Teaching your dog to come in distracting situations requires plenty of training.
Photo by Nicole Wild, via huffingtonpost.com
All dog owners feel a little sense of pride when their dog comes on command. But in an article on the Huffington Post, canine behavior specialist Nicole Wilde asks you to consider whether or not you’d get the same behavior is a chaotic or distracting situation:
One of the biggest misconceptions I’ve found among dog owners is that teaching their dog to come when called in one scenario, for example, being called into the house from the yard, or even just across the room, will guarantee success in a high distraction, high value environment. It just ain’t gonna happen. A rock solid recall takes a lot of practice and patience.
What do you think/ Is this something you work on with your own dog?
I agree totally. Recalling is paramount. Just last night when running retrieving marks with my three-year-old Lab, she discovered two skunks in the field. A stern, repeating HERE command came in handy or otherwise the worst of all greetings would have transpired. A friend of mine two weeks earlier was not as fortunate with his Lab.