08/17/2026
TEACHING YOUR DOG TO COME
Set him up for success.
As with all basic training, you want to start where your dog can be successful. If you take your pup to the most challenging and complicated situation and ask him to learn a new skill, you’re setting him up to fail. He’s going to learn to ignore you.
People will often take their dog to a dog park and start calling the dog. The dog hasn’t learned to come to you under those kinds of distraction and they ignore you. If you chase after them to try to catch them, they think it’s great fun. When they finally listen and come over to you, you might put them on a leash, tell them they’re a bad dog and leave the park. So the dog says to himself, “When I finally did listen, I lost the park.” This is a bad lesson for a dog to learn, because they won’t want to come to you if they’re going to lose out on play time.
Another common mistake people make is to practice the stay command and then call for their dog. You want to avoid this because it teaches the dog to be ready to break the stay at any moment, which doesn’t help your stay training. It also teaches the dog that they should be sitting still and staring at you before coming.
Set up the cue and start practicing.
A six month old dog is just starting to hit adolescence and explore their own independence. It’s easy to run into problems if you’re inconsistent with training a dog this age, so be sure to control his environment and set a consistent cue.
You should start inside with no distractions and high value treats. You can stand in front of your dog and give the cue. It’s extremely important to keep the cue the same — if you say “Fluffy, come,” for example, that has to stay your cue. Not “Fluffy,” not “Come here, Fluffy” — it’s “Fluffy, come.” That’s it. Again, that’s just an example — choose a cue that works for you! Adding a hand gesture, such as patting your leg or chest reinforces the cue, as long as it, too, is consistent. Always use a happy voice – no dog wants to come to a human who is angry or frustrated
Make it fun!
Say your cue and move back a few steps. Get excited about it. Treat it as a game instead of a command.
Give the command, move backward by three or five feet, and give your dog a high value treat when he follows. Do that around the house for a little bit. Another game you can play is if you have more than one person in the house, you can call the dog back and forth across a room and eventually do this throughout the household, in different rooms. Reward the dog ONLY for coming to you when called. Don’t ask them to sit or stay BEFORE rewarding them for the Come.
You can even turn it into a game of hide and seek. If you have a house with kids, the kids and dog will both love this. You can go around doors or duck behind the countertop and call the dog until they find you in a new space. Praise lavishly when you’re “found”.
Level-up your location.
Once your pup seems to have an understanding of the cue and he runs to you when you call him, you can go outside to a back yard, park or beach or open space. Again, don’t go straight to a dog park, because that’s a challenging environment. You want to go somewhere peaceful where a dog can be successful.
I would invest in a 30-foot leash — or maybe 50, depending on the space you have. Bring him to a park or a basketball court where that’s not a lot going on. Put him on a long leash and let him wander and check things out at five or ten feet away from you.
If your dog is sniffing the ground ten feet away and you give a cue and he turns and pays attention, get excited. Tell him he’s good. Get low, clap your hands, run away a bit – do something exciting that makes the dog want to follow you. Punctuate that with a high value reward so the dog sees that coming away from the thing he’s exploring and coming to you gets him a tasty treat and praise.
Over time, you can increase the distance and increase the distraction. That might mean your dog is at the full length of the thirty foot leash and sniffing the grass or watching dogs play. This isn’t necessarily something you’re doing on a city street; this should be somewhere where you have control over the environment.
For dogs that are really strong, you should be careful with a long leash so you don’t hurt your wrist or get your legs swept out from under you. In some cases, you can tether the dog to a tree or pole to make sure you’re not going to get hurt.
Get to the dog park.
Eventually, you can go to a dog park. Wait for the dog to have a moment when you feel that they can listen to you. For example, if I was at the park with my dog and she was engaged with three of her dog friends, I might wait a second. When she breaks off to the side to catch her breath, that’s when I would call her over to tell her she’s the best. I’d give her a treat or some water and a quick belly rub, then let her go back to play. When you actually plan to leave the park, head to the exit and wait a bit. Your dog may join you so you can leash and leave. If not, wait until your pup is not engaged before calling.
Finally, one important note to keep in mind: under no circumstances should a dog ever be allowed off the leash if she is being walked anywhere near cars or if your dog is a breed known for sight-hunting (Afghan, Basenji, Greyhound, Saluki, Borzoi, Whippet and others). Off-leash walking is to be reserved for hiking trails, enclosed parks and other completely safe locations. Remember that no matter how good your dog’s recall skills are, no dog is guaranteed to come when called 100% of the time. Better to play it safe than sorry!
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