Training Your Dog to Come and Fetch
The come command is one of the most important commands to teach your dog. You must be3 able to get your dog to respond in the event of dangerous situations. Besides “stay” it will be the command you are likely to use the most.
Start by standing several feet from the dog. Say the dog’s name while clapping your hands. If he doesn’t come to you, approach closer and continue to call his name. Once the dog responds and comes to you, make sure you reward him with plenty of head patting. In the beginning a few treats can help speed up the process, but should eventually be replaced with only praise.
Don’t make the mistake of trying to work with a distracted dog. He must be giving you all of his attention in order for the training to be successful. Dogs simply aren’t very good at multitasking. If the dog is paying attention to you, not only will the training suffer but you could actually undo progress you had already made.
Teaching your dog to fetch is a great way to spend time with a dog. It will also give the dog a sense of accomplishment. Besides being fun, it’s a good way to give your dog plenty of exercise without requiring a lot of effort from you.
Start by choosing an interesting dog toy to play with. An old sock works well for this. Get the dog interested by dangling it just out of his reach. Once you have him interested, throw the sock a few feet. Start off small. The dog will likely run off with it the first few times. Keep encouraging him to come to you. A treat is a good way to get the dog to release the sock and will also speed up the training. Once the dog is consistently bringing you the sock, you can increase the distance. If your dog absolutely refuses to bring the item to you, you can attach a piece of string to his color to encourage him. Don’t drag him back but rather use it to get his attention.
If your dog’s attention starts to waiver, it’s time to end the training for the day. Dogs have short attention spans and tend to get distracted. The key is consistency. A little training every day will take you much farther than a single longer session.
Once training is through for the day, make sure to give your dog some free play time as a reward. This will help keep him interested day after day. The dog will quickly learn that training time is a good thing and will look forward to the event.