With Me, not Come Command
The command “With Me” is a soft come command for when you are out walking in a park, hiking, on the beach or just enjoying your front yard area. This keeps the dog in check with you but still having the freedom to walk around exploring their environment. Just as we like our freedom, they like theirs as well. By giving them this freedom, it creates a level of trust and accountability in both owner and dog. It prevents a Velcro dog and lets them also practice their Come Command when needed.
A great example is when you are having a great day hiking and enjoying the day. Your dog wants to explore the trails and instead of walking your pace, because we obviously walk much slower than them, they can have fun doing what they want. This, however, really needs to be practiced after they have a strong Come Command to prevent injury or accidents. If a dog does not have a reliable Come Command, using a long line to practice this command is needed. I have great descriptions on how to use this and what to use on my Training Tools page. Practicing the Come Command is required 2-3 times a week to keep the distractions, duration, and distance solid to make sure they know you have control of them and the environment.
Personal example
There was a time I was walking with my Doberman, Jordan, years ago. She was a very active, prey driven (which means she would LOVE to go after anything that moved like rabbits, birds, a deer if given the opportunity, and then there it was…. a family of rabbits chewing on blades of fresh grass minding their business. Jordan stopped in her tracks with one paw up, head down in a Pointer position and back legs shaking ready to turn on the jets. I stood there for a few seconds watching her watching the rabbits wondering what she was going to do, but I didn’t want to find out. I also didn’t want to lose my dog if the rabbits took off into the deep woods and she chased them. They can run easily for a mile and that could mean a deadly situation for many. I called her “Jordan, NOW!” Which obviously mean “Get your butt over here!” so when your dog hears that urgency, they know not to run away but to make that decision that they’ve been trained for. We’ve been training for this situation for months and I am so glad we did. Of course, this doesn’t happen overnight, with short sessions a few times a week becoming a habit for the dog. Dedication and patience are key when training your dog. Just like how we have drills at school and work in case of emergencies, this is exactly that.
What could happen
The unfortunate part of not teaching this command is when a dog does run off and gets lost, hit by a car, or even attacked by another animal. The price of dog training is much less expensive than not training. A veterinary bill cost thousands of dollars and worse case, losing a friend that didn’t know what is going on. We educate our children to be safe, teach them boundaries, the safety, and dangers of our environment so teaching dogs is the same. We can not expect them to have the knowledge or common sense of the issues they can face. Not that they are dumb animals, but they don’t know what they don’t know.
In addition, as a former veterinary technician the number one accident of dogs running around were hit by cares or dog fights. This can be very preventable by training early at age or as soon as you get your new dog no matter what age they are. Training should also be done on a regular basis using the right tools and skills required for the dog because every dog is different and learns differently. I recommend using treat at the beginning of training and working your way into longer distance with harder distractions as they progress successfully. Everything can’t be done all at once so as I mentioned little at a time over weeks into months, so the dog absorbs the training.
Conclusion
Finally, just remember that the more consistent you are in training, the more will your dog be. They rely on us for safety even if they don’t know it. The “With Me” command is a valuable command to develop that trust so they can have their freedom and we can watch them in their natural state of being a dog. Watching them explore the grass, woods, beaches, park, and even safely other animals from a distance is amazing and we don’t always get those moments if not trained well. Just imagine being able to call your dog from a good distance and walking the trails as they pass back and forth panting with their tongues hanging out having the time of their lives. When you have taught the “With Me” command the next important command is the Emergency Down Command with is located on my site as well. This is when you teach down from a distance no matter what is around, who is around under any circumstance. Now not every dog is designed to do this command so a complete evaluation to see the genetics, temperament, and workability the dog has will need to have to happen. The reason for this command is not only for safety reasons but it also helps create mental enrichment and physical challenges for the dog on a healthy level. The smallest dog I’ve trained for this was a Miniature Pinscher about one year old and he did fantastic, along with many large, working breeds. The owners really found this as a challenge to learn at first but after a few lessons and keeping up on it they did fantastic. Let’s have fun with our dogs but on a safe level for their sake.