Two different 'come' commands? (esp. for those who show obed. dogs)

[wordgirl]

I'm on my second dog for 4-H obedience, but with this guy I'm starting from scratch - the other had already been partially trained. One of the exercises in competition is the recall: you leave your dog at one end of the ring, walk away, turn, and call your dog. Your dog is supposed to come to you and sit straight in front of your feet. I've always used 'Come' as my command for my other dog. I also used 'come' (or just used her name) when I wanted to call her in from across the field. But in the latter case, I didn't expect her to come and sit perfectly in front of me. I just wanted her to come over by me. She seemed to be able to tell the difference between competition and normal life.

With my new puppy, I'm wondering what I should do. I need to teach him the competition recall, but more importantly, I need to teach him the 'come back over here,' command. Maybe he'll someday figure out the difference, but would it be better to have two DIFFERENT commands for the two different things? That way, he'll always know exactly what I want and can act accordingly.

Any advice? Anybody have a dog that you show competitively - what do you do with your obedience dog with the word 'come?'

 

[key west chick]

My border collie comes when we say "here". Its a command when she was actually herding sheep.

 

[welsummerchicks]

When I want the dog to come, I say, '<dog's name>, come!' I always expect the dog to come and sit in front of me.

I think doing it the same way every time makes it less likely that the dog will make a mistake in competition when he is confused or distracted.

I also think doing it the same way every time makes it less likely that the dog will make a mistake when it really, really counts, such as when I call him away from traffic, or some other threat. For me, obedience in the ring is not as important as having my dog safe and under control all the time. My dog goes everywhere with me, and it really really helps that he is obedient and reliably obedient.

 

[Tala]

Well, I don't show or anything like that. But with my dog Dusti, "come" just means come in from the field or whatever, and "Come back to me" means come to me and sit kinda like you are talking about. We practiced "stop. come back to me. sit." a lot on walks, at street corners waiting on traffic and such. Eventually Dusti learned to anticipate the separate sit part and just started doing it automatically.
It was I guess, a more advanced part of her training, she already knew the stop and sit part, so she didn't get her treat until she had performed all 3 requests. Eventually you don't need the treat anymore, especially if your dog accepts praise as a reward.
Seems like you could train similarly.

But I also think welsummerchicks has good advice. Always asking for the exact same thing is probably more simple for the dog.

 

[sourland]

We have always obedience trained our house dogs so that we had control over them under all circumstances. One a golden took so well to training that my wife started competing with her. She readily acjhieved CD and CDX titles. Whatever command you use, just be consistent with it. On the command COME, our dogs are expected to do a rapid recall and sit immediately in front of us within hands reach. On the command BY ME they are to return to us and sit in the heel position. BY ME is also used during heeling training. Pick a word that you want to use and teach the dog to give you a desired reaction. Consistency is the key. Good luck and enjoy training and competing with your pup.

 

[True Grit]

My older dog comes immediately from any part of the house if I quietly say my younger dog's name. Otherwise he'll miss out on a trip outside. I can be downstairs and say it to her and I'll hear a mad scramble of feet from upstairs.

Not helpful, I know.

 

[NottinghamChicks]

I always used "by me" when I had to call the dog back during agility competitions if she perhaps jumped the gun and missed an obstacle, or to bring her to me in obedience training. In the yard or in the woods I whistle one quick whistle to come back or two short whistles to not go too far ahead. Two of my three get it, one pretends not to, LOL!

 

[wordgirl]

I agree with you all. And I want a solid recall, no matter what. The main difference between the two different things I request is that in one instance, I want a perfect sit in front of me, and in the other, I don't care if they sit - I just want them near me, if you follow me.

So should I name the one request one thing and the other something else? Like 'come' and 'venez' (French, I think, for 'come').

 

[Crazyland]

We also use "here" for the sit in front command. "Fuss" for the heel and "come" for come back to me and come along.
The less confusion for the dog the better.

 

[Windrider]

Because I do obedience and agility (and a little herding), sometimes you DO need different commands for the same sorts of concepts, such as "come." When doing a formal recall in obedience, I use "Katie, front!" Anytime I use "Front" I mean I want her to come and sit square in front of me. The "front" command is used in Rally, too, when you might need the dog to go from the heel position and swing around to sit directly in front of you.

I use "come" for informal recalls just around the house and also in agility - it pretty much means "get close to me," which usually translates as something approaching the heel position. In agility it would really be confusing to the dog to use the same word you use for a formal obedience recall, because how would they come and sit in front of you while you are running!? I also use the word "here" which in agility means "check in with me, we are changing directions." This also works during off leash walks if you don't need the dog to come all that close, but you want her to keep with you during your walk.