Extinguishing bad behavior, and desensitizing dogs to stimulus have a tangential relationship to canine recall, one of those things which so many dog owners would like to improve on.
What's the relation?
Well for one, let's look at why so many dogs do not come when their owners call. Most of the time, the answer boils down to two problems:
- Low motivation
. - High aversion
Low motivation is not a small issue. A well-fed dog that has been home alone all day, is now in a park full of dogs, squirrels and scents. Freedom is everywhere and your dog is very much like a child trapped in an algebra summer school class all day, now finding himself at the state fair with friends, cotton candy and thrill rides all around him. Unless the dog is very hungry and you have food (the easiest way to increase canine motivation) or your dog is really toy obsessed or owner-obsessed, you are going to naturally fall into the second fiddle slot.
That said, most dogs want to do what their owners ask of them, and though their recall may be a little weak and tentative, if it's not there at all that's generally due to the fact that past recall acquiescence has always meant a leash snapped to the collar and the end of all play.
How to change that dynamic?
Simple: First teach the dog that a unique whistle from you (a whistle from your lips is always with you) means FOOD.
Second, take a VERY hungry dog to the park (do not feed it for 24 or 36 hours and you will find it learns very fast) and recall that dog all the time in order to slip it a little food. Almost never put it on a leash, and if you do, take it off right away and let the dog run free again.
What you are doing here is normalizing your recall command to mean "food and play" rather than "the end of play" and "back to the prison planet" of the back yard.
What you are doing here is extinguishing (of a sort) the negative memories associated with recall and normalizing recall with a positive experience.
Through repetition and a change in your actions, you are desensitizing the dog to the notion that a leash means "no more fun" or a reach for a collar means "a return to solitary" at the house.
This is basic training. How do you get a really firm recall -- one that the dog will obey even when a deer calls or a squirrel is darting across the road? How do you train a dog so that it will not kill itself in an open-road situation with lots of strong attractants nearby? How do you train a dog to always follow a command in a battlefield situation? We'll leave that for another day, since most people will never need it and/or should not be putting their dogs in a situation where such a command-and-control response is ever needed. That said, it involves a little more than whistling and cheese!
- Related Links:
** Desensitizing a Dog to Stimulus
** Extinguishing Bad Behavior .
3 comments:
I figured this one out when my ex took her constantly-crated, no-access-to-a-fenced-yard Schnauzer-mix puppy to the park and let her off leash. She spent the next TWO HOURS trying to catch the pup, and when she did, immediately brought her home and crated her. Smart pup learned never to let herself be caught!
So with my shepherd, I used to take him off lead in the park (at night, with no other people or dogs for distractions), let him wander, call him back, give him a treat, and let him go. Sometimes I'd clip the leash on for five minutes or so. Sometimes I'd walk him off-lead back to the car (and he loved cars, because 90% of his car rides involved parks, Grandma's house, or food - I saw to it that his first car ride was to Burger King and got him a plain burger). Sometimes instead of taking the leash off, I'd just drape it across his back.
He, and all my dogs since, have had a very reliable recall. I do love your training tips, and I hope other dog owners read this!
I can't wait for the next installment. I have a feeling I know where you're going.
Seahorse :)
I'm not sure I can starve my dog in the name of training.
For medicine and general fasting purposes (some raw feeders do fast one day a week), sure. But not for behavior. My dogs have learned reliable recalls after having had time to digest a meal. I know what you're trying to do and say, and that works fine. I'm just saying that I respectfully disagree with the concept of fasting a dog to make it more food-motivated when they can learn just fine with or without food while sated.
Otherwise, high aversion IS a big reason why dogs don't come, and you hit the nail on the head pretty good with that one. Our walks are full of obedience exercises in which a recall goes straight into an exercise-finised release and playtime, and then right back into a heel and more.
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