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June 13, 2011

My 1 year old dog has regressed with the recall command. When I give my dog the come command he sprints in circles around me and won’t come. Should I give him a correction?

Full Question:

Cindy,

My one year old male has been trained with markers since 8 weeks and has always had an excellent response to the "come' command. As summer has arrived, we have been spending a lot of time in the yard (off leash). Suddenly, when I give him the come command he will start to sprint in circles around the yard. He knows it means time to go inside and he doesn't want too. The stronger my voice gets the faster he runs.

I remember in one of the videos it said not to correct a dog for refusing to come but since he knows the command fully, should I give him a correction for this behavior? Do I need to start over and work hard on marker training the come command all over again?

Thank you very much.

Cindy's Answer:

Set yourself up for success and back up your training. If the dog is not responding, then go back to a leash and long line and take away the dog’s options to make the wrong choices. Most one year old dogs are not going to be reliable enough to trust off leash 100% of the time.

I would not think you need to start over at the beginning, but you will need to back up your training and remind the dog that this isn’t a game.

A huge part of successful dog training is always being prepared to reinforce your dog and prevent rehearsal of the wrong behaviors. Your dog is also the equivalent of a teenager, so he’s going to test the boundaries.

I hope this helps.

Cindy Rhodes

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