This advice, of course, refers to a dog that is not coming but is not doing much else. Move away from it, and make it come to you. Perhaps the owner has no confidence the dog will come and so, completes the recall himself with food treat in hand, as if auditioning as a waiter. Many owners start towards the dog the instant they call it. Lazy dogs often refuse to come when called because they know the owner will eventually come to them. Or show the dog its empty food bowl and say, “Oh dear, dindins all gone!” Or drop the dog’s leash on the floor and lament, “Deary, deary me, slow-poke snail-pooch missed his walky, walky, walkies.” The dog will soon grasp the relevance of coming when called. Waggle an extremely tasty treat in front of the dog’s nose, tease the dog with the treat and then give it to another dog, or even eat it yourself. Instead, let your dog know what it missed by not getting there earlier. When it does, on no account punish or reprimand the dog. Whatever you do though, eventually your dog will come. The idea is to get your dog’s attention, and so do something attention-getting. Tell it to “Hustle,” back up quickly and cause some kind of disturbance – rattle the furniture, bang on the door, kick the dog’s food bowl or drop to the ground, kick you feet in the air and let out an eerie maniacal wail. If your dog does not come, give it a reason to come. I would say that 95% of a successful training program should comprise not just teaching dogs what we want them to do but teaching them why they should do it! The solution is to revamp the relevancy training program (see sections on Play Recalls and Life Rewards). This problem is so common this is what training is all about. Perhaps the owner even practiced recalls to the point of utter boredom.
The dog came when called many times before, but nothing ever happened. Well, it wasn’t! And now the dog is on strike. When they get there, it better be worthwhile. For large dogs especially, it is a big deal to get up and lumber towards the owner. Also, your dog may be tired, bored, or lethargic. Your dog understands what you want it to do but it just does not see the point. Build your dog’s confidence, and its so-called obedience problem will disappear. Once the dog approaches to take food from your hand, practice the ‘grab tests’.
Keep backing up and calling the dog, tossing food treats if necessary. Even though apprehensiveness is a dire temperament emergency, take your time. Whatever the reason, just solve the problem right away. Your dog is afraid of you or of what you have done to it in the past – probably intentionally punishing the dog for coming when called. If your dog is apprehensive of coming when called, there is only one reason… You! Take yet another look in the mirror. With active disobedience, however, not only does the dog not come, but also, it has a darn good time not coming. Either the dog is apprehensive of approaching (a major temperament emergency), or it fails to see the relevance of the owner’s request and simply can not be bothered (a minor training emergency). Instead it simply stands, sits or lies down and watches its owner call. With passive disobedience, the dog doesn’t come and it isn’t doing much else besides. When dogs fail to come when called their behavior falls into one of two categories: active or passive disobedience.
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