How to train puppy to come to their name?

[Evaevie]

We will say her name and she will sometimes acknowledge us and then turn back to what she was doing and sometimes seemingly not notice at all. How do you train a puppy to come?

Say their name, then when they look at you, a treat and a fuss. Then when they get the hang of it, phase out the treat, and eventually they will just learn it!

Then when they know their name, they will know to look at you, and then you can give another command. So for example, if they are on the other side of the kitchen, say their name, when they look, gesture to them to come to you (I like to pat my shins and do a stupid baby voice ) and choose your command “come here!” Then when they get there, treat and fuss. It takes a lonnnnngggg time to get a solid recall, and you’ll need to practice in situations where they have a lot of distractions

You need to make it fun for her to come to you. Puppies naturally want to be with you. When I was in the garden with ddog as a puppy, I used to run a few steps away from him, if he ran after me I'd give him the command 'name, come'. Don't give the command if the puppy isn't already coming to you at first, otherwise it'll become meaningless to her.

Use treats to reward training and aim to do a few mins everyday.

If puppy is doing something naughty, it'll probably be fun and interesting to her, you probably won't get her to come to you just by calling her until you've nailed the recall.

Have you signed up for puppy training classes?

It's far more effective to train her to come to a command e.g. 'come' . There'll be all sorts of times when you use her name, which can be confusing. A simple command, reinforced with a small treat each time she responds is much easier to teach.

You need a different word as a recall command not their name

You need to teach two different things: teach the dog her name and teach her to come.

To teach the name say her name in a happy, high-tone voice and as soon as she looks at you click and treat. Repeat often and in many different places.

For recall do all of the following:

• every time she happens to be next to you say ‘Name, come’ click and treat.
• every time she’s already coming towards you say ‘Name come’ click and treat.
• recall game: two people a very short distance appart take it in turns to call the puppy, click and treat.
• recall game 2: from a very short distance call her, click and treat, walk backwards 2-3 steps, call her click and treat, repeat.

Keep your best treats for recall training. Start by practicing in a quiet area, with no distractions and build up the distance, the distractions, etc. but work on one thing at a time, I.e. don’t recall her from a great distance and a distraction.

At the start and for a while make sure you slip two fingers under her collar as you click to get her used to being restrained. Then release and repeat.