Chihuahua Will Not Come When Called

Question
QUESTION: Hello,

Thank you for sharing your time.  My chihuahua will not come when I call her, however, if I turn around and leave, she immediately follows me.  

Generally speaking, whereever I go, she goes.  If I tell her to sit, she will.  If I tell her to "go" to her bed, she will go.

I know that she wants to come, but I can't seem to get her to understand that "come" has its rewards.  When I say come she starts to shake a little, so I know that she knows that I want something.

I have started telling her to "come" when I give her her evening biscuit.  She is starting to come in for the biscuit.  But, she seems to know whether or not I have a biscuit.

Her personality is pretty subsurvient on most issues, (except barking like a crazy dog when the FedEx guy or someone comes to the door) sometimes when I tell her to come, she turns on her back and gives me her belly.

I suspect it is a matter of patience, but perhaps you can give me some insight as to how I can accomplish this.  She is not as trainable as my last chihuahua, who seemed to understand everything, including potty training within a day. (My kind of timing!).

She was 1 years old in January.  About 3.5 pounds.

ANSWER: Hi Kee.  Be aware of your body position when you call her.  For a shy dog, a person directly facing them, looking them in the eyes, can be threatening.  Stand sideways when you call her and don't bend over from the waist.  You can try kneeling, but again facing sideways.  And, once she's on her way to you, keep that sideways body posture and don't grab for her.  Let her come into you and get the cookie.

As far as treats are concerned, keep them hidden in a pocket so she can't see them.  While you're retraining the recall, reward her each time she comes to you, but don't show her the cookie until she's come close enough to take it.  When you call her name and she turns her head to acknowledge it, say 'yes!' or 'good girl' and quietly praise her as she moves toward you.  Once you've been successful with this for a while, you can start to intermittently reward the recall to keep the behavior strong.  

Let me know if you have any questions.  I'd love to hear how she does once you change your body position, so give me an update!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi again,

I tried calling her again, and nothing, she just would not come near me, but I could see that she was happy that I was calling her and was wiggling and wagging her tail, but staying in place.  I then remembered what you had said (I had just gotten up from sleeping so I was not very alert).

I turned to the side in a huff (as if to say, ok I'll do this, but she's not going to do anything differently for sure!).  I looked at the window and called her, and within seconds, she ran over to me! Just seconds!

She ran back to her bed, I turned to the window again, and immediately, she came over, as happily as I expected her to originally.

She was finally acting like I know she is.  She always wants to be with me, but there is something about full on that is too much for her apparently.

Thanks so much for telling me that.  I would never have figured that out and she never would have come.  I tell you it took seconds for her to run over to me.

I did not understand when you said ". . . you can start to intermittently reward the recall to keep the behavior strong."

What does that mean, please?

Answer
I'm so glad this is working for you!  Thanks for letting me know.

When you're working on calling her, you should be rewarding with a small treat or piece of kibble when she gets to you.  This builds a strong foundation for the recall - knowing that something good is going to happen when she gets to you.

Once she's coming 90% of the time when you call, you can begin to reduce the frequency of the food reward - gradually.  (She should never know when you'll have the food and when you don't, so always keep it in a pocket or on a counter, not in your hand when you're calling her.)  This is called "intermittent reinforcement" and it helps keep behaviors like the recall really strong.  Sometimes you'll have a piece of kibble, sometimes a bit of cheese, sometimes nothing at all.  She'll start to work harder at the recall in hopes of getting the best reward at the end.

Hope that clarifies!  Please let me know if you have further questions.

Barb