Everybody has their own method & what works on most dogs, there will come a dog that is the exception. Most of my pups will come to me like you said Goose, from weaning age on because I make a fuss over them when they come. I just reinforce that when they are 4-5 months old & put them on a 75 ft. ski rope & repeat it by calling them & toning them to come in. If they do not come in, I will bump them & haul them in hand over hand. It is better not to overdue it & keep sessions short & do it over a few days. On the rope they learn fast. Most of mine when I turn them loose & they are off the rope, I will have to bump them to get them in. Dogs are like kids & they will try you & never start a war you cannot win. From a dogs point of view if you are over there & he is a couple hundred yards away smelling something very good it is natural for them to ignore you. Most will come if you bump them & now we get to the exception. You have to make that dog learn that he haas to come, no matter what & the best way is in a fenced inclosure that they cannot get out of. Find a pasture or baseball field that is completely fenced & turn the dog loose in there & let him work off some energy for about 10 minutes and then tone him. If he does not come, then bump him until he does. If he lays down on you walk up to him & try to get him to come the last few feet & reward him. It also helps if you have his buddy with you. Keep him on a leash the whole time & a dog will come a lot faster to you if he knows his buddy is there.
lots of good comments...but I agree with Cajun...I don't use the rope because my dogs have a fenced in yard I turn them loose in from their pens...I used to train my dogs and pups years ago...but over the years I learned that training can be made easy and I just use opportunities to train...lay the foundation down and use positives...the pups should learn to trust you even when you scold them...after a while they learn that all is forgiven quickly as long as they do right...
I don't call them to shove a pill down there throat...that is a negative...instead I weight when we have meat and gravy for dinner and then I mix in the wormer or amoxicillin capsule in...
a vaccine...give under the skin and praise them real good until they forget about it and focus on the praise...stop at a good point...
pups...don't feed them and turn them out because there is no incentive to go back in the pen...you will call and they won't come...you will get pissed and run them down to put them up...after a while they will out run you and then the relationship goes south...they have learned not to trust you and they also learned they don't have to come when called because they can out run you...
instead...let them out while very hungry...let them rough house and work off energy...every now and then step out with a few treats and call them to you and pet them up real good for a minute or two and get back to what you were doing...when it is time to put them up is when you know they are tired and ready to eat...I call load as if I were calling them out of the woods...clap my hands and call...as they come running to the pen I holler kennel...snap my fingers and give a hand signal to enter the kennel...and they come running...it is that easy to train pups to gunfire as well...after a while they learn that you can get on their but and they will stop what they are doing and come lick your hand asking forgiveness...they know they can do this because they trust me...
perfect? no...they will keep hunting from daylight to almost dark and I can call and they won't come...but I am starting to like my alpha system...
like Cajun said...don't give the command if you can't back it up...
Goose...didn't mean to get off subject but since Cajun touched on laying the foundation I thought I would add my version which is very similar to Cajuns...
