Every dog training book teaches you how to give commands to your dog. Just like other dog owners, I wanted my dog to be a well-behaved pet. I read training books enthusiastically when I first got my dog as a puppy. Many books say that the most important command of all is "Come", because this command may someday save your dog's life from imminent danger (such as a traffic accident). So, naturally, I put a lot of focus on the command "Come" myself when training my dog.

For a while, I simply used only the word "Come", and kept using the single word to ask my dog to come to me when she was called. But I felt awkward just uttering the word "Come" to my dog -- the sound of the word by itself felt very abrupt to me. Since I was not a native English speaker, I always thought it was just an issue of pronunciation. I started to use two words ("Come here") instead, which was easier for me to say and felt more natural as a way to call my dog -- especially when I had to raise my voice a little. Until recently, I've been using "Come here" without giving it much thought.

One day, when I was reading the book The Tellington TTouch by Linda Tellington-Jones, I came across a very interesting paragraph on dog training and obedience.

Here is the quote of the paragraph from the book:

"... I stressed to Serena how important it is to state commands in a calm and fluid way rather than in clipped, single words that come out sounding like a shot. Try saying "sit" or "stand" or "walk" sharply. Can you feel the tension in your own body? We learned that the most effective way to tell a dog what you want him to do is to use commands of several words spoken slowly in a firm yet quiet voice --- "Walk on," or "Stand still" or "Sit down." ..."

After I read this paragraph, I realized that my two-word choice of "Come here" instead of just "Come" actually had some validity as a more effective way to train my dog.