You can train your dog to come to you, when you call his name using a certain set of techniques.
You should start to train your dog to come to you, from the very first day of his arrival. You should stand in a distance, with the meal in your hand and call his name along with the ‘come’ command. He will approach you for food. Later you can repeat this by holding objects of his desire like balls and bones.
How to Train Your Puppy to ‘Come’
The main aspect of this training is to make your puppy understand, he should move towards you when you call his name or use the word ‘come’. Puppies move towards an object or person, only if they are attracted or excited about them. So do whatever is necessary to attract him before using the ‘come’ command.
Punishing him when he comes near you will give negative results. Many dog owners do this mistake. They get fed up, when their dogs do not turn up on the ‘come’ command. They actually punish him when he does turn up, for earlier disobedience. This will make the puppy think he will be punished if he obey the ‘come’ command.
If you call a puppy and he is busy digging somewhere else, go near him, and bring him along with you into the house. You have to go wherever he is initially, for a few days to train your dog to come where you are. I started training Kim using this methods right from the first day of his arrival.
Training at Meal Times
My kids were always around him yelling ‘Kim’. So he understood in a couple of days ‘Kim’ is his name. I made them use the ‘come’ command, with his name whenever possible. They will play extensively with him. Kim first learned to turn to the direction his name is called.
I used the ‘come’ command along with his name literally on every meals. I will hold the dog bowl at a distance from him and call out ‘come’ or ‘common Kim’. I will do this, when he is in the verge of waking up from his sleep in a crate. When I do this, he will come out of the crate towards me. I will move again near the crate and place dog bowl there and make him follow me.
I will call him from the other room, hiding playfully. He will sniff all the way in a very funny way. We will praise him liberally when he comes to anyone of us when his name is called. As a natural attention seeker, Kim learned to respond to his name and ‘come’ command very quickly.
Things to Avoid During the Training
If the puppies do not respond to your call, leave him alone for some time. Start the training when they are more attentive. Meal time training won’t fail mostly as he is hungry. If he ignores you because he is busy playing or digging, go near him and say ‘come dear’ in a pleasing voice.
Bring him forcibly into the place where you want. This will make him understand he should stop doing the current work when you call him.
Teaching him to come towards you while playing is the second best way, to train your dog to come to you. There are ample ways to train your dog to come, when he is called. Use the ones you think, will best suit your puppy, to train him to come to you.