Why Dogs Won't Come When Called

Why Dogs Won’t Come When Called (And How to Train Them)

by mylifewithpets | Last updated on October 26, 2021

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It looks so easy when others do it.

They just say their dog’s names and off the dogs go to meet their human.

So why can’t your dog do the same?

Why can’t he come when he’s called?

You’ll be surprised to know the answer.

It’s Important for Your Dog to Come When Called

Having your dog learn to come when called, or to recall, is one of the most important things you’ll ever teach him.

If you should ever need to call your dog to keep him safe, he needs to respond immediately.

Like if he runs away or strays away from you or if he ever encounters an aggressive dog at the park and you can’t reach him fast enough.

If your dog knows to come when called, you can get him off leash within a safe environment. If not, you can’t.

It’s that simple.

NEVER Punish Your Dog for Not Coming When Called

Punishment is never the answer when dealing with your dog. Fear is never the right motivation for your dog to obey you.

Your dog should do as you command because he’s taught to do it and because he wants to please you.

Or, at least at the beginning, because he knows you’ll reward him for it.

Not only does punishment create a scared, insecure, unstable dog, but doing it when your dog doesn’t come when called is one of the main reasons because he won’t do it.

Ever.

Why Your Dog Won’t Obey Your Recall

We’re about to tell you some of the most usual motives why dogs won’t come when called.

Because the first step to solving this issue is to identify what is going on (and what you’re doing wrong).

The second step is knowing how to train a dog to come when called.

1 – He Doesn’t Know How to Do It

So, your dog just doesn’t know what you want him to do.

It happens for two reasons:

Either you’ve never trained him to do it or you didn’t do it right.

If you’ve trained your dog to answer to the “Come” command and he just isn’t responding, the training didn’t work.

Maybe because of lack of consistency, or maybe you didn’t practice frequently enough.

Maybe you’ve mixed other words into the training and left your dog very confused.

No, ‘come’ isn’t the same thing to your dog as ‘come here right now’ or ‘get over here’.

2 – You Haven’t Been Consistent With Your Training

Being consistent with the training means that you do it often and the exact same way every time.

Ideally, you’ll start by training the “Come” command several times a day, for as long as it takes to make sure he’s got it.

But the training doesn’t end there, you need to continue to do it overtime to make sure he never forgets.

Also, you need to practice within different situations, starting from a calm environment and ending in the most chaotic scenario possible.

This is actually one of the things when we took on when teaching recall training our unruly dogs.

3 – The Command Is Now Irrelevant and It’s Your Fault

The biggest mistake you can make and such and easy one to do.

If you train your dog often but stop rewarding him, then he’ll lose his motivation.

You need to reward your dog each and every single time your dog comes when called.

Use whatever he loves the most, praise, treats, toys, tennis balls, if it works, use it!

Ideally forever, but most importantly during the first months of training.

Or maybe you’ve tried training him a couple of times but your dog isn’t responding as you’d like, so you just give up.

This will teach your dog that he doesn’t need to obey or learn how to do it, because you’ll just stop asking it of him eventually.

4 – He is Feeling Apprehensive

Another big mistake that is so easy to make!

And one we’ve already discussed.

If you’ve trained your dog to come when called, but you’re using it to call him over to scold him, punish him or get mad at him, he’ll just stop coming.

If your dog does something bad and goes hide, don’t use the command to make him come to face the consequences because eventually, he’ll just stop coming.

Also, like we’ve mentioned before, humans get mad when a dog refuses to obey a command.

Recall being the most ignored command out there.

So if your dog is hesitant to come or just distracted, when he eventually does obey, don’t get mad.

Remember, be patient. Be kind.

5 – When Coming Means the Fun Stops

Well, you obviously need to call your dog when it’s time to leave the dog park or he won’t come at all.

Or for bath time.

Or a grooming session.

But, if your dog starts association the “Come” command with things he does not want to do or to ending all the fun he’s having, then… you guessed it… He’ll stop coming.

Luckily, there is an easy solution.

Make sure to use the “Come” command for fun things too!

For going to the park, for a cuddle session, for food, whatever he loves!

If you keep the “Come” command interesting, he’ll never know what you’re calling him for.

How to Train Your Dog to Come When Called

Trust us, we get it. It seems like an impossible task.

But we’re here to let you know it really isn’t.

We’ve been there and done that, we had the most unruly dogs alive! (Yes, really!)

We had no training experience and felt completely overwhelmed by the task, but we still managed to do it.

If you want to know how to train your dog to come when called using very few steps, you can go ahead and read our post.

It worked for us and will most certainly work for you too.

And, trust us, in the end, it will all be worth it.