Is this effective training?

[Bob R]

We really value having a dog that comes when called. So shortly after getting our new Sheltie we started training him to come. We use a long line maybe 50 ft. long, and with my wife on one end and me on the other we take turns calling him "c'mon Lucky" and he runs his little paws off because we each give him a small training size treat when he gets to our hand. He absolutely loves the exercise and the treat obviously and we are hoping this is going to make calling him to come a guarantee. We've been at this about 5-6 sessions so far and it seems worth it...what do you folks think?

Bob

 

[2GoodDogs]

You are on your way to having a great recall! keep it up, and then start upping the game, calling him away from a toy, or when he's sniffing something, or otherwise distracted! Keep the food reward, and pair it with your touch and praise. I like to play the collar game to. I grasp the collar and tell him "good" and give a treat. Makes a hand coming at him and his collar a very good thing.

 

[cmae]

Yup! We played the collar game too. When you start adding in distractions, make YOU more fun and interesting by running away from pup in the other direction. When he catches up to you, cookie and big party!

 

[Cara Sandler]

A recall is the single most important thing you can teach your dog. Well, recall AND a collar grab. Both have the potential to be lifesavers. Make sure at some point you switch to a variable reinforcement schedule (sometimes he gets a cookie for coming, sometimes he doesn't). Don't fade the food out too soon or you will lose the behavior. But randomly rewarding him for a recall is the most likely way to keep him coming every single time, regardless of whether you happen to be holding food at the moment or not.

 

[Caro]

Only a few minor suggestions.

Is he coming because he hears his name or to the command, I'd say he's hearing his name? It's handy just to teach one word for them to come. You say his name a lot and it doesn't always mean you want him to come to you, so it's really giving the dog a choice of whether they'll come, or just look at you or turn their ear to you. But if you have a single word, like 'come' or 'here' they learn if they hear that word they must always come to you.

When he comes to you try to always get him to do a sit - makes the grabbing easier, esp in times of emergency. And it helps with enthusiastic recalls - Deska always runs back at full throttle and if he didn't have a sit I'd have a hard time catching him.

Another suggestion is having a hand signal, so if he's at a distance, the wind is blowing or it's noisy he'll see the hand signal and come running. In obedience we teach hands raised above the head means 'come', For small dogs a bow at the waist and hands low can also work (esp if your dog is never that far away). And when they come to you folding your hands in front of you means 'sit' (that's easy to teach when you have a treat in your folded hands).

Good luck with your training, sounds like you are doing really well.