The biggest complaint dog owners have is that their dog doesn't respond to the recall or "Come" command.
Often, the dog's owner and the tone of voice they use when calling their dog causes this problem.
When you call your dog, does the tone of your voice sound as if you are frustrated, anxious, angry, nervous, happy, or playful? Believe it or not, your dog can sense your emotions and the tone in your voice will add to the feelings he is picking up on already.
It is important to keep your voice calm during any type of obedience training so that you don't confuse your dog worse than he already is.
Learning new things can be overwhelming even for your dog and he is feeling stress and anxiety also.
There are a few things that can make recall training difficult.
The owner should be aware of these things and should try to rectify those that can be rectified.
Some of the things will just require time and patience to overcome.
When you call your dog's name is he responding to his name or is it the way you say it and any other noises you may make to get his attention? Most young puppies do not know their names for some time.
Also, depending on the way you say it and if you often use other words with his name he may still not realize that is his name.
Owners like to use the dog's name in the recall command and for this purpose it is important not to allow the dog to associate his name or the word with something negative.
Otherwise, you might as well change his name and start all over.
Dogs do not speak human so you have to work with your dog to condition him to associate sounds such as words with the actions you want him to take.
Dogs can learn what different words mean once they have learned the behavior; they simply do what works and what they don't get in trouble for.
Keep this in mind when you start training your dog to understand the recall command.
Puppies between the ages of ten weeks and four months are the easiest to train and will take to the training quicker.
However, the age of the dog is not important.
Never let anyone tell you that you cannot teach old dogs any thing because that is just not true at all.
It can be difficult to get a dog's attention sometimes.
Especially if you are outside where nature is in full bloom, birds are chirping, squirrels running and other people and their children are at play, this is why you should find a secluded area for your training sessions.
Never scold your dog if he comes over to you after he gets into trouble this will cause problems with recall training.
Now he connects coming to you with trouble or being in trouble for something he did.
By calling the dog's name, when he got to you, scolding him for whatever misdeed he did, he now connects his name with the scolding and it makes it difficult to reverse the damage that is done.
However, it can be reversed by preventing it from happening again and by using his name when he is going to receive a treat or some sort of reward.
This should get you back on track so that you can continue your recall training with your dog.