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Avoiding the Misery of Lost Dog Syndrome -or- The Art of Teaching "COME"

The situation is now desperate.  The hunt you had planed for four hours is now going into hour twelve and you’re no longer hunting quail but rather your dog.  Franticly you wander through the desert calling your dog’s name, hoping to catch a glimpse or some sign to indicate your getting close.  Your mind races with grizzly images of your dog being the victim of snake bite or suffering the fate of being on the loosing end of a run in with a javelina or coyote.  Worse yet, you remember seeing a couple vehicles driving by off in the distance.  Could one of them have grabbed your dog???

Not a pretty picture and worse yet, once you’re in this situation there is very little to do but hope and pray.  Unfortunately, there is just nothing proactive that can be done once in this predicament.  While hindsight is always 20/20, the only thing that can be done is avoiding situations like this and to do so, teaching your dog the basic command of “come” is the key.

Learning come is one of the most important commands a dog can ever learn and like most of the important lessons in life, it’s learned in the home.  To start, have a friend or family member take the dog out back while you remain in the house and relatively out of site.  Have your assistant give the dog a few minutes to check out new smells or take care of business if need be.  After a few minutes, the assistant will go to a distant corner of the yard and that’s when you make the grand entrance.  Step outside and with a happy, excited voice call your dog.  Once convinced you have your dog’s attention, the assistant releases the dog and what does he do?  He runs, not walks, right to you.  Make sure to pour on the praise and let your dog know he’s done a good thing but avoid the use of treats as a form of reward unless you want to lug a box of puppy treats with you everywhere you go.

As Ol’ Birdfinder’s training progresses, go solo, without the assistant and have your dog “Whoa” or “Sit” a good distance away and again, call him to you and pour on the praise.  If you haven’t mastered “Whoa” or “Sit” yet don’t worry, we’ll get to that later.  Just continue using an assistant to hold your dog until called.

In the event your dog veers off or decides there are more important things to do you can always go the check cord route which involves hooking a long check cord to the dogs collar and once called, you literally pull him to you while commanding “Come”.  Again praise is important even with the check cord because after all, he did come to you now didn’t he….

Practice this little drill frequently and keep in mind that refresher courses are a good idea.  Also, keep the training times short, sweet and fun.  Usually no more than three or four iterations of the drill once or twice a day is enough to send the message home.

On a final note, avoid calling your dog to you to scold him. Think about it.  Dogs may not have the same amount of cerebral horsepower as we humans are alleged to posses but how many times would you run gleefully to someone who called your name only to get a butt chewing upon arrival?  Unless you happen to be the poster child for Darwinian theory the answer would be a resounding NEVER!!!!

This time our story has a happy ending.  You find your dog wallowing in a murky stock tank after having enjoyed a wrestling match with a skunk.  Count your blessings, give pup a hug and head for home…..

Good luck