Molly is a nine month old Maltese mix. Her retired owners have hired me to help her learn to come when she is called. Molly has had several close encounters with traffic because she ran outdoors and wouldn't come to her owners when called. Her owner's were obviously terrified and realized something needed to be done.
After her initial assessment, I quickly realized that the first step for Molly's rehabilitation is to actually teach her what the command to come means. It was apparent to me that she ignored her name from over usage and the command to come simply because she had no idea For now her owner's will be using a twenty foot lead and practicing forty repetitions each day. These sessions will be broken down into eight short sessions each day. Her owners will be giving her a very high value treat and excited praise after each individual repetition.
Molly is a bright little dog. During my first visit and after only ten minutes, she was already beginning to realize that coming when called immediately and sitting was rewarding and also great fun! Molly will be learning many levels of coming when called and in different environments. To properly train her she will need diverse distractions to ensure that when she is fully trained her safety will no longer be in jeopardy. This project will take several weeks of dedication from her owners, but they understand their errors and are very enthusiastic about fixing the problem that they accidentally helped create.
