Here or Come

If any obedience command will ever save your German Shepherd puppy's life, chances are it will be the Here/Come or recall command. One of the most common
 complaints that dog owners have is that their dog does not come when called. This is a very frustrating experience for an owner and can lead to a dangerous situation for
 your German Shepherd dog. Dogs tail to respond to the word Here/Come for several reasons. First of all, owners
 tend to call their German Shepherd to come when the dog is doing something it enjoys. Why would your German Shepherd want to come if it means it has to leave the dog park? Secondly the frustration owners feels often results in an angry tone of voice. If you call your German Shepherd to come and then when he comes you do something negative, like yell, the dog learns that it isn't rewarding to come.

 You can begin teaching your German Shepherd puppy to come right away as long as you disguise the lessons as play. It is essential that your German Shepherd puppy
 form a positive association with the word Here/Come. You can start this with the dogs food, when you get ready to feed your German Shepherd puppy start to call him with
 a high happy voice with Here/Come several times and then feed him. You can also give him a piece of his food for a treat for coming before you give him his bowl. You can also start asking him to sit for his food bowl once
he gets this down.

From a few feet away say your puppyts name in a happy voice. As soon as your German Shepherd puppy looks at you, either squat down or run backwards and say "Here!Come" As soon as your German Shepherd puppy starts coming toward you, say"good" or "yes". If you are backing up, squat down before your German Shepherd
puppy gets to you, keeping j your upper torso straight because dogs feel insecure or intimidated if a person bends over them. Keep in your hand the treat close to your body so that as your German Shepherd puppy approaches you and does not try to grab the treat from an outstretched hand and run with it. Begin teaching come in a low distraction environment, such as a quiet room in the house. This way the owner will be more interesting than anything else. As your German Shepherd puppy gets reliable 100% of the time you can now increased distances and you can gradually add distractions.

If your German Shepherd puppy stops responding to your commands, as in any training, back up and go back to a less distracting area. Have a familymember hold your German Shepherd puppy on leash and you say his name and run backwards, when at a distance call the puppy Nere(Come in a high voice. Once he is coming saj the command again, squat down and give him a treat close to your body and let him jump up on you for lots of praise. This can be done with the whole family so he will come to all. You can also make a circle and everyone can take turns calling him, but all the other people have to be quit while the person is calling. You can do this in the house or outside. Also, play hide and seek games with the recall.

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