to get the dog to come to you. In keeping with the Call-to-work procedure, though, the dog should do some work when he comes. Have the dog do a single trial of Stand-stay, for example. After several seconds in Stay, reinforce with the GOOD or OUT sound and then reward the dog.

The sounds, GOOD and OUT, as well, have recall properties. But, in contrast to READY, no work is required when the dog reaches you. Don't neglect to reward him when he comes. Use the three sounds, in a pinch, until the dog learns the more relevant sound, COME.

Consequences for not coming when called. When in the Game-playing mode of Recall training, no negative consequences are given for not responding. However, when you deliver the command COME in a social setting—the dog is not in the Game-playing mode—the dog risks an unpleasant consequence for not coming when called. Disobedience in the social setting may turn on a warning sound, NO, or the more disabling sound, TIME. For the latter sound, you may have your dog do "precision straight-line heeling" for a minute or less, as punishment—a heeling skill that you should also teach your dog (see "Straight-line Heeling" in Chapter 10); any other kind of penalty work; or you may place him in his home cage for five minutes or longer.

Provided assistance. As with most Game-playing activities of this course, the dog is helped to make the correct response on every trial.

Team Training of Recall

The Team Training procedure is an efficient and fun way to train your dog with one or more other persons. If you prefer, you can do the Single-person training approach—the procedure follows this Team Training section.

Step 1. Associating COME with release.

This first step is relatively simple. Two events are associated with learning: (1) the sound, COME, and (2) the prompt: releasing the dog by another Team Player. At first, only the physical release is meaningful to the dog. It means, "Come to me." Then, by associating the sound, COME, with release, trial after trial, the dog will come to you when he just hears the sound. Association learning is most effective when the dog is released one-half second or less after the sound, COME.

Instructions for Team Player 1

Pretrial Procedures:

1. Say READY. This sound should alert the dog to come to work.
2. Place one tablespoon of a tasty food in his food dish and set it aside; reserve it for the last trial of the session.
3. Go to the place of training with your training foods.

Trial Procedures:

1. Place 10 food tidbits in your hand; then hold your closed hands at midriff.
2. When the dog is away and facing you, stand still for one to five seconds in the Still/quiet mode. Vary the time from one trial to another.
3. Say COME in a pleasing voice, but loud enough for your dog to hear it clearly.
4. Say GOOD when the dog is almost upon you (about six feet away).
5. Remain still and upright until after you say GOOD.
6. Bend forward to deliver the food tidbit.
7. Go to action 2 to begin another trial.

Instructions for Team Player 2

1. You and the dog go to the starting point—about 20 feet from Team Player 1.
2. Hold dog in place on-leash and face Team Player 1.
3. Stand still and don't talk to the dog.
4. Allow the dog to pull. If the dog fails to pull, take up any slack in the leash.
5. Stand your ground, and hold the leash firmly with both hands at chest level.
6. Never give the dog any leash aids, except to release the leash immediately after you hear Team Player 1 say, COME.
7. Drop the leash. If the work is done out-of-doors in open space, hold on to the leash and follow closely on the heels of the dog to Team Player 1.
8. If the dog fails to move toward Team Player 1 after release, immediately run to Team player 1. The dog should follow. The dog will get the idea after several trials.
9. After the dog picks up the food reward, go to action 1 and begin another trial.

Unauthorized attempts by the dog to come to you in the absence of the Recall command are ignored—not disabled, punished or corrected by either Team Player.

Release by Team Player 2 may not be a particularly strong prompt for some dogs to come to you. In which case, add one or more other aids in sequence to the procedure: After you say, COME, and the dog is released from a taut lead by Team Player 2, you may, if necessary, try to lure the dog to come to you by bending forward and patting your thighs, and saying what a good dog he is. That surely should entice most dogs to come in. When the response aids (prompts) are no longer needed, remove them one at a time, from the procedure—the voice appeal prompt is the first to go, then the torso gesturing prompt, and lastly, the release of leash tension prompt. The "Taut-lead" release prompt is continued until the dog begins to show some wait on his own. This should happen in 3 to 6 training sessions.

Do about ten tidbit-rewarded trials and one goal-rewarded trial per session. Then go to the next step.

Step 2. Hold dog on loose lead

In this training step, Team Player 2 now holds the dog on a loose lead. If the dog tries to come to you before you say COME, Team Player 2 holds her ground. Then, Team Player 2 immediately loosens the lead again, and waits for the Recall. With continued training, the dog will soon inhibit the "come-in" response until the Recall sound comes on.

At first, when the dog is on loose lead, he may fail to come to you when he hears the sound, COME. In that case, you may again use body and voice-appeal prompts for the dog to come in, a moment after giving the command. Use these prompts only as necessary. When you get the required control, go to the next step.

