Kristen,
I too use the medthod described by Alyssa. In fact now I'm going through the normal sits issues with mine. However when employing that fingering wagging nag on the way back to where the dog is supposed to be, whether it is a recall or a order to sit, it's important that you know absolutely that the dog understands what the command means and just ignored you in spite of the fact. The technique is not the way to teach the dog what the command means. The way to teach the dog a command is upbeat and positive reenforment all the way. Then if you must teach the dog that authority counts, nag him verbaly and jiggling that leash all the way back to where he belongs.


If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

i don't know if it would be helpful, b/c it's not doing a formal command, but i've been using this for teagan - who does know she is expected to stay with me. now, she's always on lead, due to her issues, but i've started to play keep away with her.

basically, she's on a prong and long line, i hold the long line but never gather it in. i move away from her, and if she doesn't come/stay with me, i give a quick pop (not hard) on the line. teagan's hard enough it doesn't phase her one bit, but it does come across more as a self-correction (i'm not looking at her) and it makes her go 'oh....yeah'. whenever she she stays with me she gets praised heavily and rewarded (i realized i can stick treats down her muzzle, though it's a little awkward).

she's enjoying it, and it's reinforcing the 'hey, next to jennifer's side is a great place to be!' with her, b/c great things happen.

i know this post is a few days old, but i also just wanted to add that if you do have to use the scenario that Alyssa described, (physically going to the dog and bringing them to where you originally called them from), once you release the dog(after bringing him back to the original recall spot) I do a quick recall right then, maybe 2 seconds after I release the dog I recall him again and make a huge fuss when he responds.
A quick recall (in my mind) done after you release the dog is a good thing to enforce what come means, plus the dog won't be so far away so you can give a quick correction right away if, again, he doesn't respond.

Actually I wouldn't mind some input.
Scenario:
call dog
I can see he heard me, his ears flick back to me, but he doesn't turn.
I start to walk towards the dog, the dog see's that Im walking towards him, then he starts to come towards me.

Now, technically, he is now coming to me and to me its a tough call as to what should be done.
Would you continue walking towards him until you meet in the middle, still correct as you lead him back to where you originally called him from?
or
When you see he's coming, stop and wait for him to complete the recall and give praise, not alot, just enough.
I don't like to ever correct the dog if he's coming to me, even if it is late. But then again, is he now thinking
"oh, i can wait a few minutes, then when she starts coming towards me is when I have to respond"
Its the whole idea in my mind that you should never correct the dog when he's coming to you to avoid him starting to think negatively about that command.
Thoughts please????

That's a perfect situation for an automatic correction.

The dog disobeyed your command. The fact that he begins complying after he sees you coming to issue the correction, is a moot point. He still gets corrected, up to the point you originally called him from.

He has to learn that "Come" means NOW!

I dunno how old the dog is, but it sounds like he may be a good candidate for an E-collar.

With my kids (human) they will do the delay-until-repercussions-are-imminent thing. They don't have any motivation to respond quickly if I don't address the slow listening and teach them to respond the first time I tell them something.
You can train your dog to come at the third yell of come along with forward motion on your part, or you can train your dog to come the first time you say come.
I think you should go back to basics and retrain the recall.

thanks guys...it's not my pooch (doesn't everyone say that though..."im not asking for me, it's my friend that has the problem)I used the "he" just in a scenario.

It was something I was discussing with a friend of mine.

we couldn't agree, i said correct anyway because he wasn't responding directly (basically he had learned he didn't have to respond right away because he was rewarded by praise when he met her half way). She didn't want to correct him when he was on his way back because she thought it would carry a negative aspect.

So i told her to put him on a long line and do short recalls so she could correct immediately instead of having to go get him to correct.

Basically you both just confirmed what I was telling her.
start again.

 Quote: alyssa myracle

And I give it corrections, level 8-10 corrections, ALL the way back to where I called the dog from.
And I tell the dog the whole way, in a calm, firm voice, "I said come, you will listen, you come, I said come."

While I agree with the rest of your post, I have to disagree here. Repeating the word "come" while giving a physical (leash) correction is setting you up for problems in the future. You are building a negative association between "come" and getting corrected. Think about it -- most folks teach "no" or "phooey" while giving a physical correction so you are technically giving "come" a similar meaning in a similar way, right?

I do a very similar act to what you outline, but I just don't say anything while bringing my dog back to the start.

 Quote: Debbie Bruce

You can train your dog to come at the third yell of come along with forward motion on your part, or you can train your dog to come the first time you say come.
I think you should go back to basics and retrain the recall.

So do I.

Kristen: What I do is always carry treats with me. In my own back yard, I train recall by saying, come. First on the leash then off, When rebellion hits the heart of my dogs and they do not respond to come, I do not wait, or call again, I go after them.I grab them by the collar, and walk them in and whatever they were doing has just come to an end. Then I practice again, and if I am upset at their disobedience and want to quit , I always practice until we end on a positive note. Then if I want to quit I do. They do very well, I still would not trust them off leash. The world is full of temptations for them at their age, kitties, other dogs, birds, lizards, etc. When they are off leash and playing outside in my fenced yard and I call them in, I call their names and say come, and when they get to the door, and in the house, its a special treat. Tonight it was turkey lunch meat.
I would change the type of leash you have, or find a way to really secure it on your hand. A Kitty could run by and off your pup would go, maybe right into the street to get hit by a car.
I always keep treats with me when I know I will practice recall. I have used the method Ed has taught me. WHen I work out in the yard, I have treats with me. I wait (I do this after they advanced in the recall) until they are having a blast, then boom, I call them in. They get a treat. Hope this helps. I bet you were very upset, I would have been because of the safety issue.
God bless you