When I ask, what is the most important thing you can teach your dog, what comes to mind? For many of my students, a reliable COME or RECALL is the answer.

So does your dog have a reliable Come when you call them? If not, what are you waiting for?!

Some people have not worked on it much, Some people have, but have not been as successful as they would like.

Now is the time to get to work on it if it's not very reliable.

If your Come is not reliable, you might need to start over. Some dogs have learned to tune out the word Come and it really holds little to no value for them. It doesn't mean what you want it to mean. In some cases, we can start fresh but still use the same word. In other cases, if it's been overused and largely ignored, then starting with a brand new word might be the better option.

Either way, there is no better time than now to get started on getting a reliable Come or Recall.

While we won't discuss HOW to go about it in detail here (since we have those details elsewhere) you might want to consider whether or not you actually want more than one cue for different situations or expectations.

When I ask what your expectation is when you say Come, and your answer starts with, “it depends” then you are a good candidate for having two or more cues.

For example, I have my urgent COME. And I have my everyday, less urgent, CHECK IN. Check in also is a cue for my dogs to come to me, but not in the urgent, as fast as you can, as my actual COME cue. Check in means, I need you to return to my left side, but you do not have to run as fast as you can and get here right now.

I can also use other ways to get my dogs to return to me, so essentially, Come to me, but without using my Come cue.

For example, Touch (nose target to my hand) is another way to get my dogs to me. In order to touch their nose to my hand, they do have to return to me. I might use this as an alternative to Come when I need them to come. I might also use it when I need them closer than they are, but they are already nearby. In that case, sometimes Come does not seem to make a ton of sense to my dogs – umm, I am, like 6 feet away, what's the big deal?! But the Touch makes more sense to them in that context of closer proximity and I also do not need a full speed response when they are that close.

Another example, I might use is Inside. I want you to get in the house and out of the backyard, but I do not need your full attention on me. I just need you indoors. I could use a cue like Inside instead of Come for this.

My dogs also know Heel. And they are quite good at it. I might use this if I want them to return to me and stay by my side. Or move with me if I am going somewhere.

I have lots of ways to get my dogs to me. Come is only one of those. How many ways do you have? And how reliable are they?