Learning to Come

Even though we've had a rainy week, we were able to occasionally (rarely) get the pups out for romps in the yard. 

One of the basic commands the pups need to learn is "here" (or "come") -- the command to return to their humans.

Puppies are so people-pleasing oriented that it doesn't take much for them to want to come, but we do try to help them transition to the terms they'll use later on.

We start with a high-pitched "puppies" when they're first starting on puppy food to help them associate being called with reward. :)

That progresses to "puppies, here puppies" then to "here puppies" then to just plain old "here."  The new owners can help the pups learn their new names by inserting the name after puppies. For Chessie, for example, we started her the same way, then added "here, puppy Chessie."  Once she got that, we dropped the word puppy, and simplified it to "here, Chessie." 

Here's a brief video of their start on the "here" command (people use "come" too -- either is fine).

Note that sweet Master Red, unbeknownst to Daddy Don, was in the middle of a potty stop when Don called, but he caught up quickly.  And again, please excuse my ridiculous high-pitched puppy voice; they seem to hear and be able to locate it better than my regular voice.

Enjoy!