# Coming inside when called



## Sephora (Nov 15, 2016)

Poppy is 7 months now and very well adjusted. We made strides in her recall that when we are outside in offleash areas she come to you 90% of the time when called (we had an incident where she would not stop chasing a bike).

She is very much an outside dog and gets easily bored inside. We've not had much problems teaching her basic commands but we are totally stuck at how to get her to come inside when she is in the backyard.

There are times when she comes to the back door wanting in on her own, but other times like when we just want her to come in or when we catch her digging (she does that a lot if she is not supervised eventhough she has toys), she will NOT come in when called. We tried 'Come In" or "Inside" even "Let's Go" which we use when it's time to leave the park (and she KNOWS that one and comes immediately) but nothing seems to work. She either sits there staring at us or just completely ignores us. 

I hate getting (sounding) angry at her when giving a command cause I feel that she will think I'm about to punish her, but it so hard to remain patient after standing there for 10 minutes trying to get her to come inside. Treats work sometimes, but when we try to ween them off its like she KNOWS and starts ignorning us again. 

At a loss why this one command is eluding us. The usual methods have worked for everything else. Hubby wants to try clicker but at this point I'm scared that if we change too many techniques she will get even more confused.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

From her point of view she is having fun in the garden and coming in quite often means the end of the fun - and toys are only valuable if someone is playing with them with her, mix things up a bit and make coming in time to have a nice game with her so she learns coming in when called is fab and does not always mean the end of the fun.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

I have learned to give them their best treat when they come in when I call them. After doing it each time, I started to randomly do it which increases their compliance even more. 


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

I love to look at these situations from the dogs point of view. 

"So, I'm trying to work on an air conditioned den in my backyard with an adjoining bone cache but every time I start my humans thwart my progress by calling me in. I've tried ignoring them but they just keep escalating things by getting mad, wanting to play, wanting to feed me, anything at all to keep me from my work. I'm beginning to wonder if my people have some kind of separation anxiety?" 

 A designated digging area will help. Deep sand, lots of buried toys, treats, bones and a "jackpot" reward when she uses it at first. Try to locate it where she is already digging if possible. When you "catch" her trying to add an extension you can get mad, until then she is just being a dog.

The bike chasing is worth some serious work because along with bikes come cars. Enlisting some friends to do some deliberate practice with this until she is completely trustworthy will be well worth it.


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## Alinos (May 19, 2014)

Lol Fairlie! That was so funny!


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## Sephora (Nov 15, 2016)

2ndhandgal said:


> From her point of view she is having fun in the garden and coming in quite often means the end of the fun - and toys are only valuable if someone is playing with them with her, mix things up a bit and make coming in time to have a nice game with her so she learns coming in when called is fab and does not always mean the end of the fun.


Good idea. Actually come to think of it this method worked with her recall in the house (use to play hide and seek).


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## Sephora (Nov 15, 2016)

Lexi&Beemer said:


> I have learned to give them their best treat when they come in when I call them. After doing it each time, I started to randomly do it which increases their compliance even more.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


We did this with other training like sit etc.. I think its gonna take more treats than usual for her to come inside. Like 2ndhandgal said, Poppy is enjoying herself too much out there.


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## Sephora (Nov 15, 2016)

fairlie said:


> I love to look at these situations from the dogs point of view.
> 
> "So, I'm trying to work on an air conditioned den in my backyard with an adjoining bone cache but every time I start my humans thwart my progress by calling me in. I've tried ignoring them but they just keep escalating things by getting mad, wanting to play, wanting to feed me, anything at all to keep me from my work. I'm beginning to wonder if my people have some kind of separation anxiety?"
> 
> ...



Buahahaha, that's exactly what she's thinking. The petstore is selling paddle pools and we got her one hoping to fill it with water and toys. I did think about using it as a sand pit instead but after a winter of constantly vacuming up grit, fluffing grit out of her fur and giving foot/belly baths ... I don't know.

Yup hubby is on the bike thing, I do not want her getting run over.


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## Lexi&Beemer (May 5, 2013)

Sephora said:


> We did this with other training like sit etc.. I think its gonna take more treats than usual for her to come inside. Like 2ndhandgal said, Poppy is enjoying herself too much out there.




This one has to be extra special treat she only gets when she comes in. Try some dried anchovies. And do it every time she comes in the house whether it takes one call or 50 calls. Once she's more consistent then you need to vary how often you reward her so she can't figure out the pattern but will want for more. 