Step 3. Reliable Stay to non-recall sounds

In the previous training steps, the dog came to you on the command, COME. However, it's not clear if the dog responded to the particular sound, COME, or to a sound of any kind that you might make. What would happen if you said BIRD instead of COME? In all probability, the dog would try to come to you then as well. To be sure that the dog is responding correctly, as he should to the sound COME and not to any other sound, a discrimination procedure is done.

The Discrimination Procedure. To do this, the relevant sound COME is delivered only on some of the trials. On the remaining trials, other sounds are said. The dog is permitted to come to you whenever you say, COME, but is prevented from returning to you when you say some other sounds. Two non-recall sounds, BIRD and STAY are used in the following discrimination procedure. They are meant to convey the message, "Do not come."

Perform the procedure of Step 2, with but with this one difference: On some trials, say BIRD. Team Player 2 is instructed to hang on tight to the lead and not release the dog when she hears that sound. After BIRD is sounded, wait another 2-5 seconds before giving another sound. On some occasions, the sound of the next trial can also be BIRD. This is done so the dog does not learn that a Recall sound always comes after a non-recall sound. In correct Discrimination responding, the dog comes to you on the command, COME, and inhibits coming on the sound, BIRD.

The STAY sound, like the sounds BIRD and SKY means "Do not come." But unlike these latter sounds, STAY, has a meaning in its own right—it also tells the dog to remain in his present response topography. For instance, if the dog is sitting at the time the STAY command is delivered, the dog should remain sitting. If he tries to get up at the sound, STAY, he is placed back into the sit by Team Player 2. Remain at this step until your dog's discrimination performance becomes reliable.

Step 4. Use dog's name to get his attention

Continue the procedures of the previous training steps, except for the following: The dog is going to learn to differentiate his Name-sound from that of other sounds. That is, if your dog's name is Randy, Team Player 2 is instructed to release the dog on the command, RANDY, COME—release follows the COME sound. The dog is not released when you say, POOCH, COME because the dog's name is not POOCH. This kind of control permits you to work with two or more dogs at one time in or outside the training session. It's when you will want the dog to whom the command is directed, to respond.

So that the dog does not anticipate the Recall command at the moment when he hears his name, occasionally follow the name RANDY with the command, STAY. That is, instead of saying RANDY, COME (if your dog's name happens to be Randy), sometimes say RANDY, STAY. With this kind of training, the dog will alert to the sound of his name, and wait for a command to do something.

Don't use the sound NO at this time, or show any displeasure when the dog responds incorrectly; or provide punishing consequences during the Recall work. Let the Prompts, restraint and release, do the work for you. Although discipline skills are being learned, you still want your dog to view the task as a fun game."

Step 5. Off-leash control

The work in this step requires good command control in the previous step. Continue to use the same training setting, but without an assistant (the dog is in a Sit-stay or Stand-stay away from you. Do Tidbit- and Goal-rewarded trials as before. Use the informative sound NO whenever the dog breaks from Stay—at the moment he breaks—then place him again into the previous attitude.

1. To begin, say READY.
2. Make the usual training preparations.
3. Lead the dog twenty feet away from where you will position yourself for the trial.
4. Sit or Stand your dog. You may use physical prompting to get him into either attitude.
5. Say STAY and follow closely with the STAY signal when you are about to leave your dog.
6. Leave your dog, step off seven paces, turn to face the dog, and wait one to five seconds in the Still/quiet mode.
7. Then choose one of four commands: COME, STAY, RANDY COME and RANDY STAY (if your dog's name is Randy) Select one of these at random for any particular trial (see "Errors in responding," below).
8. Reinforce and Reward as usual, after the dog returns to you on the commands, COME and RANDY COME.

After each successful response, you may have to lead your dog back to the starting place by the collar (or harness). However, most dogs learn quickly to walk alongside you to the starting place, without being led. Moreover, in some instances, an occasional dog walks back unaccompanied, and positions himself properly for the upcoming trial.

Errors in responding. Whenever the dog breaks from the Stay on the STAY and RANDY STAY commands, say NO at the moment of the break. Then go to the dog, and lead him back to the original Stay position. The No sound is strictly informational; it is not meant to foretell a punishing consequence (you're still in the Game-playing mode). If your dog is not yet steady on the Stay, go back to the leash-helper routine of a previous step for a period of remedial work.

Your dog might break at the moment he hears his name, without waiting to hear what else you have to say. In which case, the dog considers the Name-sound to mean, COME. By delaying the command that follows his name, on occasion, you are able to tell if the dog is making the error. Correct your dog as you would do for any anticipatory errors (see previous paragraph).

The Recall procedures of Step 5 are highly disciplining—requiring high levels of concentration and restraint by the dog. You would do well to continue running sessions of these discrimination trials, occasionally, during the work-life of the dog.

