Why won't my dog come when I call her? Probably because I haven't worked hard enough to tell her that every time she come, she'll get rewarded. Sometimes the reward will be an immediate return to what she was so interested in to begin with. Sometimes the reward will be a coveted, high value food item, like a french fry or some bacon. Elka is learning this, though I should have been working with her on it all along.
One recall pitfall is simply calling your dog's name. Elka hears her name a lot in the course of the day, I'm sure, and it doesn't mean "come here to me" every time. Also, we've used "come" enough times without her fully knowing what the word is that we've changed the word. "Come" means something might be going on, but Elka has learned to ignore it through unrewarding repetition. "Here", however, means "get over here right now". It means "what treat will I give you this time?" or "how about we play?"
But, how did I change her mind?