So my cruel way of getting them to come was something that I needed them to do when we went to the dog park. For the longest time, they wouldn't go when I wanted to go. And I'd be chasing them to get their leashes on (clue #1 if you are chasing them, it's already a losing proposition). So I knew I had friends in the dog park area that I could trust and when I wanted to go, I took their leashes walked to the gate and called for them. They didn't come, I just left without them. Now my friends knew what I was doing so they kept an eye on them. But Lexi and Beemer were immediately at the gate when I left. I walked all the way to the car (you could hear them from across the field) and then came back. I did it one more time that day. Said my cue "bye-bye" and walked out to my car. Ever since then when I pick up the leash and say I'm going bye bye they are right next to me. 


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## Sephora (Nov 15, 2016)

Lexi&Beemer said:


> This one has to be extra special treat she only gets when she comes in. Try some dried anchovies. And do it every time she comes in the house whether it takes one call or 50 calls. Once she's more consistent then you need to vary how often you reward her so she can't figure out the pattern but will want for more.


I just read something along these lines in another post (Fairlie's jackpot). Good idea, will try this.

Finally heard back from a trainer I can start taking some lessons, would be nice for me to know what Poppy wants when she's looking at me with those big brown eyes (when no begging for food LOL). Everyone keeps telling me that she's still a baby, and she is really, but it won't be pretty if this happens when she's older.


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Lexi&Beemer said:


> So my cruel way of getting them to come was something that I needed them to do when we went to the dog park. For the longest time, they wouldn't go when I wanted to go. And I'd be chasing them to get their leashes on (clue #1 if you are chasing them, it's already a losing proposition). So I knew I had friends in the dog park area that I could trust and when I wanted to go, I took their leashes walked to the gate and called for them. They didn't come, I just left without them.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


A one time fix that will enable a life time of happy trips to dog parks, off leash walking and a healthy bond between you could hardly be described as cruel!


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## Miss Lilly (Sep 12, 2014)

Lol! To an extent I sympathise with you all but I have the opposite problem: Lills will not leave my side. Even if she plays with another dog it always has to be around my feet... 

If she does run off its because she's scared of approaching dogs and even then she will track me from the undergrowth and return as soon as she feels safe to do so.


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Other things that you could try...
Do not stand in the door way standing square on to your dog when you call - from a dog's view point your body language is quite threatening and it might appear to your dog that you are guarding the door and so they might be reluctant to come in...
Go out into the garden and then turn away from your dog and call them over your shoulder while moving back towards the door and rusting your treats...

Better still use the garden as a place to do some training regularly - using lots of treats. When you let your dog out always spend a little time play training with them while they are out , occasionally asking for a sit rewarding and popping on a lead, doing a little heel work and then releasing them to go and play again. Your dog will enjoy the interaction and the rewarding so will see you calling him in the garden as a good thing.

Above all try not to get stressed or cross because if you do your dog will be less likely to come - they are sensitive souls.


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## Sephora (Nov 15, 2016)

Miss Lilly said:


> Lol! To an extent I sympathise with you all but I have the opposite problem: Lills will not leave my side. Even if she plays with another dog it always has to be around my feet...
> 
> If she does run off its because she's scared of approaching dogs and even then she will track me from the undergrowth and return as soon as she feels safe to do so.


HI! Poppy was like that for the first few months. Then you could see her confidence and sense of adventure growing. She just loves to be outside.


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## Sephora (Nov 15, 2016)

Marzi said:


> Other things that you could try...
> Do not stand in the door way standing square on to your dog when you call - from a dog's view point your body language is quite threatening and it might appear to your dog that you are guarding the door and so they might be reluctant to come in...
> Go out into the garden and then turn away from your dog and call them over your shoulder while moving back towards the door and rusting your treats...
> 
> ...


Since then we have taken a beginers puppy class. It wass such fun and it was really eye opening for me with regards to how Poppy reads my body language and I hers. 

We have been using the garden for training and she has gotten so much better. I realised too that when I call her inside she thinks that the fun is over , which she obviously doesn't want hence why she ignored us. Now I've taken to calling her, giving her a high value treat when she comes first call, then letting her go back to her play rather than making her come inside. She'll come in when called about 80% of the time now (unless there are birds. That distraction we are still working on  ).


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