Me again. My partner and I have been working hard at teaching our Boxer the command "Come". He now understands this command although if he prefers what he is doing he ignores us. This morning we went out for a walk and bumped into friends with their dog, after chatting for a few minutes we parted, I said "come" which he did. After a few secs of standing still he turned around and ran off towards our friends dog. Calling and rustling the treats bag made no difference, in the end our friend had to escort him back.

He sounds as if he needs to understand that come means NOW!  Be careful of over using the command - you should only need to say it once - each time you have to use it ontop of that once teaches your dog to ignore it.  When you called him this morning did you give him a follow up command (ie sit!) of was he just left to mooch around?  A long line can help enforce the command - it should trail after the dog, there is no need to hold it, then if the dog doesn't come on the first call, you can put a foot on the line and reel him in - making sure he gets lots of praise when he does come (and even more if he comes of his own accord when called)

He may well not understand our English languange and realise fully that "come" means come to me in each and every situation.

Many dogs understand that it means come when you have their food bowl in your hand at home but probably do not understand that it means come to me when you are out playing with other dogs and in other assorted situations

When with friends and their dogs is a brilliant opportunity to teach the come while dogs are playing so do it frequently whenever you get the chance - not just when you want to separate or put him on the lead.

Get his attention - if you don't have that then there is no way he will come, call him, touch his collar/give treat or fuss or play and send him off again

It's a really hard one. You just can't let the dog have freedom until he gets it down. Don't ever say, "come" unless you're positive he will come. Sometimes when you squat down and have your arms outstretched and are joyfully enticing him, (but not using the word, "come") and you can see that he's definitely going to come all the way to you, then the last few steps he's taking when he's almost to you, you say, "come." Then lavish with praise and treats. Never use the command if he has doesn't have to come. Then it becomes useless. Never scold when he doesn't come. It's got to be reward or nothing. Whatever it is he's interested in, coming to you must be much more fun than whatever it is he's doing. Treats are great for getting that ingrained in him. Then much later, you can randomly treat. If you keep him on a long line and call him, and he pays no attention to you, give a little yank/release and wait...see if he'll problem solve and decide to come on his own, rather than reeling him in. If he doesn't, repeat. But as it was said, you don't want to have to repeat a command more than once. He heard you the first time. Sometimes some enticing can be useful. Sometimes I'll just use some weird noises to get him curious and coming to me. Then when I am absolutely postive he's coming, the last few steps when he's just a couple of feet away, I'll say, "come." Then if he changes his mind, I can reach out and guide him in the rest of the way. LOL.

Sometimes I'll ask Lyric, my Dobe to sit, like before going out the door. He'll just stand there. I'll just stand there and not repeat the word, "sit". I can see his wheels turning in his mind. Finally, he sits. It's not as quick as I'd like, but I think it will come when he sees that the door will not open until he sits. It just all takes practice.

Carrie

I'm in the process of teaching the come command and when hes off sniffing and i know hes not paying attention ( i only let him off in safe areas that i trust) i call his name very loudly then jump up and down or do something that hes not expecting and he comes running to see whats up. When he gets closer i get a treat ready show him and give the "come" command hes very food orientated so hes at my feet before i can blink. He gets the treat and a really big fuss as i've made he come to me when hes been distracted. I also go to classes where we practice the recall but out on a field that mostly goes out the window as he finds other things more interesting than me. If he doesnt come back and i know hes not going too i go up to him calmly and just put him back on his lead and walk on. I never scold him i will change the tone of my voice to suit the situation this is working at the moment but no doubt i will be changing it as they do cotton on to it quite quickly.