Recall training by yourself

You can get the same kind of Recall control by doing the training yourself, but it may take longer. In this training, the new command, COME, is paired with the sound, GOOD, according to the Association Principle (see Chapter 2: The Association Model for Learning"). The GOOD sound already has some Recall properties, so it can be used as a "prompt" for the Recall response, in the present work. When GOOD is used as a prompt, the dog is rewarded even if he does not come to you—in which instance, you go to the dog and do it.

Pretrial procedures:

1. Say READY. The sound alerts the dog to the work at hand.
2. Place one tablespoon of a tasty food in his food dish and set it aside; reserve it for the last trial of the session.
3. Go to the place where you'll do your training.

The alternate Step 1 procedure:

1. Place 10 food tidbits in your hand.
2. Start walking slowly around the room. Your arms are relaxed at your side.
3. The dog may, if he chooses, to stay in place. That's an advantage. But, more likely, the dog will follow you wherever you go.
4. When the dog stops following and gets interested in something else, Say COME-GOOD. The voiced emphasis is on both sounds, with little pause between them.
5. Turn to face the dog and hold out a tidbit.

Training note: Keep walking while saying the two sounds. The dog must not get any hint of the sounds coming, beforehand. Turn to face the dog only after you've said the sounds. Begin your food-delivery motions immediately after you turn to face the dog.

6. When the dog comes to you, give him the tidbit. If the dog fails to come, go to him and deliver the tidbit (whenever you say the reinforcing sound, GOOD, you must deliver the food reward, no matter what).
7. Go to action 2, and begin another trial.

After several sessions of closely pairing the sounds, COME and GOOD, gradually start to unpair them. That is, after you say the command, COME, wait until the dog begins some small movement to come before you say the GOOD sound. In time, you will wait until the dog gets close to you (four to six feet away) before saying the reinforcing sound GOOD.

In this alternate procedure, the GOOD sound is initially used as a Recall prompt, then is reverted to its conventional usage, as a reinforcing sound for coming.

When you introduce Non-recall sounds, such as BIRD and SKY, in another step, the dog might come to you when you say these sounds. In that case, ignore him and continue walking casually. Do as many sessions as it takes for the dog to ignore the Non-recall sounds, but comes to you on the Recall sound.

Move about and allow the dog to move freely during Name-sound training (see Step 4, above). Ignore the dog when he comes to you on the wrong sounds. When you have good recall control up to this point, go to Step 5, "Off-leash control," above. In this step, you will place the dog in the Stand-Stay (or Sit-Stay) and then move away from him.

Automatic Sit when dog comes front

The automatic Sit-front is a part of an Obedience exercise, called "Front and Finish." The complete exercise is found in Chapter 10. Until now, you handed your dog a tasty tidbit at the moment he came to you on recall. Now, when he comes front, he will automatically Sit and Stay facing you, and await another command.

1. To begin, say READY.
2. Make the usual training preparations. Keep the tidbits in a dish on a nearby table.
3. Lead your off-leash dog about fifteen feet away, from where you will position yourself for the trial.
4. Front the dog in the direction of the Recall.
5. Command your dog to Sit (assist him into the Sit, if necessary).
6. Say STAY and follow closely with the STAY signal when you are about to leave your dog.
7. Leave your dog, take five or six paces away from him, turn to face the dog, and wait one to four seconds in the Still/quiet mode.
8. Then say, RANDY COME (use your dog's name if it's not Randy).
9. When the dog is almost upon you, say Sit. Then move to assist the dog to Sit.
10. As soon as his backside touches the floor, correctly align yourself with respect to the dog to make a good-looking Sit front.

Most Sit-front faults can be corrected by taking one or two short steps backwards at the time of the fault, then asking your dog to come in again. When the Sit-front looks better than before, help the dog by making part of the correction yourself, so that both of you will be in better final alignment and position. Some Sit-front faults that can be made in Obedience competition: not sitting close enough; poor sits; touching you on coming in; or sitting between your feet.

Avoidance training in Real World

When you have achieved reasonably good recall control with the sounds that your dog has learned so far, continue his training outdoors where you usually take your on-leash dog for a stroll: your neighborhood street, field or park. Allow your dog to fully enjoy the stroll to the full length of the lead (use a long retractable lead if you have one). Allow your dog to investigate interesting smells along the way.

Occasionally call your dog to you while strolling. When he comes to you, give him a little "petting and praise" (when training on the stroll, you don't reward the dog with food). You don't need to overdo the petting and praise—it's meant to be not so much rewarding as informational that he successfully avoided the sound TIME and a work penalty that follows. After the petting and praise, send him off on his way to resume the stroll. Penalties (the nonphysical kind, such as a bit of precision straight-line Heeling, or a brief time-out from strolling and exploration) are administered to the dog for disobedience and glaring errors.

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