katbrat

Lexi and I have finished our ten weeks of obedience training last week. She has always, even from the time she was a tiny baby been hesitant with the command of "come." We always have treats to reward her and when we call her and she does come, however slow. We tell her what a good girl she is with lots of praise, but when either one of us call her, she will do the slow, really slow poodle walk. It is more of a slow creep walk, lift one foot slowly, put one down slowly. We have never been mean to her or scolded her for not coming. I have no idea why she is so, so hesitant with this one command. Any thoughts?

CT Girl

There are some dogs in my obedience class that mosey along to the command come so you are not alone. A couple of times Swizzle was distracted/slow and I start running from him (backing up) and then he "catches" me. When you give praise I would overdo and almost squeal with joy and add a high value food treat. Another thing is randomly use come as you are doing things around your house - give her praise and a treat and then release her.

fjm

It does sound as if she is anxious, and trying to placate you by moving very, very slowly. Turning away and running would certainly help - it could be your body position that worries her perhaps? Do you lean towards her? Face her full on and look hard at her? Even partly turning away may be enough to encourage her to come. I would start over with a new word - Here! or To me!, said in a very happy, up beat tone and combined with a change of stance (running away gibbering like a loon at first!), and a really, really good reward and praise fest when she catches up with you. That is if she is a typical poodle, of course - Sophy gets horribly embarrassed for me if I get too silly and goes and sits on the other side of the room till I am "normal" again!

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To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden,
where doing nothing was not boring- it was peace.

~ Milan Kundera

JE-UK

A dog that is uncertain will do that slow approach ... in dog language, it is very, very mannerly to approach slowly if you are unsure of your welcome.

If your tone is too loud or strong, it may be scaring her a bit, even if she's never been scolded. Some obedience trainers insist on a "Come!" in a strident voice; that can be a bit scary.

If it were me, I'd change two things ...

First, pick another word than "come". I use "front", but it doesn't matter if you use "banana". It is too, too easy to fall into bad habits and muddle up the dog's understanding of "come"; it's too common a word.

Then, make "banana" the most joyful word in the entire universe for your dog! Say "banana", then run away with a squeaky toy in each hand! Say "banana" and sprinkle a shower of yummy treats at your feet. Lie on the floor and say "banana" as a puppy runs over to french kiss you. Say "banana" a hundred times a day, and every single time, make it mean wonderful things for your dog. Practice with a friend ... stand ten, then twenty, then fifty feet apart and yo-yo the dog back and forth, with super yummy treats. Sit in a chair and say "banana", then send the dog away with a thrown treat and pull her back with another "banana".

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"Yes is so much important than No." Dominique Barbier

katbrat

Thank you everyone for your ideas! We always sound crazy silly, happy when calling her! She hasn't seem embarrassed by us so far. We have tried sitting, standing and getting down on her level when we call her. I like the idea of her catching us. She will play chase, fetch, catch all day long. I really liked the "come touch" command we learned in class. The down side of that is she sometimes likes to play "come tag" and keeps on going. Off to try new things.

CT Girl

Sounds like you are doing all the right things. When Swizzle gets close enough to see me I sometimes stick my tongue out. I know, very silly and undignified, but he loves it and it makes it fun for him. Sophy would not like as an owner; I would be constantly embarrasing her.

JE-UK

I love "touch" as a check in, too. It is the handiest cue out there.

I taught Vasco to "go 'round" (go around me clockwise) and "circle" (counterclockwise). I then combined them to combat the "touch and scamper" issue. I'll do touch, go 'round, twist (spin himself), circle, touch again, THEN treat. Then I send him off. She's probably old enough to start combining cues she knows well, and there is something about a fast sequence of cues that works well for the speed-of-light poodle brain.

Good luck! Training a poodle is boatloads of fun!

Don't give up on the recall. We are currently doing remedial work on what I thought was a rock-solid recall. A bit of carelessness on my part, and recall has turned into "yeah, yeah, sure, in a minute, right after I check out the fast food garbage the teenagers have left in the park". So we are back to 50 practice recalls on every walk.

__________________
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"Yes is so much important than No." Dominique Barbier

CT Girl

JE-UK what a great tip. Thank you.